Jacob Kowalski’s Erumpent-shaped Croissants

These tasty and animal-friendly treats are a perfect way to celebrate helping erumpents!

Did you watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and find yourself drooling over the delicacies in Jacob Kowalski’s bakery at the end of the movie? Well you are in luck, because he has been a dear and sent over one of his secret recipes just for us to share with our members! In honor of the magnificent erumpent and our campaign to save them, the recipe he has shared with us is for his famous Erumpent-shaped croissant. And of course, because Jacob is such a friend to fantastic beasts both magical and Muggle, his recipe is fully vegan!

Prep: Gather your ingredients! If you know potion brewing, you know how important this step is, so measure those items carefully.
 
            ~260ml water
            ~14g (2 packets) quick yeast
            ~500g plain flour or gluten free baking flour
            ~10g salt
            ~40g caster sugar
            ~360g vegan butter (we like Miyoko’s, but you can use any fermented butter)
            ~dash of non-dairy milk
 
Directions:
 
1) Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.
2) Add flour, salt, and 100g of the butter. Mix or whisk with a dough hook, then knead until     evenly mixed and soft.
3) Cover the dough in plastic wrap, and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours.
4) While the dough is in the fridge, place the rest of the butter between two pieces of parchment paper. Roll it flat with a rolling pin so that it becomes a 7x7 inch square. Wrap this in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge as well.
 
~After the dough has chilled~
 
5) Remove the dough from the fridge and place on a lightly-floured board or worktop.
6) Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 14x7 inch rectangle.
7) Take the square of butter from the fridge and place it in the middle of the dough.
8) Fold the ends of the dough so they meet over the butter slab in the middle, sealing the ends and edges together so no butter will seep through.
9) The joined edge should be in a straight line leading away from you. Use the rolling pin to roll the pastry until it is roughly 22 by 7 inches, going from the middle outwards.
10) For the first fold, take one end of the dough and fold down two thirds of the way, then take the other end to fold over top of that. The three thirds should be one on top of the other, and the dough should be roughly in a square shape.
11) Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.
12) Remove the dough and place in front of you so that the most folded edge is on the left.
13) Repeat the rolling of the dough into a 22X7 inch rectangle, repeat the folding from step 10, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill again for 30 minutes to an hour.
14) Repeat the entirety of step 13, but chill the dough for a full hour.
15) Place the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface, and roll it out to a rectangle of 24x8 inches.
16) Cut a piece of card paper into a triangle template with a 3 inch base and 7 inches of height.
17) Cut the dough using the template into around 9 triangles. Cut rectangular strips from the rest of the dough to match the number of triangles.
18) Take the triangles, cut a slit in the middle of the base with a knife, and roll the dough from the base to the end. Turn the dough by the corners as you go to avoid crushing the layers.
19) Then, take the rectangle strips, and twist and shape them into rings.
20) Place a triangular croissant piece over each ring, pressing slightly, so that the “horn” and “tail” of the croissant are pointing upwards. At this point, pinch the tail end and turn it down, but take care not to smash the layers too much.
21) Place the croissant and ring sets on a baking sheet carefully, and brush with non-dairy milk.
22) For the erumpents’ eyes, place either raisins, vegan chocolate chips, or other dark baking nibbles on either side of the “croissant” near the horn.
23) Cover with parchment paper and allow it to rise for an hour. While you wait, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. When that temperature is reached, put the croissants in the oven for 20 minutes. Check on them periodically, and if they brown too quickly, cover them with tin foil until the end of the baking period.
24) Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
 
Now your little puffs of pastry are ready to serve! Slater them in butter or vegan frosting, and enjoy these cruelty-free Erumpent eats!

This recipe was inspired by the croissant recipe made by The Rose & Bean. (http://theroseandbean.com/recipes/vegan-croissants/)