cookies! brownies! croissants!

what a glorious weekend! we spent about half of it outdoors - there was an epic neighbourhood snowball fight - and half of it indoors. baking!

i made black bean brownies:

"wowbutter" cookies (aka peanut butter cookies made with a nut-free school-safe substitute):

and something i haven't made since i was a kid - butterscotch brownies!

they were so very very good that i'm certain we'll be making more soon.

finally, we made croissants!

or, to be more precise, we started making croissants. because they take a fair amount of time, including an overnight rest before the final rise.

i used to make croissants on a semi-regular basis, but it had been a long while. the dough was lovely to work with, so lovely and silky!

mmm, butter.

much rolling and folding went on. here's a look at the rested dough, ready to shape:

it's hard to see, but i brushed the centre of the circle with a little milk, in order to help glue the points in place. when i used to make these, back in the day, i remember them unrolling as they puffed up in the oven! the milk trick worked, thankfully.

they start out looking a little wormy...

... but puffed up nicely after an hour.

so tasty! so flakey! so doing this again!

croissants

1 cup tepid water or milk (or a mix of the two)
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
egg beaten with milk for glazing

mix 3 tsp of the liquid with sugar and yeast and leave to sponge for 15 minutes.

sift together flour and salt, and rub in 2 oz butter. cut the remaining butter in small pieces.

add frothy yeast to remaining liquid and mix into flour. knead for 10 minutes.

roll into a rectangle about 10" x 20". dot 2/3 with half the remaining butter. fold dough in thirds, encasing the butter.

rotate 90 degrees, and roll, butter, and fold again as before.

fold again, then rest in the fridge for an hour.

roll and fold twice more, then let rest overnight in the fridge.

the next day, divide the dough in two. roll each piece into a large circle, turn over, and cut into 6 wedges. roll each up from the outside to inside, brushing milk on the point to help stik it in place.

curve into crescent shapes, place on greased sheet, and let double in a warm place.

brush with a mix of beaten egg and milk, and bake at 350f for 25 minutes.