Homemade Holiday Truffles

Whether they're a co-worker, your child's favorite teacher, a neighbor across the street or your go-to dry cleaner, everyone deserves a little a holiday cheer and what says cheer better than homemade truffles??

Sunday afternoon I spent the day with my mother making chocolates for Christmas gifts. 

We talked about friends and family and gossiped over the latest Real Housewives, all the while filling candy molds with melting chocolates and whipping up different varieties of fillings.

It's afternoons like this that I'm extremely thankful to be so close to home, especially around the holidays. 

Not only are these truffles extremely easy to make, they're absolutely delicious and make for a perfect gift.

All you need are some flavor boosters including liquors, wine, peanut butter and different flavored chips...

melting chocolates, whole bunch of chocolate chips, heavy cream, a paint brush, some candy melt bottles and candy molds (all bought at your local Michaels).

I wish I would have taken some pictures of the process, but I left my camera on the counter as I rushed out of our house on my way to my moms so all the photos are from my iphone. It's pretty easy though and hopefully this tutorial will do the trick!

First thing you have to do is make your fillings... I started with a basic ganache and then added the flavor boosters. Make sure you add your flavors at the end of the process or your ganache will separate and it will not be pretty or tasty for that matter.

Ganache

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 TBS butter

Flavor boosters

1/4 cup liquor 

1/2 cup sweet red wine

2 heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter

In a small saucepan, heat 1/4 cup of water till boiling- you'll be using this for a double boiler.
Place chocolate chips in a large, heatproof bowl.
In a medium saucepan, heat heavy cream over medium heat until just simmering. *You don't want your cream to boil so make sure you keep stirring and really watch it.
Pour heavy cream over chocolate chips and mix gently so cream starts to melt the chocolate.
Move bowl on top of boiling water and stir until chips are completely melted and mixture is smooth.
Stir in butter and mix until mixture is smooth and butter is completely melted.
Slowly add in flavor booster- stirring until combined. (If you just wanted chocolate truffles, you don't have to add a flavor booster)
Place bowl in fridge and allow to set for at least 15 minutes before using.

Meanwhile, start to prepare candy molds.
In a small bowl, melt half bag of dark chocolate candy melts in microwave as directed on back of bag.
Using the paintbrush, coat the inside of the mold with layer of melted candy melts. *Make sure there are no holes and that when you look at the filled molds from the bottom you can't see through the chocolate.
Place coated molds in the freezer to set. Repeat with remaining molds.
Candy melts cool very fast so you have to act quickly- if your melts start to re-harden just pop them back in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Transfer cooled ganache to candy melt bottle.
Add remaining candy melts to other bottle and heat in microwave just as you did the first batch.
Knead bottle once completely heated to ensure smoothness.
Remove mold from freezer and squeeze ganache into each mold, leaving enough space at the top to cover with a layer of melted candy melts. Knock on counter a few times to eliminate air bubbles.
Using other bottle, squeeze layer of candy melts over ganache, covering completely- knock on counter a few times to smooth layer.
Once all molds are filled and covered, pop back in the freezer to set for about 10 minutes.
Carefully flip candies out onto a kitchen towel.

Repeat process as many times as necessary.


My mom and I made 4 different kinds of chocolates- Irish Cream, peanut butter-chocolate, red wine and mint (we used Andes flavored chocolate chips in place of the semi-sweet). It took us all afternoon, but it was well worth it!

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate Mint Truffles

Red Wine Chocolate Truffles

What are you making for gifts this year??

Happy Baking!

Baklava with Homemade Phyllo Dough

I've always been intimidated about making my own Baklava.

It's one of those desserts that I absolutely love ordering at a restaurant, but the idea of working with the super thin, very delicate phyllo dough myself was scary.

And then one day there it was... this month's Daring Bakers' Challenge: Baklava.


Erica of Erica's Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker's June Challenge. Erica challenged us to be DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that dough to make Baklava.


Here was my chance... I had no excuse.

This was a very time consuming dessert, but it actually wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be and in the end it was absolutely worth all the effort.

When making this yourself you're going to need to set aside a few hours for prep and make sure to start making it the day before you want to serve it as it has to sit in the syrup overnight.

Phyllo Dough
Makes enough to fill a 9x9 baking dish with 18 layers
Prep time: 20 minutes Rest time: 1 1/2 to 2 hours

2 2/3 cups AP flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup minus 2 TBS water
4 TBS veggie oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

In a bowl with a stand mixer, combine flour and salt and mix with a paddle attachment until blended.
Combine water, oil and vinegar in a small bowl.
Add mixture to flour/salt and mix on a low speed until you get a soft dough (don't be afraid to add a little more water if the dough is too dry)
Change to dough hook and let knead for about 10 minutes- at this point the dough should be nice and smooth.
Remove dough from mixer and knead by hand for a couple more minutes.
Shape dough into ball and lightly cover with oil before wrapping in saran wrap.
Let sit for about 1 1/2- 2 hours.

While dough is resting, prepare sugar/nut mixture for filling and syrup:

Filling
2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground allspice
3/4 cup blanched almonds
3/4 cup pistachios (out of shell)
3/4 cup walnuts
2/3 cup sugar

Combine nuts, sugar and spices in food processor and pulse on high until finely chopped and set aside.

Syrup
1 1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 water
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 piece of citrus peel (lemon or orange)
pinch of ground cloves.

*Don't start actually cooking your syrup until your baklava is in the oven.
Combine ingredients in a medium pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sugar has dissolved.
Boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once boiled, remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick and lemon peel, allow to cool as baklava cooks.

Rolling dough
This is where it gets a little more difficult- you want to get the phyllo dough as thin as possible.

Unwrap your dough and cut off a chunk about the size of a golf ball. While working with this small piece, make sure to keep the rest of your dough covered so it doesn't dry out.

After flouring your hands, rolling pin and counter roll dough a bit to flatten it out.

Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and roll back and forth quickly to thin it out.

Keep rotating and repeating this process until the dough is as thin as it can get.
If your dough breaks, don't freak out.. the only one you really have to worry about is the very last layer.

Once your dough is as thin as you're going to get it, carefully pick it up with well floured hands and stretch it out a little bit like you would a pizza crust.

Set aside on a well floured surface and repeat this process until all your dough is used up.
Between each sheet make sure to flour top of sheet so they won't stick together.

When you have all of your sheets, it's time to assemble the Baklava.

Melt about 1/4 cup of butter in the microwave.

Trim your phyllo sheets to fit into your pan.

Brush the bottom of the pan with melted butter and place your first phyllo sheet.

Brush top of phyllo sheet with butter and layer with another sheet of phyllo.

Repeat this process (phllyo sheet, butter, phyllo sheet, butter) with 4 layers ending with butter.
Sprinkle 1/3 cup of sugar/nut filling on top of buttered sheet.

Continue layering phyllo and buttering 4 times, ending with butter and sprinkling with filling mixture.
Repeat this process until all the layers of phyllo have been used (about 5 or 6 times).
On the top layer make sure you have a piece of phyllo with no holes.

Once you have applied the top layer, tuck in all the edges and brush once more with butter.
Using a sharp knife, cut your Baklava into about 30 pieces.

Bake for about 30 minutes, remove from oven and cut again making sure to go all the way through.
Return to oven and bake another 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

When Baklava is cooked, remove from oven and pour syrup evenly over top, making sure to cover all surfaces until syrup can just be seen at top. (I didn't use all of my syrup) 

Allow to completely cool at room temperature.
Once cooled, cover and store at room temperature overnight so syrup can be absorbed.

Now that I've gotten my first experience over with I'm ready to tackle more adventures.. 

bring on the phyllo dough!

Happy Baking!

An Austin visitor and Homemade Mallowmars

Whenever there's a chance for an adventure, E is there.

One of my oldest friends, E and I go way back...

We saw our way through the first year of high school, calling boys on her personal line, growing through our awkward phases and hanging out in basements and spent our later years slaving the summers away at The Black Pearl.

Every summer I would head up to Newport, RI, to spend a summer at the beach, working and playing the days away. E was my ultimate partner in crime... she even agreed to drive all the way from Rhode Island to Georgia to move me in to my new house at grad school.

With a knack for good food and good adventures, I couldn't have been happier when she decided to come visit us in Texas.

We spent the entire weekend exploring all that Austin had to offer- dinner at The Salt Lick, breakfast burritos, cowboy boots on South Congress, the best macarons from a little patisserie, ice cold Shiner Bock, margaritas by the lake, fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (are you sensing a trend here?) and we finished off the weekend with Homemade Mallowmars.

These Mallowmars consist of homemade graham crackers and homemade marshmallows dipped in warm milk chocolate.

Homemade Graham Crackers
original recipe by Baking Bites makes 48 cookies
adapted recipe makes 24

1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 cup plus 6 TBS cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 TBS honey
1 TBS molasses
2 TBS cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a food processor, mix together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Add cold butter and process until mixture resembles coarse sand.
Add honey, molasses, water and vanilla.
Mix until dough starts to come together.
Place parchment paper out on kitchen counter and lightly sprinkle with flour.
Scrap dough out of mixer and onto floured parchment paper, rolling dough out 1/8 inch thick.
Transfer to fridge and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cut dough with a round 1 or 2 inch cookie cutter.
Align cut-outs on parchment paper and back for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned at the edges.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.

One cookies have completely cooled, prepare marshmallows.

Homemade Marshmallows
Original Recipe by Alton Brown (I halved this)

1 1/2 packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water, divided
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBS powdered sugar
2 TBS cup cornstarch

Spray baking dish with cooking spray.
Mix powdered sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl.
Sprinkle one spoonful of mixture into pan and move around, making sure to cover everything as if you're flouring a cake pan- set aside.
In your stand mixer bowl, add gelatin powder and 1/2 cup water.
In a small sauce pan, add 1/2 cup water, sugar, salt and corn syrup. Place over medium heat and cover for 3-4 minutes, until boiling.
Uncover and clip candy thermometer on pan. Continue to boil until sugar mixture reaches 240 degrees, about 7-8 minutes.
Once temperature is reached immediately remove from heat.
Turn mixer on low and slowly add sugar mixture to gelatin.
Once all sugar mixture has been added, turn speed to high and continue to whip for about 10-12 minutes or until mixture thickens, becomes luke warm and looks like a glossy meringue.
Add vanilla during last minute of whipping.


Assembly
Place cookies neatly on cooled, parchment paper lined, baking sheets.
Lightly grease the inside of a pastry bag with Crisco.
Transfer marshmallow cream to bag and pipe a large dollop of marshmallow on each cookie.

Combine powdered sugar and cornstarch.
Lightly dust marshmallow topped cookies with mixture and allow to set for at least a 4 hours- we let our sit over night (covered).

Milk Chocolate Coating
1 bag milk chocolate chips
2 TBS crisco

Once cookies have set, pour chocolate chips and Crisco in a large microwave safe bowl.
Melt chips for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth and dip-able.
Hold the cookie by the graham cracker and dunk each, marshmallow side first, into the warm chocolate, coating the entire top of the cookie.
(Our hands got pretty messy so sorry for the lack of picture)
Allow chocolate to harden and enjoy!

Happy Baking! 

Homemade Lemon Curd

Once you learn how to make things yourself, buying it in the store just seems silly.

Like this past summer when I dabbled in jam making... I loved the whole process of canning your own jams and jelly and now you should see our fridge. I had to start writing down flavor combinations because we ran out of space and I don't have enough friends to give the stuff away to. 

Same goes for this Lemon Curd.. who knew curd would be so easy? A few weeks ago I actually made Mango Curd (a post to come soon) and was so happy with the result that I had to try this Lemon Curd... I can only imagine what's coming next.

This lemon curd was an integral part of a birthday cake brainstorm and I used the left over in last month's Daring Bakers' Challenge.

The cake will be coming later this week...I hope you'll be able to survive the anticipation.

Lemon Curd
Recipe from Joy of Baking
Makes 2 jars

3 eggs
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 TBS lemon zest
3/4 cup sugar
4 TBS butter

Whisk eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan.
Over medium heat, cook until mixture thickens and reaches 160 degrees with candy thermometer (about 10 minutes)
Remove from heat and sieve for lumps.
Cut butter into small cubes and whisk into warm mixture.
Add zest and allow to completely cool before using.

Happy Baking! 

Homemade Marshmallows

Nothing speaks to cold weather better than a steaming cup of hot chocolate overflowing with marshmallows.

I don't know what it is about those little fluffy pieces of heaven, but I absolutely love them.

After an afternoon of playing in the snow, I was the kid that tried to stuff as many marshmallows as I could in my mug of hot chocolate so that the cocoa didn't even stand a chance of cooling until the sugary clouds melted.

During the holidays I was seeing homemade versions of the chubby bunny stars pop up all over the blogsphere and bookmarked countless posts, determined to have some made by the end of the year.

Alas, time slipped away and I entered the New Year mallow-less.

This wouldn't mean that I would continue the year mallow-less though. Oh no, they had to be made.

Now that I've taken the opportunity to make them, I can't believe I waited this long.

They're perfect.. possibly even better than the packaged kind. I wonder how they would hold up in s'mores?

Homemade Marshmallows
Recipe by Alton Brown
Makes one 9x13 baking pan

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
dash of salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Spray baking dish with cooking spray.
Mix powdered sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl.
Sprinkle one spoonful of mixture into pan and move around, making sure to cover everything as if you're flouring a cake pan- set aside.
In your stand mixer bowl, add gelatin powder and 1/2 cup water.
In a small sauce pan, add 1/2 cup water, sugar, salt and corn syrup. Place over medium heat and cover for 3-4 minutes, until boiling.
Uncover and clip candy thermometer on pan. Continue to boil until sugar mixture reaches 240 degrees, about 7-8 minutes.
Once temperature is reached immediately remove from heat.
Turn mixer on low and slowly add sugar mixture to gelatin.
Once all sugar mixture has been added, turn speed to high and continue to whip for about 10-12 minutes or until mixture thickens, becomes luke warm and looks like a glossy meringue.
Add vanilla during last minute of whipping.

When ready, pour mixture into prepped baking dish and with a lightly oiled spatula smooth out evenly. This can be a little tricky and I ended up oiling my hands and smoothing it that way.
Dust top with sugar/cornstarch mixture, covering lightly but completely.
Let mallows sit out, uncovered for at least 4 hours up to overnight.
After resting, turn marshmallows out on a cutting board and cut into small squares or use cookie cutters to make shapes.
Once cut, lightly toss in remaining sugar/cornstarch mixture to coat freshly cut sides.

Now prepare yourself a good warm mug of hot cocoa, get cozy, add a handful of marshmallows and enjoy a good book...well at least that's what I did :)

Happy Baking!

Homemade Croissants.. Step by Step

I told y'all I've been on a pastry kick lately and I meant it.

This week? Light, buttery, flaky, delicious homemade croissants.

I know what you're thinking...I just went from training wheels to unicycle.

Well, you're right...but see the thing is, I like a challenge and what could be more challenging than the labor of love that is fresh croissants?

Preparing croissants can be summed up quite simply: pound, roll, roll, place, fold, roll, fold, fold, roll, fold, fold, chill, roll, fold, fold, roll, fold, fold, chill, cut, chill, roll, measure, cut, shape, proof, bake.

Got that?

No?

Ok, How bout this...

Phew! Now take a break and go to sleep..

because the next morning 

you have to start all over again..

Now all you've got to do is proof the lil guys..

that means letting them rise for 2 hours before you can 

pop em in the oven and bake them.

And after all that hard work...

Voila!

Warm, fresh, buttery, wonderful croissants...

FINALLY.

I must give a big thanks to Julie over at Willow Bird Baking and the Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures, because without their photo tutorials I wouldn't have been successful as I was this first go around.

Now for those of you still reading for the recipe and actual tutorial, be fair warned.. this is an extremely long and lengthy recipe, I'm talking two days long... but let me also say that these little french super stars are well worth the time and effort involved.

I started the process around 6pm on a Friday night, woke up early Saturday morning around 7am and had fresh croissants in my belly by 10am. So this is not a recipe if you're in a hurry and want something quick and easy...there are a lot of steps involved as well so pay attention! (I'm not yelling at you, just being assertive)

Are y'all ready for this?

Homemade Butter Croissants
Recipe by: Gourmet, Found through Willowbird Baking
Makes 14 croissants and some extra little ones

1 1/2 cups whole milk, warmed to about 110degrees F (I used a candy thermometer)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 TBS plus 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 3/4 cups AP flour (plus a little more for kneading and rolling)
1 TBS salt
3 sticks, cold unsalted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten, for egg wash
1 tsp cream or milk, for egg wash

These Might Come in Handy:
Stand mixer with dough hook
Candy thermometer
Ruler (or ruler tape that I found at Micheals)
Pastry scraper/Dough Knife
Pastry Brush
Parchment Paper
Pizza cutter
Patience
A lot of Time

Let's get started! The following process is a combination of Julie's instructions and Tracey's.

Day 1
Round 1: Making the Dough.
 Stir together warm milk, brown sugar and yeast in mixer bowl. Let stand about 5 minutes or until yeast has foamed. *Very important!* If your yeast doesn't start to foam you need to start over. The mixture has to get foamy for the yeast to work so you get light and fluffy dough.
Add flour and salt, mixing with dough hook at low until dough is smooth and very soft (about 7 minutes).

Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for about 2 minutes, adding more flour when necessary, making a soft and slightly sticky dough. Form dough into a roughly 1 1/2 inch thick rectangle, wrap in saran wrap and chill until cold, about an 1 hour.

Round 2: Pounding the Butter.
(Get your ruler handy)
About 40 minutes until chilling your dough its time to pound your butter.
Line your work surface with a big piece of saran wrap, short side in front of you.
Remove your butter from the fridge and lay the sticks horizontally on the saran wrap so their sides are touching.  Fold saran wrap back over butter so its completely covered.
 Using a rolling pin, pound the butter to soften (it should be malleable, but still chilly).

Pound and roll out on both side until butter forms a uniform 8 by 5-inch rectangle.

Transfer to fridge to chill. By this time your dough should be ready to roll out.


Round 3: Rolling out Dough.
Unwrap dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface, constantly during with flour when necessary- liftng and stretching dough into a 16-by 10-inch rectangle.

 Arrange dough with short side nearest you.
Get the flattened butter out of the fridge, remove from saran wrap and place it in the bottom half of the dough rectangle, so that the long sides of the butter are parallel to the short side of the dough.

 Fold top half of dough over butter, pinching edges of dough together so butter stays wrapped inside.

Gently pound  and stretch rectangle of dough and butter, into about a 10 by 6-inch rectangle. If your butter is started to ooze out, sprinkle it with some flour or take a break and place dough in the fridge for a little bit to chill out. Again, with shortest end closest to you, fold dough like you would a letter: Fold bottom third up and top third over bottom third. Like so..

Pat yourself on the back! One "Turn" is complete!

Turn dough so that the folded part (like the spine of a book) is on your left. It's now time to start "Turn 2"

Repeat the process shown above- rolling out dough into a 10 by 6-inch rectangle and then folding like a letter, bottom third up, top third down.

You have now completed 'Turn 2." Use your fingers to make 2 imprints on the corner so you don't lose your place..

Wrap your dough in saran wrap and place in the fridge to chill out for about an hour.. in the mean time go grab something to drink.

Once the dough has been able to chill out for an hour or so, complete two more turns- just as you did before, for a total of four turns: Turn 1-Roll, fold, fold Turn 2- Roll, fold, fold.

At this point, you've done all you can for the time being. The dough needs to chill for about 12-20 hours before proofing. So go have dinner and have a nice night of sleep because you've got a lot more to do tomorrow morning!

Day 2
Before beginning, line two baking sheets with parchment paper and get that ruler handy yet again.
Get your dough out of the fridge (you'll notice it may have grown a little) and using a dough knife, cut in half.

Wrap one half of the dough and place it back in the fridge, because you want your dough chilled its important not to try and do too much at one time.

Round 4: Preparing your Croissants.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into a 6 1/2 by 20 inch rectangle- feel free to trim edges for a cleaner croissant. The dough should be about 1/4-1/8 inches thick.. like this:

 Arrange your dough so the long side of the rectangle is directly in front of you.
The next step is to cut your dough into triangles that will be used to form the croissants.
On the side closest to you, use your ruler and starting from the left side of rectangle measure 5 inches from the end and make a tiny incision. From there, measure another 5 inches and make another mark, and repeat one more time- finishing with four 5-inch sections. Now along the top, measure 2 1/2 inches in and make a mark. Then measure 5-inches from there and make a mark. Repeat two more times, measure 5 inches each time. 
If you're having a hard time wrapping your head around this check out this diagram..

Marking your dough.

You're now ready to cut you dough into triangles. The 5-inch sections are going to the bases of your triangles. Starting at the bottom corner, use a pizza cutter and cut ending at the 2 1/2 inch mark. Then cut down toward the first 5-inch mark you made, creating a triangle. Continue diagonally cutting meeting mark to mark until you have 7 triangles and 2 scrap sides. This diagram may be helpful. 

 Cutting your Dough.

Round 5: Shaping your Croissants
Make a small cut at the base of each of your triangles.
Holding your triangle, stretch the dough a little on the corners of the base.
Place the triangle back on the work surface and roll base toward tip, curling the sides of the triangle away from each other (towards you) to create the crescent shape. The croissant should roll 3 times with tip sticking out. Curl ends toward each other to get more of crescent shape and press together if desired. Repeat process with rest of your triangles and place back on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

Make egg wash (egg yolk and cream) and generously brush shaped croissants.

Repeat Round 4 and 5 with reserved dough waiting in the fridge.

 Looking for something to do with the extra dough that's been cut? Just roll it up too for little mini pastries, better yet add some chocolate or jam before doing so.. just go with it.


Round 6: Proofing your Croissants
I know by this point you just want to throw them in the oven and be done with them, but they still need a little more time.. I told you.. patience is a necessity. They're divas (but justifiable so). There are a couple ways to proof these little stars. I went the warm route, but other recipes call for a cool proof that consists of placing the prepped croissants in the fridge for about 3 hours or even overnight (I want to try all but just haven't had the time so I'm sharing what I did and what worked).

Turn oven on to 100°F (or as low as your oven will go). After a few minutes, turn oven off and open the door. When the temperatures drops to just warm, place croissants in the oven and close the door (I kept the oven light on as well). Leave croissants in the warm oven for about 2 hours, until they are about 1 1/2 their size and have the texture of a marshmallow- if you touch them there will be a slight indent.
After 2 painful hours have come and gone, remove croissants before heating the oven for baking. At this point I also dabbed the excess butter that had started to pool around the bottom of the rising croissants- not because I was trying to be healthier, but because I didn't want the butter to burn while baking.

Preheat oven to 425°F and place an oven proof dish full of water on the bottom rack of the oven.
Put croissants (one pan at a time) in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 400°F and bake for 8 minutes without opening the door.

Rotate baking sheet 180° in oven and reduce temperature to 375°F, baking until golden brown- about 8-10 minutes. Don't be tempted to take them out when they're light brown.. they may not be done! We're looking for golden outsides.

Holy Moly...you're done! You did it! You made your first batch of croissants!! Now you totally deserve eating at least 4.

A few words of advice:
1. First off, if you have ANY questions please don't hesitate to email me or find me on twitter!
2. Definitely allot enough time for the whole process.. like I said before, I started the process around 6pm Friday evening, woke up around 7am Saturday morning and didn't get to enjoy croissants until about 10am.
3. Don't get caught up in the measurements when rolling out the dough.. if you can't get the inches exactly, try to get as close as you can and work with it.. don't force it.
4. If you see smoke billowing from the oven while the croissants are baking don't freak out!! It may not be the actual pastries.. You might have to turn on a fan or open a window (or two) to make sure your smoke alarm doesn't go off, but more than likely it is just the excess butter oozing out and burning at the bottom of your oven- if anyone has any suggestions to keep this from happening, please, I'm all ears!
5. Have fun! They're not as scary as they seem... just give em a try- they're worth every hour :)

 Happy Baking!