So I'm finally eating a croissant amande that read about here. It is flat and very doughy, kind of like thick sponge, with almonds sprinkled on top. It seems to be soaked in something... I expected the texture of the pain to be more like that of a regular croissant. Did I get a bad one or is this what croissant amande is??

Flennie,
It should be sweeter and more moelleux than croissant, but this texture should be offset by the almonds, otherwise it could be a bit soggy. It is sort of halfway between a pastry and a croissant proper.

The almond croissants that I used to buy at Fauchon in New York (before they closed) were just like regular croissants, but with almond paste in the middle and slivered almonds on top (same story when I buy one at Payard or La Bergamote, two excellent French bakeries here in New York). Is a croissant amande supposed to be something different?

I also think they should be just like regular croissants with almond paste in the middle and slivered almonds on top.

Oh! What a thing to think of this morning when I'm home with just my oatmeal and banana!

A croissant aux amandes is usually a regular croissant split open and filled with almond paste. Slivered almonds are sprinkled on top. Some kind of sugar syrup makes them stick. The whole thing is often sprinkled with confectioner's sugar (sucre glace).

Croissants aux amandes can vary quite a bit from one pâtisserie to another.

Oh, and a croissant is not bread. It's made with butter and eggs. Bread is just flour, water, yeast, and salt.

Thanks for all your replies. The croissant amandes that I had seemed like what ckenb described, but I didn't notice any almond paste in the middle. Between the crusty top and bottom, it looked like one layer of (wet) dough though it could have been collapsed layers of croissant phylo (sp?) soaked in syrup. It was sweeter than regular croissant, more like a pastry. I have only bought croissant from one boulangerie for the last 5 days so I don't know how others are like. I will have to return to Paris to find the variations. Voila, another reason to come back (we leave tomorrow)!

Have you tried a Sacristan yet? It, too, has almond paste inside and toasted almonds and confectioners sugar on top - but rather than the croissant dough, it's flakier, and long, like the staffs that the sacristan/altar boys carry in church.
Delicious - one of the best I've had is at a bakery in Saint Remy, to the left of the big church on the edge of the historic center.
Going back for another in a few weeks-
Anne

The almond croissants in Paris have lots of almond paste inside but they are otherwise like regular croissants. Cadors also makes a combination of almond paste and chocolate. I have never had a soggy one but imitations here have little paste.

We do have a local French Bakery that makes authentic croissaants including the almond, great Brioche and real macaroons.

There's a good picture of a Parisian croissant aux amandes on the blog called The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Oh man, does that look good!

Croissant aux amandes quickly surpassed croissant aux chocolat for me while I was in France.

Outstandingly good. Thanks for the photo, and interesting blog, with very lovely photos of Paris. Enjoyed it.

My favorite ones are at
Coquelicot
24 rue des Abbesses - 75018 Paris

They have thankfully opened a new location just up the street from our apartment on the corner of Rue Bruxelles and Rue de Douai in the 9eme. All their stuff is truly delish!

At other bakeries, I have had the soggy variety that Flennie describes. These are far superior in taste and texture.

If you want something really special, try their pain au chocolat with amandes et pistaches. Sweet and yummy!

The soggy variety I had was from Aux Desirs de Manon on 129 rue Saint-Antoine (3rd Arr). I take it that this is not the 'typical' croissant aux amandes which would be flakier, more like regular croissant... I moved up a notch from croissant aux beurre and tried pain aux chocolat (delicious!), then wanted to progress further, but wasn't too thrilled with the version of croissant aux amandes that I had. I was expecting it to be more like what's shown in ckenb's link.

I have to agree with another earlier thread that mentioned how food (maybe it was fruits and veggies in particular?) in France seem to be tastier than in the US. My daughters loved the unfiltered apple juice that really tasted like apples. I'm sure unfiltered apple juice is available in the US (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods), but they are not the norm here.

Here's the scoop on croissants aux amandes. Out here in the country near Saint-Aignan, we get bread delivery 5 days a week. I've struck up a good chatty relationship with the bread lady.

Last week, after reading this thread, I got a real hunger for a good almond croissant. I asked the bread lady one morning if she had any in the truck, and she said she had just sold the last one.

She said she has croissants aux amandes on days when there are leftover regular croissants from the day before. The boulanger takes day-old croissants, splits them open, fills them with almond paste, and then paints the top with sugar syrup and sticks on slivered almonds.

So almond croissants are the way bakers recycle left-over butter croissants. Who knew?

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So almond croissants are the way bakers recycle left-over butter croissants. Who knew?

I feel so used. LOL.

My local French/Vietnamese bakery bakes the croissant with the almond paste in the center so it melts a little into the surrounding dough--definitely not recycled day-old pastry. Maybe better than the real thing from France!

Will the real croissant aux amandes please stand up? Is the authentic kind the day-old variety or the fresh variety? I would not be surprised if the one I ate in Paris was the recycled kind. It's not surprising, though... Apple fritters at donut shops are made of left over (uncooked) doughs from other donuts.

Our baker claims that fresh croissants won't work because they are too delicate. It takes the day-old croissants to stand up to the second cooking while the almond paste melts.

I asked the bread lady to bring me an almond croissant this morning, and she did. She was careful to tell me that it had been made with a fresh croissant and that it was kind of falling apart for that reason.

Ckenb, was the croissant soaked in syrup or still flaky?

Too bad we can't all get together with our croissants for a tasting!

I find it hard to believe that the croissants I ate in Paris and that was pictured through the link above, are created in that way! Perhaps in other areas where the turnover (so to speak...) is less they resort to this technique. But how can you look at that lovely flaky croissant and think that it is....day old? Well, even if the ones I ate were, they were still STELLAR!

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Too bad we can't all get together with our croissants for a tasting!

Well, I'm thinking that Shannon, Colleen and I need to do a Croissant Amande taste test in addition to our macaron taste test. In the name of research, no sacrifice is too big .

Kim, be sure to start your taste test at Maison Kayser, 8 rue Monge – a great bakery with spectacular almond croissants (and baguettes and....the list is endless!).

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Well, I'm thinking that Shannon, Colleen and I need to do a Croissant Amande taste test in addition to our macaron taste test.

Go Kim. We plan to do the same in October.

Flennie, the croissant aux amandes the bread lady brought yesterday was a little soggier than I'm used to, and not flakey at all. She led me to believe that that was because it was made with a freshly baked croissant, not a slightly stale one.

There are six or seven boulangeries/pâtisseries in the Saint-Aignan "metropolitan area." Now I'm going to have to make the rounds and see which one makes the best almond croissant.

Well, now I know what the very first thing I ate in Paris was. Mine was square and the outside was crisp and delicate with thin sliced toasted almonds and sugar granuales sprinkled on top. The inside was not gooey but filled with about 1/4" of smooth almond paste that was the perfect foil for the outside. OMG, I WANT ONE RIGHT NOW!!!

Ginger

These sound and look amazing. I think I gained 5 pounds just reading about them.

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I think I gained 5 pounds just reading about them.

...But seriously, a good one is worth it! Plus, to me, buying them is taking a stand against mediocrity and honouring the hard work and talent of pastry makers throughout the ages....just what if they disappeared! We HAVE to buy their goods, it is our civic duty!

I wish I could make a personal round of boulangeries to research on croissants aux amandes! It would be interesting to know which is more prevalent: soggy or flaky kind.

Here's is Clotilde's recipe for making almond croissants on Chocolate & Zucchini.

Ckenb, thanks for the link to the recipe. I was shocked to learn that the croissants are not a day-old, but 4-days old!! The photo of croissant aux amandes looked very similar to what I had in Paris. I'm glad at least there I was able to walk off the calories. Here, I'll be sitting on them working in front of the computer. I'll have to try making them myself, after finding good croissants.

quote:

Originally posted by flennie:
It would be interesting to know which is more prevalent: soggy or flaky kind.

Moist - or moelleux - may be a better word than soggy.
That's it. i'm out the door to find one.

Flennie, I think Clotilde meant four croissants, each a day old. Not one, but four, day-old croissants. English is a difficult language sometimes.

Ckenb, thanks for the clarification. Yes, English can be difficult. I was wondering how long croissant can stay around and still be edible.

According to http://www.tabledescalories.com/, croissant aux amandes has 451 calories. The day I ate croissant aux amandes, I also ate pain au chocolat (280 calories). I usually ate two croissants every day in Paris... I think I should only do that when I'm in Paris.

For me croissant aux amandes is a sore subject. I like them very much, but for a few years now I have an increasingly difficult time finding good ones. The soggy version which has a kind of almond sirup which is nauseating seems to proliferate. I hope it is only a temporary thing but I fear the newest bakers are taught to make this new kind

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Originally posted by Sylvain:
For me croissant aux amandes is a sore subject. I like them very much, but for a few years now I have an increasingly difficult time finding good ones. The soggy version which has a kind of almond sirup which is nauseating seems to proliferate. I hope it is only a temporary thing but I fear the newest bakers are taught to make this new kind

Sylvain, I read your post with interest - I always do. I do remember the old kind that was moelleux on the inside and crusty on the outside. They were less sugary and tastier, especially with the contrasting textures of crusty-moelleux. There is nothing soggy about them at all.
I started "surveying" all the bakers in Paris looking for that kind of croissants aux amandes from the vieille école.
And today... eureka!
At Boulangerie Bourdaloue on the tiny rue Bourdaloue in the 9th, right outside the main exit of metro station Notre Dame de Lorettes.
Note: the baker often runs out of them by late afternoon...

Thanks Americana!

Now if only I could be in Paris. My favorite dream is the teleportation device in case you didn't know

I am just back from a week in Ardeche at the family's house of a friend. I go back to work tomorrow I need more holidays!

I love the Ardeche. It seems to remain quite French still. Stayed in a lovely b&b in Argentière.
Yes sometimes we need a vacation to rest from a vacation.
Bon courage.
I always take my vacation in September. Leaving end of week to the Lot.
Will try to beam you a croissant aux amandes. Here comes...

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Originally posted by Americana in Parigi:
And today... eureka!
At Boulangerie Bourdaloue on the tiny rue Bourdaloue in the 9th, right outside the main exit of metro station Notre Dame de Lorettes.

Good find. Thanks for sharing it.

It is true that, in the beginning, almond croissants were created to use up day-old croissants. When made correctly, they are far superior to croissant dough being baked around an almond creme. The old croissants are split, cut sides brushed with almond syrup (I prefer brushing to dipping them into the syrup which can lead to the "soggy" creation some of you have mentioned), almond creme piped or spread into the center, top of croissant placed on base and topped with more almond creme, a sprinkling of sliced almonds, in the oven and voila!

One of these done perfectly has no equal. You'll know it when you find it, and the search can be a lot of fun!

The good ones are moist at the center (lots of almond paste), flaky at the "bread" part, and, most importantly, crispy on the ends where some of the paste oozed out and got slightly burnt-- which is why the ugliest ones usually taste best (more oozed-out crusty almond paste).

My favorite ones were from a bakery at the corner of Rue de Grenelle and Rue Cler, but unfortunately it closed a few years ago and the place is now a Petit Bateau T-shirt shop. Pret a Manger in Manhattan USED TO (about 6 years ago) make almond croissants like the Parisian ones, but I guess nobody here appreciated the great ugly ones, so now they make boring under-baked ones that look like plain croissants, with very little almond paste. Some Dean & Delucas sometimes have decent ones.

I too really liked the croissants and most everything at that boulangerie-pâtisserie on the corner of the rue de Grenelle and the rue Cler. I was disappointed when I saw not long ago that it had been replaced by a Petit-Bateau shop.

I think Bakerlou's description of a good croissant aux amandes is perfect.

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Originally posted by Mademoiselle Fifi:
The good ones are moist at the center (lots of almond paste), flaky at the "bread" part, and, most importantly, crispy on the ends where some of the paste oozed out and got slightly burnt-- which is why the ugliest ones usually taste best (more oozed-out crusty almond paste).

I'm with you on the burned bits. Since I noticed you are in NYC, may I suggest you try La Bergamote the next time you are in Chelsea. Excellent croissant amande and everything else for that matter.

Does anyone know of a French bakery in Los Angeles where I can find (good) croissant amande??

Thanks Daniel!

Flennie, on Kayser's website (www.maison-kayser.com/), of you click on the "nos boulangeries" link and then on the dot over Ca on the world map, it gives a link to Breadbar (one at West 3rd St and one at Santa Monica Blvd); don't know if they make the same croissants.

Thanks for the link, Mademoiselle Fifi. Their menu shows Almond Croissant . Alas, all their bakeries are located on the West side of town. I'll have to make a trek out there, reminding myself in the arduous process of driving across LA that it's closer to get there than to Paris!

Just had a very good almond croissant-- brown and crispy outside, LOTS of almond paste inside (and no soggy syrup). Les pains Campaillou on Rue Rambuteau, just west of Rue du Temple.

Tout Chaud across the street did not have croissant aux amandes today. Their pain au chocolat was so-so; very little chocolat.

There are so many bakeries on this street! I'll try a croissant from a different one each morning this week and try to post some pictures of them later.

quote:

Originally posted by flennie:
Does anyone know of a French bakery in Los Angeles where I can find (good) croissant amande??

Flennie: have you tried Euro Pane in Pasadena? I have never been there but have heard some good things about their goods. If you should try them, please post your review!

I believe it should be crispy on the outside (with roasted almonds) and somewhat soggy on the inside.

Wherever you are, grab someone on the street, ask if they are local and where is the best bakery in the neighbourhood. I have noticed that Parisians do this when they are not in their own neighbourhood.