New York Croissants Guide

 Manhattan and its' sister boroughs will be the hot spot of many a vacationer this summer. Yes people come for the city's thin crust, tomato and mozzarella rich pizza yet there's another treat to consider. The city makes a good croissant and variations of it. The question is where to go for bite of flaky ,buttery goodness.

New contributor and food critic Mahira River gave the most comprehensive guide to finding this French class in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday Food section. A croissant crawl is a worthy side trip to any Manhattan visitor. There are so many bakeries that produce good ones.The best bakeries are int he trendiest neighborhoods like SoHo and Chelsea. Visit the alf Bakery in the Chelsea Market. The baker Amadou Ly creates a twice baked croissant that's more like a cookie. He adds bittersweet chocolate and almonds for a crunchy bite.Check out another Chelsea classic Le Bergamot, known for their luscious cakes also has a melt in your  mouth croissant that breaks off in feathery shards  when bitten. Chelsea also has Tall Poppy that has a mouthwatering cruffin -a croissant and muffins hybrid,It also has a thick dab of chive cream cheese in the middle for a a different kind of lunch.No Ho (North of Houston street) has trendy restaurants and shops but it also has Lafayette Grand Cagfe & Bakery . The pastry chef there creates a croissant with a flavor between toasted bread and tangy butter.It i beautiful to look at too.It is deeply bronzed with a layering that looks like grained wood.

The boroughs have all sorts of neat eateries and shops. These are worth visiting as well as their bakeries creating croissants. park Slope is as trendy as New York City  neighborhoods go. stop in and see Miolin. Chef Claudio Miolin has elevated the chocolate croissant by adding cocoa to the dough and filling the middle with silky dollops of Nutella. Brooklyn Heights, long know for excellent eateries and luxury brownstones has L"Appartement 4 F. Owners Gautier and Ashley Coiffard even created a croissant cereal made up of tiny crescents. Yet their fan base is all for their regular sized ones, with their sweetly buttery and a tad salty flavor. Astoria may be known for souvlaki and gyros but surprisingly  there are some good bakeries to find melt in your mouth croissants. Bench Flour Bakers gives just plain croissants - nothing filled with almond or croissant. These are just perfect with coffee.There is also someday Bakery which features the black tahini croissant.It's stuffed with a nutty tahini frangipane and twice baked with a cap of black sesame brittle. someday's also has savory croissants that would make for a perfect lunch. There's also Gowanus Runner & Stone that bake their croissants with New York State grown and milled flours ,

Visit New York for the croissants.There's a wide variety of them to choose from. enjoy a a buttery bite with an iced coffee for the ultimate city experience.

Christmas Cookies Part OneThe Making

 What is Christmas without festive cookies? That's what many are thinking as bakers of all levels pursue th tradition of making a plate. I went into the cookie fray  -

I wanted to use my new cookie cutters from Wilton . And what better than using them on WIlton cookie dough.

This is not a dough for the faint hearted.

Since I also bake vegan I had to sub in Melt for butter and used Lucerne egg whites for the egg. The rest is basic cookie dough. It does have to be mixed in two bowls. First i'ts reaming two sticks of butter with a cup of granulated sugar and one egg. Also three and a quarter cups of flour is sifted with a teaspoon of baking powder and a quarter teaspoon of salt.The flour is added to the mix one cup at a time until a sticky ball is formed. It's then dividing it into two rectangular loaves

Here comes the fun part  - rolling it out. This was a dough to be reckoned with. The rolling pin and table had to be floured over a few times

It's rolling it out to a twleve inch circle, (More square in my case) and 1/8th of an inch thick (more like half an inch in my case). It's then using the floured cutters to cut out the shapes

This is the first batch, before baking

Thye look anemic and it took twenty minutes to bake as opposed to the usual eight to ten minutes

 This is them baked. The yield is around thirty. The dough became flaky and crumbly after four or five rolling out and it was impossible to cut shapes.

You can see how it got crumbly and how it sticks to the rolling pin despite all the flour used.

                                 This is the entire batch , waiting to be iced .I did do a taste test and it is a very pleasant almond flavor

Tomorrow will be the finishing touches to turn them into holiday gems. They will be transformed into multicolored holiday treats. There are Santas, snowmen and lights waiting to be decorated.