Last holiday season we received a holiday surprise package from one my wife’s dear aunts. Inside this dry iced package was a box of frozen mini-croissants from William Sonoma. My wife had made the remark about tasting these as a sample at a local store and obviously the comment got back to dear Auntie whom it turn sent us this thoughtful gift.
For two rather slim adults, we have a surprisingly keen knack for any butter based pastry. The food is probably not the healthiest, but we eat these sorts of treats in moderation. Well, we immediately placed our box of croissants into the freezer with the anticipation of cooking these pastries up within a few weeks as sort of a fancy continental breakfast. We never got around to making the croissants until about six months later when we were low on food in the house and I was reluctant to go the store just to buy breakfast for the next day.
Preparation – Review
The croissants by Williams Sonoma are actually made by French Chef Jean-Yves Charon of Galaxy Desserts. There are two dozen frozen little croissants which at the time were all sort of stuck together. I did not want to make the entire quantity in the box for one meal as there are only four of us and a dozen would be plenty considering the buttery richness of a croissant. Anyway I carefully plied apart the dozen pastries and placed them onto a sheet to thaw overnight. I placed a towel over the croissants and they were completely thawed the next morning. The whole thaw process takes about nine hours.
Once I woke up and made some coffee, I transferred the croissants to a non stick sheet pan and placed into a 375 degree oven for about seventeen minutes. The instructions from Chef Charon tell you to gauge bake time between fifteen to twenty minutes, so they needed to be watched carefully. The croissants came out and were cooled and eventually transferred to a serving plate. Overall the preparation and cooking were easy except having to separate the pastries the prior night. They almost need to be packed in some sort of divider.
Taste – Review
The croissant did a good job of filling our home with such a delicious aroma as my kids were awakened and trotted down the stairs demanding to know what was cooking in the oven. The croissants came out of the oven a perfect light brown and were incredibly flaky and not surprisingly, buttery. The fat content was evident as some was left behind on the baking sheet, as one would expect with croissants. I had served up the croissants with some eggs and everyone really seemed to enjoy the meal. The croissants had a great taste and had a nice little crispy crunch when biting into them.
Overall Quality – Service
I would rank these croissants as a definite buy for someone trying to prepare an elegant meal or absolutely loves light French fare. The croissants are by no means cheap as one will pay about forty dollars for one box. The mini croissants though seem to have many uses as we served them as a breakfast accompaniment. I would recommend these with even as a high quality meal addition such as serving with a filet mignon or an upscale seafood meal. Also consider this box of croissants a great gift idea for friends and family.
