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If there was one trend in the world of patisserie that proliferated in 2023, it was the croissant. Iterations in pastry that sprouted up on the web and were placed on the global display in different colours, fillings and shapes that caused a boom of sorts to explode in 2024.
Relatively recently, smash or ‘flat croissants’ emerged as the new craze that had its origins in Korea, and became popular in the French pastry shop Alexander’s Pastisserie based on this Japanese inspiration. Two-dimensional croissants that began to be baked last year, but which went viral this year, projecting an infinite archive of hacks by content creators and pastry chefs who flatten the sweet and elaborate it through different creative techniques.
From cronut to crookie
The beginnings of this macro-trend would be marked by the cronut: Dominique Ansel‘s cult creation that combined crescent-shaped dough with a lifelong doughnut. A creative rethinking of the laminated dough that consisted of frying a buttery doughnut dough similar to a croissant, filling it with cream or jam and covering it with icing.
This fusion that would eventually go mega-viral transcended the ephemerality of the web to settle in bakeries around the world, and in all Instagram feeds for its attractive design and intense flavour.
Following in the footsteps of the cronut, other versions with layers and flaky texture with blocks of butter were introduced into the trend cycle. A premise that would lead all the world’s pastry chefs and content creators to experiment with them through R&D processes.
From the versatility displayed by the croissant came the ‘croissant roll‘: a circular format with round slices, filling and icing, with pistachio, chocolate or other flavours adorned with toppings.
Last season, at the same time as the ‘flat croissants’, pastry chefs capitalised on the trend in the form of the ‘crookie‘, i.e. croissant + cookie. A viral production that first caused a sensation in Paris and then spread around the world, with Maison Kayser making a big impact at national level.
However, despite other iterations of the sweet, the classic croissant purists reject all these innovative or extravagant versions that in some way ‘distort’ its original conception. One that would actually take inspiration from a different pastry: the Austrian kipferl, a leavened wheat dough in the shape of a crescent moon.
