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| Pistachio Croissant-Doughnuts |
This is the best croissant-doughnut that I've ever had so far, and it was made right in front of my own eyes. A pistachio croissant-doughnut, it's filled with a pistachio white chocolate ganache and chopped pistachios in the middle and frosted with pastel green-tinded royal icing.
The pistachio filling was divine, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to ask for a dollop more when seconds of the creamy filling were offered.
I did, however, lick every trace of it off my fingers despite my better judgment, because, because... my heart ached at the thought of any ounce of it going to waste.
The croissant-doughnut base was a story in itself. I had seen it bob about in hot oil as it cooked but not a drop of excess oil stained my lips when I bit into it. It was light, flaky-crisp (just as I had dreamed it to be), and sinfully buttery. Forget the hype that surrounds this pastry. This is seriously good food, pure and simple.
The bad part about this is that these sweet babies aren't commercially available.
This outrageously delicious pastry was the product of a demo conducted by Chef Marc Chalopin at Enderun Colleges. Armed with an expertly developed recipe and the culinary precision characteristic of a seasoned French chef, Chef Marc led us through the intricacies of recreating the wildly popular brainchild of chef Dominique Ansel, the Cronut™.
Asked whether any croissant recipe would do, Chef Marc vehemently says no. He's tried, he says, and the thing that came out of the deep-fryer, whatever it was, looked like an accordion. Needless to say, cutting an ordinary croissant dough into a doughnut shape and deep frying it does not make a croissant-doughnut.
Now, my friends know that I am not a morning person. Definitely not on a weekend. The demo was held on a Saturday, from 9am to 12nn, in a venue located 21 kilometers away from where I live.
When asked whether it was worth breaking my own quirky conventions, I answer: Are you kidding me? I had the chance to taste a doughnut-croissant made by the executive chef of Ducasse Institute Philippines with the added bonus of watching him actually make it. Of course it was worth it.
I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.
I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.
To catch more informative and fulfilling short courses and learn more about Enderun, visit http://www.enderuncolleges.com/ and http://www.enderunextension.com/
Photo credits: All of the photographs in this post save for the last three are courtesy of Enderun Extension. (I was too preoccupied to take decent pictures. For obvious reasons.)
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