Coffee and cholesterol croissants

When the condensation starts freezing on the inside of the windows, in spite of the geothermal heating and the newness of the windows, you know it is cold outside. At 7.00am it was -18.4°C.


So a perfect morning to have warm croissants for breakfast.


I've never made croissants before, but I found a straight-forward-looking recipe for the croissants that used to be made by the pâtissiers on the SS France. I also discovered a fantastic video demonstration of how to make croissants by Esther McManus from an episode of 'Baking with Julia [Child]' on the PBS website. It's a two-day job, as you have to leave the dough to rest overnight after all the rolling, but the process isn't particularly difficult. There was enough dough for 32 croissants, so I made 16 regular croissants, 8 pains au chocolat and 8 almond croissants. I'd probably halve the recipe next time - as this is far too much for just the four of us (although they do seem to be vanishing fairly fast, I have to say).

Perhaps not the healthiest start to 2009...