cheese. cheese. cheese. cheese croissants.

I finally tackled home-made croissants this past Saturday— an all day affair. I have been too intimidated by the whole process for a long time, and finally got my friend to take a croissant class with me about four months ago through Baking Arts teacher, Richard. I knew I could make croissants, but felt it would be easiest to learn great technique from a pro rather than navigate myself through recipe instructions. The hands on teaching approach was definitely the way to go. Not only was the class fun, educational and yummy (we ate croissants throughout the whole lesson), I came away feeling totally confident in making croissants in my own kitchen.

I learned great dough-rolling technique for the delicate yeasted pastry dough, how to mold the butter into a square shape, and how to slice and roll the dough into (almost) flawless crescent shapes.

So four months later, I found myself with an entire day to make croissants and I couldn't have been more happy to spend the cold, overcast day in May in good 'ol San Francisco in my kitchen baking away. I even made my (mom's) famous Banana Bread while the dough rested in the fridge between steps.

Certainly not perfect, but far from failure, I made homemade croissants—plain crescent shaped ones, filled cheesy ones, and cinnamon-sugar twists (from the extra dough).

Check. It. Out.What's better than sharp cheddar wrapped up in a blanket of flaky buttery dough layers?

(Photos uploaded from iPhone. More photos coming soon...)

I'm itching to find a whole day to make them again, because I know they will come out even better, practice makes perfect.