Croissants!

CROISSANTS

Dollars spent on cooking ingredients and supplies for this week's croissants: 25

Calls made to different local markets to find the smallest bag possible of non-fat dry milk for the croissants: 5

Different sized trays used to cook the 35 croissants: 6

Total hours spent preparing and cooking croissants: 3.5

Finally making the most perfect chocolate croissants and seeing my progress as a baker: Priceless

This week after watching the movie "It's Complicated", staring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, I became infatuated by the idea of making chocolate croissants. During a scene in the movie where Meryl Streep and Steve Martin make chocolate croissant as a late night snack, I thought about how I have never made them before and that this weekend would be the opportunity to. The process looked very fun so I decided to try it out, and I am VERY happy I did!

I decided to make the croissants from scratch because even though it was more time consuming and it made things a bit more difficult, I wanted to see all the ingredients come together and bake the croissants knowing that I made them without the help of Pillsbury or Betty Crocker. The non-fat dry milk was very hard to find though considering the fact that they only sell it in large bags, when I only needed about a cup. But it was totally worth it because making these croissants was totally different from other brownies or cakes that I had made before. To make the croissants I had to use yeast which changes the baking process. I learned how to work with foods that need to rise and how to be more efficient in the kitchen when it comes to time management. In the end I felt great satisfaction once I had that first bite and realized that not only were the croissants edible (thank goodness!), but they were actually very tasty.

Here are some pictures throughout the process:

Looks fun, no?

Yesterday morning was my 4th visit and 4th donation to PATH, and I've got to say that every time I walk in there, I leave feeling a bit happier knowing that my baked goods are putting more and more smiles on peoples faces. Not only do I get great satisfaction when Chanee, the receptionist at PATH, gives me a warm welcome and "hello" each week making me feel like I have had even the slightest impact on their daily lives, but I always look forward to opening my box of goods for the week to show her what I've made and see her reaction of "oohs" and "aahs". From what she has told me they have been enjoying what I've cooked up for them so far, so I plan on continuing this for many more weeks to come. Incase any of you would like to donate food, toiletries, or clothes to PATH see below for a picture of the shelter and further information.

Website:

http://www.epath.org/index_01.php

Address and Phone number:

2346 Cotner Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 996-0034

Here is also the website link with the recipe for the croissants incase any of you would like to try making them at home.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,174,147188-255206,00.html

E-mail me at amashian@mchschool.org if you have any suggestions or ideas of fun and different foods to make for other weeks!!

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker