JasmineRichelleBakes: Matcha Croissants

Yes for 2018 being in full swing. It's time to kick off my January bakes. I decided to only do Matcha bakes, mainly because I've always wanted to bake with Matcha and I have a lot of Matcha I need to use that was just hanging out in my pantry. Matcha is a really finely ground green tea powder from Japan. It has an earthy, grassy taste sometimes, I think it pairs really well with raspberry, or citrus and in the baking world you can't go wrong with adding in some white chocolate. I decided to ease into the matcha bakes by baking croissants and adding some matcha cream cheese filling to a couple. They turned out great. Next time I bake these I will add more filling. I was scared that the filling would ooze out while in the oven. Also I might flavor the dough with matcha but I was concerned that people would think the flavor was too strong, so I opted into just doing a filling on some and still bake butter, and almond croissants. So now that everyone has dipped their toes into the matcha pool next weeks Matcha bake will definitely involve more Matcha Flavor.

Matcha Croissants

I really loved how these turned out. I think they looked really yummy. They were super flakey, crispy and had lots of buttery layers. I also had freeze dried raspberries in the pantry that I ground with some powdered sugar and made a yummy raspberry dust for the tops of some of the Matcha Croissants.

Matcha filled croissant with raspberry powder

Here's what you are going to need

Croissant Dough

500 g unbleached all-purpose flour + (extra for dusting work surface)
140 g water
140 g whole milk (you can take it straight from the fridge)
55 g sugar
40 g soft unsalted butter
11 g instant yeast (if you buy those little packets it's exactly two)
12 g salt

Butter layer

280g of good quality unsalted butter (that's around 10oz)

Matcha Filling

4 oz of softened cream cheese (1/2 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons of good matcha powder
1 teaspoon of orange extract (optional)
3/4 to 1 cup of powdered sugar (depends on your taste)

Additional items for croissants

1 egg + tablespoon of (cream, milk, or water)
good quality white chocolate
almond paste
slivered almonds
powdered sugar
matcha powder

Since I've made croissants on this blog before I will post the link to the original post for detailed pictures and instructions

How to make Croissants

So lets make the Matcha Filling which is super easy.

Take your softened cream cheese and orange extract and place it in a bowl.

Take your powdered sugar and matcha powdered and stir together in a small bowl

Sift the powdered sugar + Matcha powder over your cream cheese

sifting helps with lumps

Mix until all combined. If you need to add more powdered sugar. If you added too much powdered sugar and your mixture is too thick and hard to stir add a tablespoon of milk. The consistency should be like a thick glue.

Matcha Cream Cheese Filling

Place your Matcha Cream cheese in the fridge until you are ready to fill your croissants.

Now you should have your croissant dough rolled and cut out after following the instructions on how to make croissants

You are ready to fill these croissants.

Take your croissant triangle of dough and place about a tablespoon of filling at the base of your croissant.

Starting from the base of the triangle carefully roll the croissant up with the palm of your hand.The point of the triangle should be under your rolled croissant

look at that Matcha filling from the side

so cute, ready to rise....

Brush on the egg wash and let the croissants proof for 2 hours

Before the croissants bake in the oven brush on another coating of egg wash. This is also where you will place any hard toppings like slivered almonds or sesame seeds.