Croissants For Afternoon Tea?

Serving croissants for afternoon tea can be a delightful twist on tradition! While traditional afternoon tea includes items like finger sandwiches, scones, and pastries, croissants offer a French-inspired variation that adds a light, flaky element to the spread. Here’s how you can incorporate croissants into afternoon tea:

1. Mini Croissants

• Serve mini croissants for easy handling. You can offer plain croissants or fill them with different ingredients to align with the traditional savory and sweet balance of afternoon tea.

2. Savory Fillings

• Ham & Cheese: Classic croissant sandwiches with ham and cheese.
• Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese: A sophisticated option that pairs well with afternoon tea.
• Herbed Chicken Salad: Light and flavorful for a savory bite.

3. Sweet Fillings

• Chocolate Croissants: Add a hint of decadence with pain au chocolat.
• Almond Croissants: These sweet treats bring richness and a crunchy texture to the spread.
• Fruit & Cream: Serve croissants with jam, clotted cream, or fresh fruit fillings like strawberries.

4. Accompaniments

• Offer a variety of teas that pair well with croissants, such as Earl Grey, Darjeeling, or Chamomile.
• Add side elements like fresh fruit, macarons, or mini éclairs to elevate the tea experience.

5. Presentation

• Serve on tiered trays, mixing croissants with other traditional items like scones and pastries for a visually appealing presentation.
• Cut the croissants into halves or quarters if serving larger ones, making them easier to manage with tea.

This blend of French pastry with traditional British tea will give a modern, elegant touch to your afternoon tea!

Here is an article, along with illustrated instructions on how to make croissants in Fanny Cradock’s cooking magazine from the 1970s. There’s also a few vintage recipe cards from the 1960s.

Contrary to the general conception, at any rate in this island, croissants are not French. They were created in 1686 by the bakers of Budapest. The story is such a pretty one that we take time off to tell it to you and hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.

During the siege of Budapest by the Turks and when their forces surrounded the city walls, the guards on the parapets fell asleep one night, leaving only the bakers of the town awake and at work as usual. These bakers heard strange sounds so they immediately awoke the sleeping guards. Then, straightaway, they sounded the alarm and roused the soldiery. They were therefore directly responsible for the driving back of the Turks, who were tun­nelling under the walls. The following morning the City Fathers collected the Town Crier, formed a procession and marched through the beleaguered city with their leader, who declared that by the intervention of the bakers the city had been saved from her attackers and that, as a reward and in honour of the occasion, they were to create a new bread to be a per­petuation of the event.

Those bakers took their inspiration from the crescents on the sleeves of the Turks’ ottomans! Hence croissants which eventu­ally found their way to France.

how to make cold yeast dough

In Part no. 13 we showed you how to make Emergency Croissants — substitute ones — from bought frozen puff paste. In this Part we give you something very special—real croissants. These used to take 8 hours to make—through the night; but we shall have to share something which puts an end to that nonsense! As a matter of fact we discovered, many years ago, that the statement that everything must always be warm for yeast work to be suc­cessful can be fallacious for croissants and many other items we hope to share with you later on. There is much use of cold yeast dough in Scandinavia, notably in Denmark, where the pastry cooks are superb and too little appreciated. As a re­sult of what we tasted and saw in some of the greatest pastry Cooks’ kitchens, we are able to offer you now a cold croissant dough for which nothing needs warming and if there is a draught in the kitchen and the door is left open it makes not a halfpenny of difference! Moreover this dough—as hostess Fanny and host Johnnie have found to their delight—can be made up, refrigerated and drawn on at will for up to 7 days and indeed we have kept the dough for 10 days successfully! Then, when you require fresh croissants to be served piping hot to your guests and it is you who get up and prepare the tray-load, you can whip the dough from the refriger­ator, cut off the required piece, cut and roll the croissants and slip them into the oven for 13-14 minutes without any prov­ing, while you make the tea or coffee and do the rest of the guest-breakfast chores.

There is, however, one thing about which you must be extremely careful. You can only make highly successful croissants with this dough from, the first rolling.

Once the croissants are cut from the rolled out dough, the trimmings cannot be re-rolled for croissants’, but they can be used for very puffy pastry paste dough as if you were using real puff paste. As if that were not enough, if you roll scraps of these trimmings out very thinly and stamp them out into fancy shapes, you can toss them into slightly smoking hot fat and let them blow up like little Bleriot balloons for sifting with icing sugar and serving as a quick pudding. Like this you can also make twists for vanilla sticks.

Butter Dough Mixture

• 1 lb. butter
• 1 1/2 oz. flour

Yeast Dough Mixture:

• 1 1/2 oz. bakers’ yeast
• 1 oz. castor sugar
• 1 egg
• 8 fl. oz. water
• 15 oz. sifted flour

HOW TO CUT AND ROLL CROISSANTS

Now your croissants are ready. Brush all over with raw beaten egg and bake, one shelf above centre, Gas Mark 6 or 400°F., until richly brown

© Copyright text and images: Fanny and Johnnie Cradock 1971

Here are some variations on the basic recipe, taken from vintage recipe cards from the 1970s. If you don’t want to try the basic recipe above, then buy the croissants from your local supermarket and follow the recipes below.

CREAMY EGG CROISSANTS

• 50g/2oz butter
• 1 Vegetable Oxo cube
• 4 croissants or soft baps
• 4 slices ham
• 4 eggs
• pepper
• 50g/2oz cream cheese.

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan then crumble in the Oxo cube.
2. Split the croissants horizontally then slip a slice of ham in each. Put on a baking tray and brush the top of the croissants with some of the flavoured butter. Warm in a hot oven.
3. Beat the eggs with 60ml/4 tbsp water and season with pepper. Pour into the saucepan with the flavoured butter and heat gently, stirring, until creamy. Immediately flake in the cheese and stir gently together.
4. Spoon the scrambled eggs into the hot croissants and serve immediately.

Microwave Method

1. Put the butter in a medium bowl and cook about 1 min. until melted. Crumble in the Oxo cube.
2. As above, cooking conventionally.
3. Beat the eggs and 60ml/4 tbsp water into the flavoured butter. Season with pepper. Cook for about 2’h min.. stirring frequently, until creamy. Immediately flake in the cheese and stir gently together.
4. As above.

Serves 2-4

© Copyright Oxo Ltd

Hot Seafood Croissants

Preparation: 15 mins    Cooking:  5mins

These croissants make a quick and tasty snack or serve them as a starter to a main light meal.

For 4 servings

• 4 large croissants
• 1 large tomato, cut in 4 slices
• 100 g (4 oz) fresh crabmeat or a 175 g (6 oz) can, drained
• 50 g (2 oz) Cheddar cheese, grated
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• few drops Tabasco
• paprika (optional)
• lettuce leaves and tomato slices, to serve

These croissants can be made with other types of fish such as prawns or tuna or with the imita­tion crab sticks now widely available.

Preparation

1. Cut croissants in half horizon­tally. Toast cut sides lightly under grill

2. Put a slice of tomato onto bottom half of each croissant.

3. Mix together the crab, cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice and Tabasco.

4. Divide mixture between crois­sants, spooning onto tomato slices. Put back under the grill for 2-3 mins until filling is lightly browned.

5. Sprinkle with paprika, if using, and top with the other half of crois­sants. Serve at once with lettuce and tomato

© Copyright My Favourite Recipes

Curried Savoury Croissants

Preparation: 15 mins. Cooking: 10-15 mins

These croissants, filled with a delicious combination of ham, chicken, asparagus and cheese, are served with a curry sauce.

For 4 servings

• 4 large croissants
• 4 thin slices cooked ham
• 4 thin slices cooked chicken breast
• 280 g (10 oz) can asparagus spears, drained
• 4 thin slices Gruyere cheese

Curry Sauce

• 15 g (1/2 oz) butter
• 15 g (1/2 oz) plain flour
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 75 ml (3 fl oz) chicken stock
• 50 ml (2 fl oz) single cream
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp apricot jam
• salt and pepper, to taste

Variation: If croissants are not avail­able, this snack is equally good made with crusty rolls.

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 180C (350F/Gas 4). Cut croissants in half horizontally and place on a baking tray. Put a slice each of ham and chicken onto bottom half of each croissant.

2. Divide asparagus between crois­sants and top with a slice of cheese.

3. Replace croissant tops and cook in oven for 10-15 mins, until heated through.

4. To make sauce, melt butter in small pan, add flour and curry pow­der and cook for 1 min, stirring. Add stock, cream, lemon juice, jam and salt and pepper. Bring to boil and simmer for 2-3 mins, stirring. Serve with the croissants.

Good served with: Clear soup for lunch or supper.

Sausage and Mustard Croissants

Preparation: 5 mins  Cooking:   20 mins

Any type of sausage can be used here, but the Lincolnshire variety with herbs suits the wholegrain mustard best.

For 4 servings

• 215 g (7 1/2 oz) frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 4 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 4 herb sausages, cooked
• beaten egg, to glaze

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 200 C (400 F/Gas 6). Roll out pastry to an oblong approx­imately 13 x 25 cm (5 x 10 inch). Cut into 2 squares, then cut each square in half diagonally to make 4 triangles.

2. Spread one teaspoon of the mus­tard along the long edge of each triangle and place a sausage on top. Brush the tip of each triangle with beaten egg, then roll the pastry around the sausage and place the rolls on a lightly oiled baking tray.

3. Brush with beaten egg and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. Transfer to plate and serve.

Good served with: Crisp lettuce and a tomato and onion salad.

© Copyright My Favourite Recipes

© Copyright My Favourite Recipes