Vegan Croissants |Cooking With Amanda

Baking bread is a regular occurrence in our home. These days, even my little girls know how to mix up dough and how to knead. We love making Hard Poppy Seed Rolls to go with our dinner or to make sandwiches for our lunches.

But when it comes to bread, there are few baked goods that I enjoy more than a warm croissant. Buttery, flaky, golden croissants. Plain or with a simple smear of jam will do the trick. But oh my goodness, if they have chocolate inside I'm in utter and complete heaven.

Ooo! Fruit or cheese inside make them even more special. There are so many wonderful ways to enjoy these delicate pastries, but if you're vegan or eating dairy-free then croissants probably aren't really your thing. They have a ridiculous amount of butter in them making them not so very vegan.

So what's a croissant lovin' gal to do when a flakey croissant craving comes on? She makes vegan croissants, of course. Thanks to vegan butters on the market, this is totally doable. The finished product come out just as magnificent. I wish I could say making vegan croissants was less time consuming that making regular old croissants. Sadly, I cannot.

Croissants are truly a labor of love, but they are oh so worth it! Still warm, fresh from the oven, they're an incredible indulgence. Croissants are wonderful all alone or even better beside a warm bowl of soup. This vegan croissant recipe also makes wonderfully fancy sandwich bread. How about croissant French toast? Cinnamon loves croissants.

Oh, and the smell! The smell of golden croissants baking wafts through your entire home, making it so very hard to wait for them to emerge from the oven. But once they do, it's all been worth the wait and the time that it took to make them. The lightly crisp exterior gives way to layers and layers of tender buttery bread. It's intoxicatingly delicious.

Editor's Note: Maddy, one of our favorite little Food Fanatics, helped her mom write this post, and we just wanted to say, thanks, Maddy, for being awesome, and taste-testing these croissants for us. You're the sweetest!

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Vegan Croissants Recipe

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Ingredients

2 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks earth balance buttery sticks, cubed and chilled
1/2 cup almond milk
3 tablespoons coconut sugar, or other granulated sweetener
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

For the Eggless Egg Wash:

1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon molasses

Directions

In a small saucepan, heat the almond milk over medium heat until steam just begins to rise. Remove the milk from the heat and add the sugar and yeast. Stir to combine and set aside until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the cubed Earth Balance, salt and flour in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles small crumbs.
Combine the flour/butter mixture and the yeast mixture in a bowl and fold until the dough just comes together, being careful to not overmix.
Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, press the dough together, wrap and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Roll the chilled dough out on a lightly floured surface, about 1/4 inch thick. The dough may crack a little.
Fold the dough rectangle in three, like a letter (fold the top third down, and then the bottom third up) Flip the dough over so the seam side is down, cover and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes. Repeat these steps three times.
Roll the dough out for a final time, and cut the dough into 10 long triangles. Gently roll each triangle, starting at the wide end, and roll toward the small end.
Cover the formed croissants with plastic wrap on a parchment-lined baking sheets and allow the croissants to rise until doubled at warm room temperature, covered loosely with plastic wrap on parchment-lined baking sheets, 1 to 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine all the eggless egg wash ingredients in a small bowl and brush the croissants with the wash. Bake the croissants for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the croissants to cool on wire racks before serving.