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.