Pistachio Filled Croissants

Pistachio Filled Croissants are almond croissants' sophisticated cousin. Day old croissants get new life when filled with a simple pistachio cream. They taste like baklava and a croissant had one crazy night together and I'm here for it!

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Pistachio Filled Croissants are a bakery secret that I've shared with you because you absolutely needed to know! Making filled croissants is what professional bakeries do to use up any leftovers from the day before. In a professional kitchen, utilizing leftover ingredients has to be quick, has to be easy, and has to be delicious! Making them at home is no different.

All that is required is some croissants, some pistachios, some pantry basics, and a desire to eat something so delicious that it makes you moan. Oh, and about 45 minutes, from starting your pistachio filling to stuffing your face with filled croissants. Surely that's not too much to ask.

Ingredients

Grab your croissants and your pistachios and let's fool everyone into thinking you stopped into a French Pâtisserie and picked up some fresh pastries.

About croissants - Use whatever croissants you can find and afford. Got giant Costco croissants? Use them! Want to try making your own? My friend Kelli, from Everyday Pie, has an amazing shortcut croissant recipe, but it is still quite a project. I bought the frozen unbaked croissants from Whole Foods and baked them myself, so I could be fancy, but not insane. (p.s. mini croissants work amazingly and everyone knows tiny food tastes better, so...)

You should to start your recipe with slightly stale croissants. I like to lay my croissants on a wire rack set into a large sheet pan and leave them on the counter overnight. If you forget to do that (who me?), you can place them in a 200°F oven for 20 minutes before proceeding with the recipe. If you forget to do that, no worries. It'll still be good, just a little bit softer.

See recipe card below for quantities.

Substitutions

We did have the occasional special order for vegan almond croissants at one of the bakeries where I worked. We made it work and we made it delicious!

• Vegan Croissants - Check with local bakeries or specialty markets like Whole Foods, to see if they carry vegan croissants, which are made with vegan butter.
• Vegan filling - Make your pistachio filling with vegan butter and replace the egg with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 3 tablespoons of your choice of liquid (almond milk, apple juice, water, etc.)
• No-Pistachio - When I was testing this recipe, I just assumed everyone likes pistachios as much as I do. I was wrong. If you just don't like them, make my classic almond croissants instead. They are the OG and they are amazing.
• Nut allergy - If you have a nut allergy, you can replace the ground pistachios with an equal weight of oat flour when making the filling. Spread the oat filling inside and on top of the croissants and then sprinkle the top with some whole rolled oats before baking as directed.

Variations

Replacing the pistachio filling with something else would make this a not-pistachio croissant, but this is a recipe, not an order from your superior officer 🫡. Twice baked croissants can come in many other flavors, like these:

• Chocolate hazelnut - Brush the inside of your cut croissants with a vanilla or orange simple syrup. Replace the pistachio cream with ½ cup of nutella that has been mixed into 3 ounces of melted chocolate. Fill and bake as directed. Dust finished croissants simply with powdered sugar.
• Pumpkin - Add ½ cup pumpkin puree, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon cloves, ⅛ teaspoon allspice, and ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg to your pistachio filling. Fill the croissants as written in the recipe and bake as directed. Dust finished croissants simply with powdered sugar.
• Almond - A classic is a classic for a reason. There's a reason our bakery always sold out of our almond croissants within an hour. They are delicious! You can follow the link directly to the recipe, or just replace the pistachios with an equal weight of almond flour.

Instructions

There are a few individual steps, but nothing difficult.

Step 1: Chop ½ cup of roasted pistachios and place in a small saucepan with ½ cup of granulated sugar and ½ cup of water. Bring to a boil and turn down to medium-low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before straining and storing in a lidded jar.

Step 2: Add pistachios to a food processor and blend until they resembles coarse sand.

Using a hand mixer, or by hand, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. 

Step 3: Add in egg and ground pistachios and mix until light and fluffy.

Step 4: Slice croissants in half horizontally and brush both cut sides with pistachio syrup.

💡Great idea: This pistachio filling is amazing in my Pistachio Sweet Rolls. My fluffy brioche dough is wrapped around this decadent filling and baked, then topped with a cream cheese icing... definitely bougie and you deserve it!

Step 5: Spread cut side of bottom pieces with about 2 tbs of the pistachio cream.

Step 6: Replace the top half of the croissant and spread a line of another 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream on top.

Step 7: Press croissant, top down, in the plate of chopped pistachios, adhering nuts to the cream.

Step 8: Place finished croissants on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until croissants are golden brown and pistachios are toasted.

Allow to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes and then sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

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