I love when I get emails such as this.  Marsha Christmas wrote:

Have you tried the frozen chocolate croissants from Trader Joe’s? They are in the frozen food cases and are sold 4 to a box. Proof them overnight and bake in the a.m. 

We just had 2 at breakfast. They are delicious. (Williams-Sonoma sells frozen ones, too, but at a pretty penny!) These were less than $4, I think. They were delicious beyond my expectations.

Close your eyes and think about a sidewalk cafe in Paris. Doesn’t get much better than that.

No, I did not even know Trader Joe’s sold croissants.  To be honest, I seldom go to Trader Joe’s because it is not located on my side of the world.  But… When I got an email such as this, – Hi-ho  Hi-ho – off to Trader Joe’s I go.

I found the chocolate croissants in the freezer section, and I had to reach to the bottom of the freezer to claim my box.  Evidently others like these chocolate croissants also.  There were plain and almond croissants offered also.

We were anxious to try these, so that night we took these four chocolate filled pieces of dough and placed them on the lightly buttered parchment paper.  I wondered.  Would these frozen flat pieces of dough actually become puffy croissants?  The directions said to leave them to “proof” uncovered for 9 hours (overnight).  Okay, faith comes to my mind in this situation.  But, with the package claims, and Marsha Christmas’ recommendation, I went to bed.

Sweet Mother of Pearl.  Look what greeted me the next morning.  Must admit.  I was like a kid on Christmas morning.  I work up early to see if the magic happened?  It had, and I had to wait almost 2 hours before cooking the croissants.  Yes, waiting was difficult because there was already the smell of yeast rolls permeating the kitchen.

Finally, baking time.  It was suggested that if a shinier crust was desired that we should brush the rolls with an egg wash.  Might as well brush a little eggs on each roll.  Shinier sounded better, but I do not know if that is true.

Be still my heart.  Look at how beautiful these chocolate croissants are.  The instructions warned that lightly browned rolls would not be done, so we tried to be sure ours were nicely browned.  Our kitchen smelled fantastic, and again we had to wait 10 minutes for the croissants to cool a little.  Ugh!  Chocolate Croissants from Trader Joe’s were worth the wait.  They were delicious, and now I recommend them to you.  Hope you enjoy them, but if you don’t, we can still be friends.

Marsha did not lie.  The taste was beyond our expectations.  La Madeleine’s does not make chocolate croissants any better.  I felt we had dined in a French Patisserie, but just think –  it was our kitchen.  Life is good.

Blessings to you and yours,

I searched and found that Williams-Sanoma’s chocolate croissants cost about $2.6666666+ each.  Trader Joe’s cost less than $1.00 each.  A great deal.

Thank you – Thank you – Thank you, Marsha Christmas!  You made our day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

each.  Trader Joe’s croissants cost about $1.00 each.  Great deal.  Of course, Trader Joe’s does not know me.  Just sharing.

Thank you – Thank you – Thank you!  Marsha Christmas.