Croissant purist, turn away now.
I have eaten some of the very best croissants in the world. And I mean croissants from the source — ones still warm from the oven of many a Parisian bakery. Uber buttery, flaky, crunchy outer texture with soft buttery insides. Just the thought makes my mouth water.
When we lived in Paris, every morning, we would go to the bakery for our breakfast croissants. One of us would make our way back home with those white paper bags filled with four golden croissant au beurre that were so buttery the bags had butter (grease) spots by the time they were placed on the table. The heavenly pastries always accompanied cups of café creme and little tubs of yogurt. This breakfast never got boring — and this is coming from a person that likes a lot of variety in her food.
The whole time we lived in France, not once did we ever see a local stuff anything into a croissant. They were just eaten as is. Perhaps because it’s quite difficult to mess with perfection.
As much as I loved and looked forward to our same breakfast everyday, now and then I needed a more filling meal with a taste of my home country. I needed something spicy in the morning. If you’re familiar with traditional French food you know that they don’t do spicy. (Thankfully there were some ethnic food choices with piquant options.) My husband who is as much of a spicy food lover as I am (actually, he can tolerate more heat) would indulge our cravings and make this amazing breakfast you see pictured. We would sit at our table devouring the meal with huge smiles on our faces as we took turns with the hot sauce bottle. We would also joke about what our French friends and the baker would think if they saw us committing this desecration on their beloved croissant. This occasional spicy breakfast was eaten in secrecy, we never told our French friends about it. So I guess you can say this became our secret and guilty, yet pleasurable, meal.
Now that we live in Mexico we no longer eat the meal in secrecy. And as for croissants, we have some very amazing ones here in Playa del Carmen. They are so delicious that they would hold their own in any Parisian bakery. So if you are in Playa del Carmen and are craving a taste of France make sure to stop by Chez Céline on 5th Avenue. They also bake some very delicious baguettes, macarons, many more French baked treats, and great savoury foods too.
Our desecration of the croissant does not end with stuffing it with scrambled eggs, and wetting it with hot sauce, do read the ingredients list below to see what other horrible thing we do to it. ;)
- 4 butter croissants
- *Cholula hot sauce (or your favourite hot sauce)
- 6 medium eggs
- 1.5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2-3 processed cheese slices (we don't judge)
- Slice the croissants and set aside.
- Over low heat, melt the butter. Once melted crack the eggs on the side of the pan and add them to the warm pan. I wait until all eggs are inside the pan to scramble them. Then I leave the eggs alone for a few minutes. Next I gently stir, leave alone again, stir and repeat until they are mostly cooked through -- you should cook to your taste. Then the heat is turned off and I distribute pieces of "cheese" all over the eggs. I allow it to melt before giving them a final mix and to break up into smaller pieces.
- Place a couple of tablespoons (depending on the size of your croissants) of egg into the croissant and splash as much hot sauce as you'd like. Enjoy! :)
Did you catch the “secret” ingredient? Muhaha!
P.S.
I wrote an article for my Spicy Food column on About.com called “All About Cholula Hot Sauce” do stop by and let me know what you think!
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New Mexico coffee shops are great at the desecration of the croissant. :) We have a lot of bakeries and cafes that sell these for breakfast for a very pretty penny. Yours looks better than what I buy for! :)
Haha, that’s funny MJ. Thank you:)
I love your desecration of the croissant. The croissant itself is great but I love that you used eggs, butter and cheese. It’s really flavorful! I love it!
Thanks so much, Maureen! :)