Almond Croissant or Croissants Aux Amandes

I absolutely loveeeeeeee Almond Croissants but it can be painful for pay $3.80 each at Gontran Cherrier or $4.20 at Mayson Kaiser for a croissant that they can´t sell! So I decided, just make it and I can eat Almond Croissants all day for a fraction of the cost! Its super simple too!

Use day old croissants so I usually buy it a day ahead. Fresh croissants are soft so its not ideal.

Some recipes call for soaking the croissants in sugar syrup but I tried that and totally hate it because its too sweet ! Dislike!

So all you do is slice the croissants in half like how you would make a sandwich, set the oven to 180 degrees and make the filling

Filling Recipe:-

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup ground almonds

a pinch of salt

100g butter (softened)

2 eggs

Mix everything in until creamy and lastly add the eggs 1 by 1. Spread about 2 tablespoons in between the croissants. Cover and spread about 1 tablespoons over the croissants and sprinkle sliced almonds. Bake for 15-18 minutes until croissants are golden and firm. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy!!!

Homemade Blueberry Pie

Rainy day calls for a slice of homemade pie.. my little guy has been bugging me for a blueberry pie because Jake from Adventure Time likes them! sigghh

This recipe is for a large 8 inch pie so for a 5 inch pie dish, just half the recipe with 1 tin of blueberry filling. The dough is also enough when you halve it.

So I bought 2 cans of blueberries in light syrup and made my own fillings (that way I can adjust the sweetness) totally hate ultra sweet fillings that can gives you diabetes!! Each can is $5.10 at Phoon Huat or you can pay $7.95 for a Del Monte ones at Cold Storage! *rolls eyes*

Making the filling:-

Drain the 2 cans of blueberries but reserve 1 can of syrup and pour in a pot.
Add 3 tablespoons on sugar & 3 tablespoons of cornflour and heat until thickened.
Add the blueberries and 3 more tablespoons of sugar. At this stage you can taste and adjust if you like it sweeter or as is. You can also add more syrup in if the mixture is too thick.

Pastry shell :-

I find making short crust is easier by using a food processor than a mixer. It gets less mushy and easier to work with. Or you can just rub it in between your fingers until it turns into rough crumbs. So process -

2.5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 tablespoons sugar
225g butter chopped in small pieces

Process until it looks like course crumbs and then add in 1/4 cup iced water. Roll the dough and lay it on the pie dish (10 inches) or you can make small cute tartlets.

I like to chill my crust first before adding the topping. So what I do is chill for half hour in the fridge then add the topping and top it up with pastry designs. You can cut circles, stars or the traditional lattice strips but & brush the topping with egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon milk to give that nice glossy brown look. Bake for 30-35 minuts on 180 degrees. Cool for a couple of hours in the fridge and serve with cream or ice cream!

Cheesy Mediterranean Muffins

Craving for these again... Give me a savoury muffins anyday than a sweet one...pheewww thank goodness I have all the ingredients in the pantry!

In a bowl, add the following ingredients :-

1.5 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper or chilli powder
1 cup cheese of your choice (I love a combination of red & white cheddar)

In a jug, melt 80g butter. Add 2/3 cups milk and stir in 2 eggs. Set aside.

Items to be sauteed - 

1 medium size onion (chopped)
Beef / turkey bacon or i love using chilli beef frankfurters chopped into small chunks
Sundried tomatoes (I use pomodoro) chopped into small pieces as well
Black kalamata olives sliced

Sautee the onions with some olive oil until soft and all the meat and sundried tomatoes and just toss in the sliced olives.

Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and just quickly mix it well with the sauteed items. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes on 180 degrees. I like to top my muffins with extra olives and tomatoes! I love the salty taste!! As you can see i only added 1/4 tsp of salt only because sundried tomatoes gets saltier upon baking and the cheese is salty as well.. so don´t go overboard! Mom likes her muffins spicy so I usually sprinkle some more arrabiata spice mix on top or you can just sprinkle chili flakes !