Have you seen that some foods have their own International Day? Most foods and dishes do. They can be designated by the ONU or, according to the day when they were created, when they became used for a celebration so let’s talk about the foods that are celebrated in January. Did you know that Pop corn’s Day is January 19th or the 27th of January is Chocolate Cake Day? Yes, we all love them the whole year long. But don’t worry, at Los Cinco Soles, we don’t forget our New Year’s Resolution of sharing with you more nutritious and healthy food so among a long list of delicious dishes, we have chosen the recipe of the month, the one that is celebrated on January 30th, the Croissant. But this time, we want to show you how to make Sugar Free Vanilla Croissants, because the vanilla will substitute the sugar that you need for regular croissants, giving it a rather exquisite touch so that you can enjoy this crunchy texture pastry and its particular flavor between sweet and salty without the guilt.

But let’s retrospect a little bit on why the Croissant has earned worldwide recognition to the extent of having its own day. Believe it or not, the Croissant, from the French word “crescent”actually has a Viennese origin because it was created to celebrate the victory of the Habsburgs against the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Back then, the bakers were inspired by the crescent of the Turkish flag to come up with the shape. And over time, the croissant crossed frontiers because of its versatility, since it can be eaten at almost any time of the day.

Then, if you dare to prepare them yourself to celebrate their international day, here you can see how to make our Sugar Free Vanilla Croissants with the unique and exquisite touch of Los Cinco Soles.  Don’t forget you can get your gourmet vanilla extract online.

Ingredients

1. 4 1/4 cups Pastry flour
2.  1 pinch of salt
3.  2.5  oz of gourmet Vanilla extract
4.  100 oz butter or margarine
5.  1 cup blanched almonds
6.  1 egg

Easy Preparation Steps

1. Mix the flour with the softened butter, the vanilla extract and the almonds.
2. Knead the mixture into a dough and shape into a ball.
3. Wrap the dough in foil and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Shape the cold dough into a roll.
5. Cut 2 cm (approximately 1 inch) pieces and shape each into a crescent.
6. Set all crescents down on a lined with parchment paper baking sheet.
7. Bake in the oven at 175°C (approximately 350°F) for about 10 minutes.
8. Brush them with some egg white and bake them again for 1 or 2 minutes.
9. When done, remove carefully from the baking sheet, let the croissants cool a little.
10. Serve and enjoy.

A Delicious Variant

If you are really not counting calories, you can also try an alternative that is richer, like putting ice cream, your preferred fruit, ham or even vanilla custard as a topping or as a filling. Yes, at Los Cinco Soles, we don’t want to impose on you our Sugar Free Croissants so you can definitely add all the sugar you want and love your Croissants the way you like them. Just follow the same steps from the regular Vanilla Croissant, and if you are adding a vanilla custard or chocolate filling, add it when shaping them as crescent moons and voilà, an absolute highlight when it comes to craving fluffy and sweet pastry, right?