“Your diet says no, but your heart says: butter.” Croissants of unprecedented shapes have become the new viral trend of Korean tiktokers. Users of this social network have launched their own reviews of the reinvention of the star preparation of French pastries known as the flat croissant. In essence, it is a flattened croissant approximately one centimeter thick and dipped in chocolate or another syrup of any flavor whose appearance is more reminiscent of a palm tree.
This alternative product leaves behind the classic honeycomb shape of the croissant, but maintains the crispy texture of puff pastry on the outside and a soft, buttery interior. In fact, flat croissants can be reminiscent of those flattened and open croissants with a salty filling that are usually served in cafes. In this case, the coverage takes center stage and the possibilities are endless! From mango to processed cheese, this new trend will surely reach Spanish bakeries soon.
The truth is that flat croissants are just the latest twist on the traditional flaky crescent. This innovative trend dates back ten years when the French pastry chef Dominique Ansel created the cronut, by frying croissant dough, filling it and glazing it as if it were a donut. Since they went on sale in their bakery in New York, it has become one of the most popular sweets in the city that never sleeps.
Kate Reid, from Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne (Australia) patented the cruffin in 2013, a hybrid between a croissant and a muffin made from a laminated dough filled with chocolate. On the other hand, the Layette Grand Café in New York invented the cromboloni or le New York roll in 2022, which this time evokes an Italian donut filled with pastry cream. Parisian pastry chefs have made this creation their own, with crombolonis seasoned with pistachio or lime and raspberry or praline among the flavors that can be found inside.
Paris, where this sweet of Ottoman origin was serialized in the 19th century, is also the place where the croookie emerged. This is an invention of the Maison Louvard, which consists of cutting the croissants in half and filling them with cookie dough with chocolate chips. They are then baked again so that the cookie sets. At first, this bakery sold about 150 units a day, until thanks to the recent popularity of TikTok, croookie sales have increased tenfold.
