This recipe wasn’t my idea, although I’ve tweaked it a bit to my liking. It came from a bakery’s idea on how to use up old croissants. Since I’ve never in my life had such a thing as a day old croissant, I wondered if this recipe would work with fresh (or just not day old) croissants, and I’m happy to report that it does work. It works perfectly, in fact.
This is an easy recipe, and one that will impress literally everyone that eats it. I don’t recommend using the best croissants you can find, and especially not those that you make yourself, although I’m sure it would work fine with those. Instead, just make sure they are all butter, and you will be happy with the results, I promise.
The method is pretty simple. Slice up some croissants, soak them in a mixture of half and half and sugar, and bake until they are browned and caramelized. They won’t look uniform, or pretty, and you will have a bunch of different sized pieces. But rest assured, once you taste them, you won’t care.
Croissant Brittle - The Best Cookie You Will Ever Eat
Ingredients
- 4-6 medium croissants
- 1 cup half and half
- 1 cup sugar I used raw sugar
- 1 teaspoon Colima Sea Salt
- Coarse sugar maybe mixed with cinnamon?, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment — do not try to do this without parchment.
- Slice the croissants into as equal size pieces as you can, maybe 1/4 inch thick. I sliced mine vertically, to try to get pieces that were as even and as cookie like as possible.
- Put the half and half, sugar, and salt in a deep skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce to low and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat and let cool for a few minutes.
- Dip the croissant pieces in the syrup, until they are drenched, but not dripping. Transfer to your prepared pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes or so, until the pieces are deep and golden. You may have to remove smaller pieces from the pan as you go. You can taste a warm one — it should be chewy, and will crisp up as it cools. If it’s still a bit soggy, continue baking for a few more minutes.
- Let cool completely and store in an airtight container.
