We open on a girl in her mid-twenties, sipping a cup of black coffee while packing a granny shopping cart filled to the brim with the day’s supplies. In goes butter, salt and vinegar chips, a bread cookbook, a swimsuit, sunscreen (SPF 70…naturally – look at that fair skin), orange juice, three bottles of champagne, and a yellow Kitchen Aid mixer affectionately named “Buttercup.” She counts, “one, two, three, ok got ’em all,” ties her hair up in a messy bun, and heads down the DC streets towards the metro. The day really begins at 10:30 with a mimosa toast, and the two girls turn to the croissant recipe…

And so the epic culinary adventure began. But seriously, what’s the longest you’ve ever spent on one recipe? Now double it…at least. ELEVEN glorious hours croissanting with Elizabeth and worth every minute. Croissants are a labor of love – and patience. There’s a lot of down time when your glorious layers of butter and dough are chilling in the fridge, so you have to come prepared for a full day at home.

As soon as we had this little baby resting in the fridge, we went straight for the Chinese takeout. We sat up on the roof, soaking up the sun, and sat out in our suits for that first bit of color after a long winter. The timer went off and we went in for the first of four “turns” – the rolling, folding, and refrigerating of the dough and butter block. That’s right, I said “butter block.” It’s probably better that you just enjoy the croissants and not think about how much butter goes into those little puppies. Why do you think they taste like HEAVEN?…the answer is almost always butter. And more butter.

We cracked open another champagne and talked while listening to some jams including, but not limited to: TSwift, Imagine Dragons, Luke Bryan, Passion Pit, the Band Perry, Matt & Kim, Carly Rae, and Walk the Moon. Then headed back downstairs for another turn.

And then another…

You’ve got it now.

And finally we were ready to roll and cut triangles to shape our croissants! (Time check? 8PM. Yeah.) But look at those cuties!!!

Once they rose, we were ready to bake! Admittedly, we had a little trouble with the rising portion here, so they didn’t turn out as picture-perfect as we’d hoped, but that sure didn’t change the taste!

It smelled GLORIOUS in that entire house. I’m very serious when it comes to my French bakeries, and this house almost smelled just like one. Fact: it’s my personal heaven. Annie and I once found a vent outside a French bakery in Bordeaux that was just pumping out that warm, freshly baked goodness…yeah, we stayed there for a while.

We tasted our croissants around 9:30, and it was sheer joy. The recipe said to let them rest for half an hour! Psht! Thirty minutes, are you kidding me?! I think we waited ten, and only because I was taking pictures :)

All-in-all a wonderful culinary adventure with ma girl Elizabeth :D

Here’s what we did:

Honestly, I can’t post this recipe. You’re going to have to pick up the Tartine cookbook and the Bread Bible – we sort of took the Bread Bible recipe and Tartine methodology. They’re both about five pages of text, so I’m just gonna send you there! (Just a little tip: I like to get cookbooks from the library to test them out before I buy them, so that’s definitely a good option here!)