Back in 2020, one of my pandemic hobbies was perfecting croissants. Fun fact, I used Buttermilk Pantry’s recipe to learn how to make them. Admittedly, it’s been four years since I last made croissants, since it took over a month for me to successfully make a batch, and I found out that using that Kerrygold Irish butter, in an attempt to be fancy, ruined my first eight attempts. That was because of the moisture content and melting point in Irish butter being higher(moisture) and lower(melting), resulting in layers in the dough never forming. I still remember being annoyed that I spent $50 on tons of Kerrygold butter, and for all of that to be wasted on failed croissant attempts that were basically just overlabored and fun shaped brioche. And to my frustration, when I used the cheap, standard grocery store butter, and for that to actually work, I wanted to throw my perfect honeycomb structured croissants out the window. That is to say, there is a reason why I waited until the next leap year for me to try my hand at croissant making again. That and I was watching a video with chef Susur Lee, where he was eating this $50 mini croissant cereal, and that really was enough of an incentive for me to try croissant making again. The idea of these tiny croissants, so cute and dainty, was just too fun to pass up on. Though that is not to diminish how challenging and time-consuming this recipe is.

I would put the difficulty for these mini croissants up there with some of the entremets I post. Dough lamination is one of the hardest techniques in pastry. For those who have never heard of it before, dough lamination refers to folding layers of butter with layers of dough, hence you are laminating the dough with butter, which results in a super flaky pastry when the dough is baked. Croissants, danishes, kouign-amann, and puff pastry all utilize laminated dough. It is challenging because of how time-consuming it is to roll out a dough, roll out your butter, fold them together, refrigerate them, and re-roll continuously. Refrigeration is key here since if the butter gets too warm, all of your layers will melt together, and you end up with brioche, which is still delicious, instead of laminated dough. I will say that these croissants are slightly more forgiving in that they are so tiny that most people will not even pay attention to the layers. However, because they are so tiny, there will be a portion of the cooking time where all you will be doing is standing there, cutting up and rolling out mini croissants or pain au chocolat(chocolate danishes). Let’s just say after making these myself, I get why someone would price a small bag of mini croissant cereal at $50. The sheer amount of intricate labor behind even rolling out one mini croissant would make me want to charge $10 for just one mini. But again, the emotional payout of seeing these cute little flaky croissants and eating them with cold milk was maybe 75% worth the struggle it was to make these.

Makes about 200 mini croissants(or 120 mini pain au chocolat), or 6-8 servings:
For the dough:
3 sticks unsalted butter
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups water
21g active-dry yeast
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg
chocolate*(if making pain au chocolat)

Start by creaming your butter together until it is a spreadable consistency. Place the butter onto parchment, and fold the parchment over and around the butter to form a square that is roughly 7 inches by 7 inches, folding the sides of the parchment underneath the butter. Gently roll the butter so that it flattens out and fills the parchment completely. Transfer the butter to the refrigerator, allowing it to chill down until it is solid.

For the remaining ingredients, minus the optional chocolate, mix them together until combined and a dough forms. Knead the dough until it springs back when pressed. This may take upwards to 30 minutes if kneading the dough by hand, or about 15 minutes if using a stand mixer with a dough hook. Cover the dough and allow it to sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface until it is roughly 12 inches by 12 inches in size. Place the butter square diagonally in the center of the dough – the corners of the butter block should be pointed at roughly the midpoints of each side of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough into the center of the butter block, crimping the dough so that it completely encapsulates the butter block. Allow the dough and butter to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before rolling out the dough to be roughly 24 inches in length. Going lengthwise(so the longer way), fold the sides of the dough towards the center. Then fold the entire dough in half along that middle. This technique is called a “book fold”(see this diagram for a visual in case my written steps for this suck). Rotate the dough 90 degrees, and return the dough to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, re-roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is again 24 inches in length by 12 inches in width. Repeat the same folding again and return the dough to the refrigerator for another 30 minutes. You’ll do this two more times, for four folds in total.

After the last 30 minute rest, roll out the dough on a floured surface so that it is once again 24 inches by 12 inches. Cut the dough into 2 inch-wide strips.

If making a mini croissant, cut one of the 2 inch strips into triangles that are roughly 2 inch by 1 inch on the two non-hypotenuse sides. Stress the dough gently so that it becomes a really long and thin isosceles triangle, and roll up the dough from the shorter end towards the elongated tip, placing the end of the dough underneath the croissant when placing the croissant down on a nonstick surface.

If making pain au chocolat, cut one of the 2 inch strips strip into 1 inch by 2 inch rectangle. Press a 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch piece of chocolate into the center of the rectangle and fold the ends around that. Let the pain au chocolat rest on a nonstick baking surface, with the double folded dough side facing down.

In both cases, allow the croissants/pain au chocolat to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

For final baking:
1 egg yolk
Confectioner’s sugar

Brush the tops of the croissants/pain au chocolate with some egg yolk, then dust the tops with confectioner’s sugar. Bake the croissants at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes, rotating the baking trays halfway through the process. For the pain au chocolat, bake them at 375 degrees F for 18 minutes, again rotating the trays halfway through the process. Allow the mini croissants/pain au chocolat to cool down completely before attempting to remove from the sheet tray. Serve with the milk of your choice, or snack on them!