Breakfast Croissants

Posted by on Thursday, December 24th, 2009

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This is a family favorite of ours. When my dad was terminally sick with cancer, many people brought food to our house. Here in the south, that’s all we know to do in such cases – cook and pray. Anyway, our neighbor, Nancy Jones made a basket of these croissants and brought them over, warm from the oven. That was over 2 decades ago, but they have become a Christmas tradition at our house.

Although these are a specialty, the dough can be made a day or two ahead of schedule, and remain in the fridge until Christmas morning. It really takes very little time to roll into a circle and cut the wedges.

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In large mixing bowl cream:

  • 2 sticks real butter (room temperature)
  • 1 15 oz carton ricotta cheese

Add:

  • 2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Work dough into smooth ball. Divide dough, making 2 smaller balls. Tear off 2 sheets of wax paper – about 18” long will work nicely. Now toss a handful of flour in the middle of each sheet and place a ball of dough onto each wax paper sheet. Gently wrap each ball of dough in the wax paper. Refrigerate overnight, or for up to 48 hours.

To Bake – Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove wrapped dough balls from fridge and unwrap. Wipe counter with a damp paper towel. Leave dough on wax paper and place the paper and dough onto damp countertop. (The damp counter will hold the wax paper in place while you roll out the dough). Roll each ball into a thin circle (about the size of a 12” pizza). Dust rolling pin and or surface of dough with a little flour if you need it. Then I use a pizza cutter to create my wedges by cutting a circle in half. Next I cut each half in half again, making fourths. Then I cut each fourth into 3 equal pieces. There should be 12 wedges per circle when you are finished cutting. If you ever worked at Dominos – this fraction circle drill will be a breeze! Roll each wedge from wide end.

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Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Drizzle icing over wedges while hot, before removing from cookie sheet. Transfer wedges to a pretty serving dish and serve while still warm.

Icing

In large mixing bowl beat on low speed:

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons real butter
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 Tablespoons orange juice

Filed in Christmas,Holidays | Comments Off on Breakfast Croissants

No Responses to “Breakfast Croissants”

  1. Gayleon 30 Nov 2008 at 10:21 am 1

    Lovin your blog and all the great recipes! These look really good. I’m a transplanted southern girl living in the pacific northwest. I cook like a southern girl still though!:)

  2. Taraon 30 Nov 2008 at 3:25 pm 2

    Hey Gayle!

    Glad to hear you remain a southerner by heart no matter where you got transplanted. Hope you drop back by again real soon. This is all new to me!

  3. Lee Hamelon 01 Dec 2008 at 11:00 am 3

    Hi Tara,

    Got to your website from my daughter Dena, a transplanted Northerner. Have a suggestion on the egg problem. Put eggs in cold water and bring to a boil, turn off the burner and cover the pan and let eggs sit in the water for 20 minutes, a little longer power nap. When timer goes off , run a little cold water over them, enough so you can get your hands in the water and peel like normal. Eggs will be cooked and no green around the yokes from overcooking. Hope this helps.

    Love your website, it’s a great idea. I love southern cooking and cooking from scratch. Good luck.

  4. Sunnyon 01 Dec 2008 at 7:15 pm 4

    These are our absolute favorites!!! YUM-O!

  5. Me-Maon 02 Dec 2008 at 4:10 pm 5

    Simply Wonderful! Makes me hungry! May get me cooking again! The illustrations are superb! Wonder who did that!

    Much love,

    Me-Ma

  6. Taraon 02 Dec 2008 at 10:18 pm 6

    Thanks for the tips on egg boiling Lee. I saw Dena tonight at a school function. Please come back and visit me soon.

    Sunny, thanks for stopping by. I know you have the original recipe for these breakfast croissants.

    Me-ma, I hope you will come back and visit often. I promise you will see many of your own recipes here on this site.

  7. your third childon 02 Dec 2008 at 10:28 pm 7

    Can you make some croissants SOON like tomorrow thanks?

  8. Taraon 02 Dec 2008 at 10:30 pm 8

    I could, but now you’ve got the recipe. Why don’t you make me some?? And some decaf coffee with a splash of vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon?

  9. your third childon 02 Dec 2008 at 10:33 pm 9

    But you are the woman of the house