Oui, you can make these

Almond croissants at home start with croissants from the grocery store bakery. The hard part is already done for you.

“Oui, you can make almond croissants at home from store-bought croissants.”

A dad on a croissant crawl

The writer's father hunts almond croissants bakery by bakery, keeping a running best-of list. His gold standard came from a shop where she once worked.

It started as leftovers

French bakeries split day-old croissants, brush them with syrup, stuff them with frangipane and bake again. It rescues pastry that would otherwise hit the bin.

“It's an economic French method to revive day-old croissants that would otherwise be thrown away.”

Buy good croissants

The Official Almond Croissant Reviewer approved the method with one condition. Cheap croissants give you a cheap result, so start with bakery-quality ones.

“Don't buy just any croissants, quality ones set up the recipe for true success.”

Twelve croissants, five extras

You need 12 premade croissants, sugar, water, almond extract, almond flour, confectioners' sugar, eggs, butter and sliced almonds. That's the whole list.

Frangipane is not marzipan

Frangipane is a sweet almond custard of almond flour, confectioners' sugar, eggs and butter. Marzipan is a pliable, candy-like dough. Don't swap them.

Powdered sugar, not granulated

Confectioners' sugar dissolves into the filling. Granulated sugar leaves the bake gritty and heavy.

Room temperature or it splits

Pull the butter out 30 minutes ahead and let the eggs warm up. Cold eggs can cause the frangipane to break instead of emulsifying.

“Cold eggs can cause the frangipane to split.”

Boil the almond syrup

Simmer equal parts sugar and water, half a cup each, for three to five minutes until dissolved. Off the heat, stir in almond extract and cool to room temperature.

Beat, then add eggs one by one

Beat almond flour, confectioners' sugar and butter until light and fluffy, two to three minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, then load a piping bag or a zip-top bag.

Soak the bottoms

Set the croissant bottoms on a baking sheet and brush them liberally with the almond syrup. Be generous here, this is where the flavor soaks in.

Fill, cap, top, almond

Pipe a thin layer of frangipane on each bottom, replace the tops, pipe the rest over them, then press sliced almonds into the topping.

Bake and eat the same day

Twenty minutes at 350°F, cool on wire racks, dust with confectioners' sugar. Leftovers keep one day in the fridge, but assembled-ahead croissants go soggy.