If you go nuts for almond croissants, then we have a hunch you’ll flip for fig pistachio croissants. They bring the bakery home and are unbelievably easy. We show you how to make the fig pistachio filling for croissants so anytime you’re planning a special breakfast…or a craving strikes, you can make these with a few pantry ingredients. Ready?
Seeing Green with Pistachios
For this recipe, we teamed up with our friends at Keenan Farms, family owned and California grown since 1972. Their shelled pistachios would be super in this recipe, but we took advantage of their Honey Shelled Pistachios as it added a touch of sweetness that reminds us, when ground, of praliné (aka caramelized hazelnuts).
Go Gourmet with Figs
We really like the Sun-Maid and Orchard Choice Golden Figs for the pistachio croissants. They add a tangy, slightly nutty, and delicately sweet fruit flavor that pairs exceedingly well with the honey pistachios. You could also swap in Mission Figs for a deeper color and that familiar jammy flavor reminiscent of your favorite childhood cookie.
Pointers for Pistachio Filling for Croissants
The first thing to making the fig pistachio filling is keeping your pantry stocked with California-grown pistachios and figs. If you’ve got them on hand, you just need a few more things from the pantry to start baking, including flour, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and vanilla extract.
Next, if you have a food processor, it makes the process easier of breaking down the pistachios and figs. When processing them, you want the machine to pulverize the nuts so they are finely ground, but not yet pistachio butter—it may seem like an extra step, but processing the nuts first helps them break down. Then adding in figs, which are a bit sticky, helps them fuse together.
It can help to whisk all the dry ingredients together first, so the flour, cinnamon, and salt combine, or you can add them all at once as the final step, integrating them in until just mixed.
Beating the butter and sugar until fluffy builds volume. The eggs make the pistachio cream for croissants luscious.
Here’s the biggest hack: buy already baked croissants at your grocery store a day before you plan to bake the figgy croissants. Day old croissants are preferred because they’re sturdy enough to hold the pistachio fig cream.
Finely chop several tablespoons of pistachios and we reserve 3 figs to finely chop so both get sprinkled on top, just before baking. After baking, you could sprinkle on some powdered sugar once the fig pistachio croissants have cooled.
Fig Pistachio Croissants
Ingredients
- 8 plain croissants
Fig Pistachio Cream
- 1 cup Keenan Farms Honey Shelled Pistachios
- 1 cup Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Golden Dried Figs , stems removed
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper. Slice the croissants in half. Set aside.
- Finely chop 2-3 tablespoons of pistachios and about 3 figs to use later as garnish.
Make the Fig Pistachio Cream
- Pulverize the pistachios until finely processed but not to the point of pistachio butter. Add the figs to the food processor and pulverize until mostly smooth.
- In a stand mixer outfitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the mixer walls. Add the flour, cinnamon, and salt. Mix on low speed until just combined.
- Spread an ample amount of Fig Pistachio Cream on the bottom halves of each of the croissants. Cover each of the croissant bottoms with the top halves, spreading on the remaining Fig Pistachio Cream as a stripe on the tops. Sprinkle the finely chopped pistachios and figs over the stripes.
- Bake for 15 minutes.