When you need a croissant in the morning

Iris and I had fresh-baked croissants for breakfast. Seattle is lucky enough to be home to the world-class croissants of Cafe Besalu. This morning’s croissants weren’t in the same league, but they were better than any other croissants I’ve had in town: crisp and flaky, properly leavened, deeply browned, and not stomach-churningly huge. Here’s the arduous process by which I made them:

**10pm last night:** Take croissants out of the freezer and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

**7am this morning:** Preheat oven to 350°F.

**7:45am:** Place pan in oven.

**8:05am:** Remove pan from oven and transfer croissants to cooling rack.

**8:15am:** Eat.

These croissants came from Trader Joe’s, in a box of eight for $4. [Here’s what they look like.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/kateford/2292581551/) They contain no weird ingredients, no margarine, no preservatives. They’re billed as “mini-croissants,” though to me they’re exactly the size a croissant should be. (I did eat a second one later in the day for purely scientific purposes, and they hold up very well, just sitting out on a plate.) This is one of the greatest convenience products ever, if you can call a product that has to be defrosted for 7 to 9 hours “convenient.” It’s as if Red Baron came out with a new line of frozen pizza comparable to [Pizzeria Bianco](http://www.pizzeriabianco.com/), or Nalley’s chili won a cookoff.

Also available, dangerously enough, in chocolate.

6 thoughts on “When you need a croissant in the morning

  1. matt wright

    I love Trader Joes. The last couple of times we have moved house, we had areas mapped out that were only 5 minutes from a TJs. I cannot imagine not living close to one!

    Those croissants sound great. I am certainly going to pick some up this weekend.

  2. Lauren

    Metropolitan Market and Whole Foods carry these as well – I can’t remember the brand but I remember the packaging looks French. I was surprised that they weren’t horrible and, while baking, actually made the house smell like fresh baked bread!

  3. Maggi

    And a bargain at Trader Joe’s too! I was just over at Williams Sonoma and saw them as well. $40 for 15 of them.

  4. Wendy

    We tried the chocolate ones this morning (they’re not so much of a bargain, being 4 to a package, but they’re probably larger). They were pretty good, but I like more substance and CHEW to my croissants, instead of a mouthful of air… so do you think I will like the plain croissants?

  5. mamster Post author

    The plain ones are way better. That is my only criticism of them, though, that they’re not well-layered all the way through and a little too airy inside. I’d try them, though–because they’re smaller, there’s a higher ratio of surface area to interior.

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