Almond Croissants

I've been making homemade croissants for at least 25 years now, and pains au chocolat off and on for the last 10 or so. But this is the first time I've ever made almond croissants, and it was done as a special request from a fellow baker.

The dough is the same buttery-rich dough I use for the other two items, incorporating local unsalted butter, milk, and eggs. But the filling uses a delicious almond paste combined with more butter, egg, maple sugar, flour, and a touch of vanilla.

You might think you've seen something like this before at bakeries or even places like Panera. And you'd be right, up to a point. But a quick taste test this morning showed that despite the loads of butter used in the recipe overall, the pastry remained light and flaky, and the filling avoids being too sweet and rich while satisfying your ideal of what an almond croissant should be.

But maybe I'm biased. Stop by Local Roots this morning to try it yourself.