I’ve made quite a few unconventional dishes using rice paper in the past, including the amazing, inflatable rice paper puff; chicken nuggets with a rice paper coating; as well as a beautiful, blossoming flower.
Rice paper has the benefits of being malleable when moistened and crispy and transparent when cooked, so making croissants from it isn’t as much of a stretch as you might think.
Also, for those who may have wheat allergies or are gluten intolerant, these croissants are made from rice, so no worries there! 😁
Now, making traditional croissants is a labor intensive process — I tried my hand at making them here — and so not many home bakers bother to try when you can just visit your local bakery instead.
The rice paper croissants, however, come together in a snap, and aside from the rice paper, are made with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
Now traditional croissants use a LOT of butter, but in this recipe we will be making an egg custard to act as the laminate. The egg mixture looks a lot like a French toast batter which we will be dipping our rice paper sheets in.
As far as the cutting and folding of the rice paper goes, it’s fairly simple, but you may want to watch the video below to get a better idea how to do it.
Happy rice paper croissant making!
Rice Paper Croissants
Equipment
- 1 baking tray lined with parchment
- 1 pan shallow
- 1 whisk
- 1 scissors or knife, for cutting rice paper
Ingredients
- 9 sheets rice paper
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 3 tbsp butter melted
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp sugar + 1 t. For sprinkling
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a shallow dish or pan, beat eggs and egg yolks together.
- Slowly whisk in melted butter.
- Whisk in baking powder, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Dip a rice paper sheet into the egg mixture allowing the excess to drip off.
- Repeat with two additional sheets, stacking the dipped sheets into a neat stack.
- Using a knife or a pair of scissors, make two cuts to form a triangle and two semi circles.
- Place one semi circle vertically on top of the triangle and the other horizontally at the base of the triangle. It should look a little like a sailboat.
- Form the croissant by rolling the stack from the bottom of the triangle/sailboat up to the tip.
- Place on a parchment-lined pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and crisp.
Notes
Nutrition
How Do They Taste?
First of all, they do NOT taste like croissants. They do have a pastry-like quality, though and the taste is not bad.
They have the layers like a typical croissant, and top is crunchy as it should be, but when you try to pull it apart, it’s a little tough, not flaky and light like a regular croissant.
The main taste which comes through is the vanilla, which, I think, is essential as it makes it taste and smell like a dessert.
The inside is chewy and somewhat stretchy with a definite eggy taste like French toast.
On that note, make sure to sprinkle them generously with granulated sugar BEFORE you bake them to give them that beautiful pocked surface texture (as well as making them a little sweeter.)
The rice paper does have a little bit of a buttery flavor, but not that pronounced as it is not one of the main ingredients.
One final note: because I’m such a big chocolate fan, I made one of them “pain au chocolat” style which I much preferred. So watch the video above if you want to make a chocalote-filled version.