I enjoyed working at Milk Bar for a lot of reasons, but a big reason was that I got to take a lot of the baked goods home. Lots of ice cream being drained out at the end of the night, lots of cookies, a few cake slices. But the best of them all were the Thanksgiving croissants. Because they were a seasonal item for just a few weeks, when they were taken off the menu, we still had a ton of them. So I got to take home about 10 of them. Which I then froze and took home in my suitcase for my family to get to eat over the holidays. And those things are just so good. They’re like a full meal in a croissant, with perfect fall savory spices. The ones from Milk Bar really are unparalleled, and I can’t believe they don’t sell them every year.
I’ve tried making these before, with very limited success. But that first attempt was in my college apartment that had a kitchen that was falling apart at the seams (literally), and with my mind falling apart at the seams. So I wanted to try again, in my nicer kitchen and my fully formed brain.
A big difference is that in my first attempt back in 2020, I cooked ground turkey to use for the filling, which ended just being a crumbly mess. And then I believe I tried to make homemade gravy using that turkey, which was just too much. It was too much for my kitchen, and it’s not like I was some gravy pro who was going to make some phenomenal gravy for the fillings. So I simplified things a lot this time. I didn’t have Thanksgiving leftovers, so I got carving board turkey, a simple gravy packet, and canned cranberry sauce. It came together in about five minutes, and having the simple gravy and canned cranberry gave it that sort of “classic” taste.
And croissants themselves definitely aren’t easy to make, so I’ll cut myself some slack for that first attempt. Croissants require lamination – something that, even beyond technique, just takes up a lot of space and time for a non-commercial kitchen. And it’s easy to mess up or just not do at the same level as the pros. But, as my family has seen a lot on Bake Off, it’s possible! And I certainly think they are worth the extra effort and challenge.
I also found that if you freeze the croissants before you do the final proof, you can take them out the night before like Trader Joe’s croissants, and then freshly bake them in the morning. Which means you can keep these croissants saved in your freezer and taken them out for special occasions. Or you can freeze them and give them to people – so you’re not giving them day-old croissants, you’re giving them fresh croissants that they can enjoy whenever they want!
You may have noticed that these croissants are a bit cattywampus in their shape. They’re supposed to be like the traditional crescent shape, but with the size of the filling pockets and the size I rolled out the dough, they ended up being a bit more pain au chocolate shaped.
But, I need the record to show that I CAN in fact make a pretty good looking croissant (when there’s no filling). We’ve come a long way since the first time I made any croissants, back in high school.
This makes me want to keep working on them – try some different fillings, season the butter, etc. Get better at my technique. How much of a flex would it be to be able to keep homemade frozen croissants of different flavors in my freezer?? Although, with how good Trader Joe’s are, that might not be necessary…
Total Time:
Print
PinIngredients
Croissant Dough:
½ cup water, warm
One ¼ oz pack (1 tablespoon) instant yeast
½ cup milk, warm
3 cups flour + more for dusting
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg + 1 tsp water whisked together for egg wash
Stuffing Butter:
2 sticks + 4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons onion spice
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons black pepper
1 ½ teaspoons thyme
1 ½ teaspoon celery salt
1 ¼ teaspoons sage
Fillings:
Shredded turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce (portioned and frozen into 12 small mounds), optional
Instructions
Prepare your fillings: If you have Thanksgiving leftovers, use those. If not, prepare your turkey and gravy and cranberry sauce. Combine the turkey and gravy in a bowl, and scoop out 12 evenly size portions, placing them on a baking sheet lined with parchment and molding into an oblong shape. Scoop a little bit of cranberry sauce on top, if desired. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze.
Make the stuffing butter: In a small bowl with a sturdy spatula or electric mixer, mix the softened butter with all of the sugar and seasonings (sugar, pepper, salt, ground spices) until combined.
Scoop it out of the bowl onto plastic wrap or parchment paper, and then between 2 sheets of plastic wrap or parchment, roll the butter into a rectangle, a little less than 6” x 12”. Keeping it flat, place it in the fridge while you prepare the croissant dough.
To make the croissants: In a large bowl, whisk together warm water and instant yeast until foamy and fully dissolved. Whisk in warm milk.
Use a spatula to mix in flour, sugar, melted butter and salt until it comes together into a ball, about 2-3 minutes. Scraping any doughy remains into the bowl. Then, either in the bowl or on a clean kitchen counter, knead the dough for an additional 4-5 minutes to fully develop the gluten, where your dough will become a smooth, round mass. Flatten into a rectangle, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Lamination: Before you get going on this, reviewing a tutorial like this one to get a sense of what the process is really helps!
On a floured surface, roll the rectangle out to 2x the size of the stuffing butter rectangle 6” x 24”. Place the butter rectangle in the middle and fold the dough over to cover completely. Turn this dough packet 90-degrees then out to the original size of the rectangle (double its current size), dusting the surface and rolling pin, as needed.
Visually divide the rectangle into quarters, then fold each end of the dough into the middle. Then, fold the dough again at that center line. The dough will be four layers tall. This is called a double book fold.
Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 mins.
Repeat this rolling out to 6” x 24” and double book folding process 2 more times, rotating the right edges of the dough 90-degrees each time.
After the third go and 30 min refrigeration, on a floured surface, roll out the dough one last time, 6” x 40”, nearly two times its standard rolling length. Cut the dough into 12 back-to-back triangles. Place one of the frozen filling mounds onto the wider end of each triangle. Roll each into crescent form, tightly around the filling.
Place on 2 greased baking sheets, about 4 inches apart and cover loosely in plastic to proof (rise, in a warm place) for 60 minutes.
Alternatively: if you are wanting to save a few of these (or planning to share some with people for the holiday season), you can cover these in plastic or place them in a Ziploc and place them in the freezer. Then, when you’re ready to have them, you can take them out of the freezer the night before and place them on a baking sheet, 4 inches apart, and allow them to thaw and do their final prove over night, before following the rest of the recipe.
If allowing to do their prove without freezing, at 45 minutes, heat the oven to 375F.
Just before putting your croissants in the oven, use a brush or your fingers and gently coat the tops in the egg wash mixture (made by whisking the egg and 1 tsp water together).
Bake the croissants at 375F for 18-20 minutes or until a deep golden brown all around and your kitchen smells like a savory fall spiced heaven.
Cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before digging in while warm or wait until they cool to room temperature.
Notes
From Milk Bar