Air Fryer Hack: Trader Joe's Croissants Experiment

Hey everybody, it's Doc! Welcome to the channel. It's early on a Sunday morning, and today, I have a croissant craving and a Reddit-inspired experiment to share with you. The buzz online is that Trader Joe's frozen almond croissants are fantastic when air-fried. But is that really true? Let's find out!

Trader Joe's Croissants: The Lineup

Trader Joe's offers several croissant varieties:

• Regular Chocolate
• Double Chocolate (chocolate dough with a chocolate baton)
• Almond Filled
• Mini Croissants

To prepare these croissants, you typically need to set them out overnight to proof for about 9 hours. But according to a Reddit post, you can skip this step for almond croissants by cooking them directly from frozen in an air fryer. Intriguing, right?

The Reddit Hack

The Reddit post reads: "Frozen almond croissants in the air fryer are better than the chocolate ones. The almond ones rise a bit after being taken out, becoming golden, crispy, and flaky. I cooked them at 335°F for 11 minutes. No thawing needed."

Testing the Hack: Methodology

Skeptical of everything I read online, I decided to test this for myself. I'll bake all the croissant varieties both in the oven (as a control group) and in my Boral EIE air fryer. This air fryer has a spacious basket, though transferring items quickly can be a bit tricky when it's preheated.

For the air fryer test, I’ll use silicone trays with a grid at the bottom to allow air circulation and paper linings to minimize cleaning time.

Step-by-Step: Baking vs. Air Frying

1. Oven Baking:

   • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
   • Bake croissants for 25 minutes as per the box instructions.

2. Air Frying:

   • Set the air fryer to 335°F for 11 minutes.
   • Place croissants directly from the freezer into the air fryer.

The Experiment: Results

Oven-Baked Croissants

• Regular Chocolate: Perfectly baked with a crispy exterior and soft, chocolate-filled interior.
• Double Chocolate: Rich, chocolatey, and delicious.
• Almond: Soft, flaky, and full of almond paste flavor.
• Mini (Proofed and Non-Proofed): The proofed mini croissant turned out exceptional, while the non-proofed one was still quite good but less impressive.

Air-Fried Croissants

• Regular Chocolate: Edible, but not as good as oven-baked. It tasted more like a breakfast bar.
• Double Chocolate: Similar to regular chocolate; decent but not optimal.
• Almond: This was a disaster. The texture was off, and the taste was unpleasant.
• Mini (Proofed and Non-Proofed): The air-fried mini croissant was a pleasant surprise. It was crispy and buttery, and the best among the air-fried batch.

Conclusion: The Verdict

The Reddit hack was partially correct. While the almond croissants were not suitable for air frying, the mini croissants shone as the true winners. They were quick to cook and delicious straight from the air fryer.

Final Thoughts

If you're short on time, air frying mini croissants is a fantastic hack. However, for the best results, proof and bake your croissants in the oven.