Delicious Mini Vegan Croissants

Hi everyone!

Today, I am going to tell you how to make delicious croissants that are free from many common allergens. This way you all can enjoy them safely.

Usually, we like to make our pastry from scratch, and I will be posting shortly with our favourite free-from homemade pastry recipes. Our Nan S makes the best pastry, so we will be sharing her recipes with you all, just as she has shared them with us!

Due to the current world situation with coronavirus, it can be difficult to get flour just now. You can make this croissant recipe easier by buying a roll of ready-rolled puff pastry that suit your allergy requirements. They even make gluten-free versions. There doesn't appear to be too many shortages of ready-rolled pastry, at the moment.

Before you begin, we have a safety message to share:-

THESE CROISSANTS GET VERY HOT INSIDE, SO BE CAREFUL EATING THEM IF YOU EAT THEM WARM LIKE WE DID!

Here are some of our favourite fillings for croissants:

Chocolate Croissants (Vegan/Dairy Free/Egg Free/ Soya Free/Gluten Free/Nut Free)

• Puff pastry - 350-400 grams approx, depending on your supplies of flour, or if you are using ready-rolled pastry.
• Choc Pot, by Sweet Freedom. (You won't need the entire pot, just as much as you fancy using)
• Hot chocolate powder suitable for your needs, or cocoa powder with some icing sugar mixed in to sweeten it. 

1. Roll the pastry out into a rectangle shape, and then cut it into 6 equal (ish) squares. Don't stress if your squares end up rectangle. It is ok, they will still work. My favourite thing about cooking is not stressing, because it all works out ok even if it isn't how you originally intended it to.
2. Cut a line down each square so that you now have 12 small triangles.
3. Put a heaped teaspoon (or maybe even two) full of Choc Pot into the triangle - try to place it towards the base of your triangle.
4. Roll your triangle of chocolately pastry goodness up towards the apex, and maybe pinch the two outside points, as this option can leak out of the edges otherwise. You so don't want to lose any yummy chocolate!
5. Place them on a lined baking tray and dust over the top with your hot chocolate, or your cocoa and icing sugar mix. 
6. Bake them in an oven for around twenty minutes. (we baked ours for 19 minutes in a pre-heated electric fan oven at 180 degrees Celsius)
7. You could make these into larger croissants by reducing the amount you are making, or by doubling the ingredients. We quite like the mini versions, so that we can make multiple flavours!

Almond Croissants (Vegan/Dairy Free/Egg Free/Soya Free/Gluten Free)

• 35 g of Caster Sugar, or any sugar you can find in your store cupboard.
• 35 ml of Water
• 70 g of Ground Almonds
• 55 g of Icing Sugar ( plus extra for dusting )
• 1 tsp of Almond Extract 

1. Roll the pastry out into a rectangle shape, and then cut it into 6 equal (ish) squares. It doesn't matter if the squares are more like rectangles - you can still make them into the step.
2. Cut a line down each square so that you now have 12 small triangles.
3. Pour your Caster Sugar and water into a saucepan and mix at medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid starts to bubble. You need to keep stirring this. It gets really hot, so be careful with it. You now have some yummy sugar syrup, which should be left to cool. We left it in the pan, so it saved some extra washing up!
4. Put the ground almonds and icing sugar into another bowl. Mix them together well.
5. Add the almond extract and mix it together with the almonds and icing sugar mixture.
6. Then put in 2 tablespoons of your sugar syrup and stir to make a smooth almond paste.
7. Add an even tablespoon of almond paste to half of them.
8. Roll your triangle of almond sugary pastry goodness up towards the apex, and maybe pinch the two outside points, as this option can leak out of the edges otherwise. You so don't want to lose any yummy filling!
9. Place them on a lined baking tray and dust over the top with your extra icing sugar. 
10. Bake them in an oven for around twenty minutes. (we baked ours for 19 minutes in a pre-heated electric fan oven at 180 degrees Celsius).
11. You could make these into larger croissants by reducing the amount you are making, or by doubling the ingredients. We quite like the mini versions, so that we can make multiple flavours!

Other Croissant Fillings

Using the same pastry cutting/rolling/cooking methods, you can try some of these other great ideas for fillings that are dairy free/soya free/egg free/nut free/gluten free/vegan.

• Vegan cheese - we would most recommend using Applewood Smoke vegan cheese, as it melts so well. 
• Vegan cheese and shredded Quorn Ham slices.
• Caramelised Onion Chutney and vegan cheese.
• Apple, cinnamon, and sugar. (Soften chopped apples in a pan, before you add to the croissant. Then mix with a generous helping of icing sugar and cinnamon to taste).

We hope that you love making these delicious croissants. We so enjoyed making them, and it was a great step in the allergy journey for Princess M, because this is the first time she has eaten almonds!

Please feel free to comment with any other fillings that are allergy friendly. We love new suggestions.

Stay safe, and we will be back with another blog recipe soon. We are doing lots of baking during lockdown, and are looking forward to sharing them with you all!

Love from Princess E and Princess M 

X