I took a break from quick recipes and yesterday I dedicated myself to making filled croissants, which brightened our breakfast this morning.

Oh yes! After a long period of only quick recipes, I really wanted to get my hands dirty with something more complex.
Not that these croissants are complicated! Quite the opposite. But I wanted the satisfaction of taking my time and spending some time in the kitchen.
And the result of this pastime… here it is:

My initial idea was to make the same brioche dough yogurt croissants I told you about in this recipe. A tried-and-true recipe that makes excellent croissants (which I recommend).
However, when I took the ingredients out of the fridge, I realized the big jar of yogurt was practically empty. Apparently, someone had passed by for a snack 😀 so the yogurt I could count on was only about 50 grams (about 2 oz). What could I do? Give up?
Oh no! Never!

I replaced the missing yogurt with ricotta, and to give it a consistency similar to yogurt, I softened it with a bit of milk.
Along the way, I decided not to use oil or eggs. Given the intention to fill the croissants with Nutella… why not try to limit the damage? 😄
The result was a soft dough, which became very soft after rising. In fact, even more, fluffy.

So, if you too want to try eliminating oil or butter entirely, or if you are intolerant to eggs or simply ran out and don’t have the time or desire to go out and buy them… then you too can make these filled croissants.

They are perfect for breakfast!

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Other croissants on the blog: 👇

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Cheap
Rest time: 3 Hours
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 14 croissants
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups Manitoba flour
3 1/2 tbsp plain yogurt (unsweetened)
3 1/2 tbsp ricotta
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
Half cube fresh yeast
1 tsp honey
1 packet vanillin
Nutella (or jam, for filling)
powdered sugar and cocoa (for decoration)

Tools

Bowl
Rolling Pin
Knife

Steps

Pour the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center.
In a bowl, briefly work the ricotta with a little milk until you get a cream similar in consistency to yogurt.
Heat the remaining milk (it should be lukewarm, not hot), add the teaspoon of honey and the yeast. Mix well to dissolve the yeast, then pour it into the flour.
Add the yogurt, ricotta cream, and sugar.
Mix and then knead by hand or use a mixer or food processor with dough paddles.
👉 The dough is soft, if you knead it by hand I recommend flouring your hands or greasing them. Be careful not to add too much flour, or try using a little less milk and perhaps add it little by little.
Place the bowl in a sheltered place (ideally in the turned-off oven with the light on, or in the microwave after turning it on for 8-10 seconds) and let the dough rise until doubled.
After rising, roll out the dough with the rolling pin, trying to obtain a rectangular shape. Cut it in half lengthwise and then cut triangles.
If you want to make small croissants, you can divide the dough into two and repeat the operation for each half of the dough.
Spread each triangle with Nutella in the desired quantity.
👉 Having never made filled croissants before, I didn’t know exactly how much Nutella to use, so I wasn’t generous for fear that the filling would leak out during baking. It happened with some croissants, but despite this, I think next time I’ll still try to increase the filling!
Roll each triangle onto itself starting from the base. Leave the tip of each croissant under the croissant itself to prevent it from rising during baking.
Bend the ends forward to obtain the croissant shape.
Place the croissants on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put them in the turned-off oven to rise until doubled (at least half an hour, but even more).
Bake the croissants at 350-390°F (180-200°C) for about 20 minutes.
Before baking them, moisten the surface by brushing them with water or milk, but they can also be left natural.
Remove from oven and let them cool on a wire rack.
Dust with powdered sugar or cocoa. I mixed sugar and cocoa and decorated them with the obtained mixture.
Enjoy warm.