Crispy, Sweet, and Addictive: Make Viral Flat Caramelised Croissants in 5 Minutes!

One of the most delicious viral trends is the Flat Caramelised Croissant. It is so easy to make (5 minutes cooking tops!). Take a whole croissant and then flatten it out and then melt butter and honey and then fry for a couple of minutes on both sides. The croissant with crisp up even further upon cooling. Dip it into some chocolate with some freeze dried berries and you will have such a delicious, sweet snack. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

Sometimes Tiktok trends are great, some are not. This flat croissant falls into the utterly delicious and divine category. It's SO easy and I have to gently say that you should not skip the chocolate dip. That makes it even better, especially with the tartness of the freeze dried berries! At the risk of angering some French people who will probably find this an utter abomination (désolée!) this is a great way to use up stale croissants that would otherwise be discarded. So let's learn how to make Flat Croissants!

Tips for Making Flat Croissants

1 - Flat croissants are a great frugal recipe if you have day old stale croissants. Just make sure that they are all butter croissants as the butter flavour is what makes these taste so, so good.

2 - Using honey will give you a lighter coloured result than brown sugar but I found that brown sugar caramelised a bit too easily (I had to discard my first croissant using brown sugar as it was too burnt).

3 - The key is to control the heat so that the caramel doesn't burn. For this reason I'd suggest starting with a honey butter caramelised croissant first and only using medium heat. High heat will burn the caramel too quickly.

4 - Make sure to cook these for 2 minutes on each side only but keep flipping until all the caramel is used.

5 - I used a large cast iron pot that fit into the frying pan but I also pushed it down while it was frying. If you have a smaller pot that you can push down that will also work. Some people suggest a pot with water but that could be messy (and I'm clumsy!).

6 - Don't worry if your caramelised croissant isn't hard when you take it out of the pan. The caramel will harden up upon cooling. The brown sugar caramel ones harden up quicker than the honey ones.

7 - The quantities below are for medium sized croissants. You can also use large croissants but you will have to adjust the amount of caramel according to the weight because you want to make sure that you have enough caramel.

I tried my very first flat croissant on the weekend and loved it so much that I became OBSESSED with recreating it. Sophia and I were on our way to Parramatta to a restaurant for lunch. It's a bit of a drive but I love adventures so I drove us. Even though I grew up in Sydney, I'm not great with knowing which suburbs are where. I'm the person that puts something into google maps and then follows it. Mr NQN is one of those people that looks up the route before leaving. My method drives him crazy as he thinks it is chaotic.

We were halfway there and stopped at a light when I looked to my right and saw that there was a Costco. I said to Sophia, "Oh look, Costco!" and she replied that she hadn't ever been there. So an impromptu plan was made to go to Costco and then she pointed out KMall (Korean Mall) opposite. It had just opened and I had seen it all over TikTok so we decided to go there too since we were in the neighbourhood. "Can we do that much food?" I said to her, as much as to myself. Because the original plan was just to go out to lunch and be back by 3:30pm but now we were going to Costco to do food shopping and then a Korean superstore and then we also passed by a burger place that we had always wanted to go to. "Sure!" she said shrugging. I let Mr NQN know that I wouldn't be home until late.

South Korea is actually where keu-loong-gi or flat croissants come from and this bakery sold huge flat croissants. They were thin and crisp and caramelised and utterly delicious. The butter flavour shone through (that's why I really urge you to buy butter croissants for this) and while it was good I think this version that is chocolate dipped is even better! I'm all for changed plans when they spawn new obsessions.

So tell me Dear Reader, are you someone that looks up the route of where you are driving first or do you just put into the GPS and follow it? Have you ever tried Flat Croissants?

Flat Croissant

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 2 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes per croissant

Serves: 3

• 3x70g/2.5ozs butter croissants
• 60g/2ozs butter, divided into 3
• 90g/3ozs brown sugar or honey, divided into 3
• 100g/3.5ozs ruby or pink tinted white chocolate (optional)
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil or mild flavoured oil (optional)
• 6 freeze dried raspberries (optional)
• You will also need a non stick pan, rolling pin, 3 large sheets of parchment and a cast iron pot or other heavy weight

Step 1 - With a small rolling pin, gently press down on each croissant, flattening it. Be gentle about this and don't tear them. Place a third of the butter in a pan on medium heat and melt. Then add the honey or sugar and stir and form a caramel. Gather the caramel in the centre of the pan and place the croissant on the caramel.

Step 2 -Cover with the parchment and then the heavy pot and press down and wait for 2 minutes. Then remove the pot and the paper and gently flip it over pushing as much caramel underneath the other side. Place the paper and the pot on again and weigh down for 2 minutes. If there is still caramel in the pan spoon it over the croissant and then place on the parchment paper to cool. Repeat with the other croissants.

Step 3 -Melt the chocolate in a microwave or double boiler until melted. Stir in the oil and mix until smooth. Dip the croissant in the chocolate (I love the chocolate dip so much I dipped the whole back in the chocolate). Sprinkle with the freeze dried raspberries and allow the chocolate to set.

Flat croissants are best eaten on the day for maximum crispness. Store for up to 1 day in an airtight container.