Alex Raij's Croissants a la Plancha
Genius Recipes
Photo by James Ransom
- Serves
- 1
A simple way "to revive a dead croissant and make it even better than on day one," as chef Alex Raij of La Vara, Txikito, and El Quinto Pino explains it. When you expose the once-spongy, breathing middles of a croissant, you get a delicate web of pastry that takes very well to toasting on a hot surface. The spindly edges and corners get crackly, like a sfogliatelle just out of the oven, while everything below the surface warms and softens. Serve with a cortado.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for the pan
- 1 tablespoon local honey
- 1/2 vanilla bean
- Salt
- 1 croissant, split (day old is fine)
- Orange Marmalade, for serving
- Powdered Sugar, for serving
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Directions
- Step 1
To make the honey butter: Blend butter with honey, caviar (a.k.a. the scraped seeds) from the half vanilla bean, and a large pinch of salt. Stir to combine.
- Step 2
Heat a large non-stick pan with a small amount of butter. Brown the croissant cut sides down and turn to brown the outer sides. Present on plate cut side up dusted with powdered sugar. Serve with good orange marmalade and honey butter. Store leftover honey butter in the refrigerator.