[1] Make warm and fragrant cinnamon crescents for breakfast or brunch. The recipe is below (photo and recipe © Taste Of Home).

[2] One of the three different types of cinnamon (photo © Ben Fink from Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran.

[3] After shaping and just before baking, croissants and other breads undergo roofing—a.k.a. final fermentation, final rise, second rise, or blooming (photo © Mateusz D | Unsplash).

[4] Golden brown classic croissants. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[5] The airy inside of the croissant is a result of lamination, the process of folding and rolling butter into dough over and over again to create super-thin layers. These layers, which alternate between butter and dough, are what give croissants their signature honeycomb interior structure and their flaky texture. As a croissant bakes, the water in the solid butter vaporizes into steam, which puffs up the dough and creates steam pockets between the layers. Here’s more about it (photo © King Arthur Baking).

April 10th is National Cinnamon Crescent Day, an ideal warm, fragrant companion to a cup of coffee or tea.

Crescent is the English translation of croissant, the buttery, crescent-shaped laminated dough breakfast rolls so integral to French breakfasts.

Cinnamon Crescents are an American adaptation of the croissant. Because Americans have a sweet tooth, the crescents have a filling of cinnamon sugar and are topped with a vanilla glaze.

Below:

> The recipe for cinnamon crescents from scratch.

> How to make cinnamon crescents from Pillsbury refrigerated dough.

> The history of croissants.

> The history of cinnamon crescents.

> Other crescent-shaped baked goods.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of cinnamon.

> The history of bread.

> The history of pastry.

> The history of breakfast.

> The different types of bread: a photo glossary.

> The different types of pastry: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 20+ bread holidays.

> The year’s 15+ pastry holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: CINNAMON CRESCENTS (CROISSANTS)

Thanks to Taste Of Home for the recipe.

Ingredients For 4 Dozen Small Rolls

 
Optional Glaze

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the flour and baking powder in a large bowl; cut in the butter until crumbly. Stir in the milk and egg. Divide into three portions; shape each portion into a ball.

2. COMBINE the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle a third of it over a pastry board or a surface. Roll one ball into a 12-inch circle; cut the circle into 12 wedges.

3. ROLL UP from wide edge. Repeat with the remaining dough and cinnamon sugar.

4. PLACE the rolls with the point side down on a lightly greased baking sheets; form into crescent shapes. Bake at 350° for 16-18 minutes or until lightly browned (do not overbake).

5. MAKE the glaze. Combine the confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon and milk until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled crescents.
 
 
HOW TO MAKE CINNAMON CRESCENTS FROM PILLSBURY PACKAGED DOUGH

For a faster result, you can make crescent rolls from the Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough. The concept was the winner of the 1973 Pillsbury Bake-Off!

Just press the pre-cut triangle perforations of a crescent sheet together, spread it with butter and cinnamon-sugar, roll the whole sheet into a log, and slice it into rounds.
 

[6] Just BYO cinnamon sugar (Abacus Photo).
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE CROISSANT

Meaning “crescent” and pronounced kwah-SAWn (the “n” is just a hint of the consonant at the end of kwah-SAW) in French, this rich, buttery, crescent-shaped roll is made of puff pastry that layers yeast dough with butter—a technique known as laminating.

Traditionally a breakfast bread served with jam and butter, two classic variations include the almond croissant, filled with frangipane (almond paste) and topped with sliced almonds, and the “chocolate croissant,” correctly called pain au chocolat, baked with a piece of dark chocolate in the center.

In the early 1970s, croissants became sandwich substitutes as they evolved from their two traditional fillings, chocolate, and almond paste, into many savory variations, from broccoli to ham and cheese, as well as additional sweet varieties.

There’s also the Bavarian croissant or pretzel croissant, made of a pretzel-like dough that combines bread flour and whole wheat flour with salt sprinkled on the top, like a pretzel. Some are made of puff pastry, others of soft pretzel-type dough in a triangle wrap, like a croissant.

Stories of the croissant being made in the shape of the crescent of the Turkish flag, after the defeat of the Turks in the Siege of Vienna in 1683, are a perpetuated myth. Recipes for croissants do not appear in recipe books until the early 1900s, according to the Oxford Companion To Food. The earliest French reference is in 1853.

The croissant is a descendant of the Austrian kipfel, a yeast roll usually filled with chopped walnuts, dried or candied fruit, or other filling, and shaped like a crescent. It arrived in Paris in 1838 or 1839 with August Zang, an Austrian military officer. He opened a bakery, Boulangerie Viennoise, and introduced Viennese techniques which would one day lead to the baguette and the croissant. The crescent-shaped kipfel was ultimately made with puff pastry by French bakers.

You can read this history in Jim Chevallier’s book, August Zang and the French Croissant: How Viennoisserie* Came To France (Kindle edition).
 
The History Of Cinnamon Crescents

While the concept of crescent-shaped pastries is and old European traditions, the prominence of crescent (croissant) rolls and pastries in the U.S. began with the invention of the packaging technology: the metal tube can that pressurized dough and opened with a “pop.”

In 1931 the pressurized can format, created by a third-party inventor†, was patented, subsequently becoming iconic for refrigerated dough products. Pillsbury acquired the patent in 1951, and launched its line of refrigerated biscuits.

The refrigerated dough in a pop-open tube, portioned to bake quickly, allowed home cooks to serve the “home-baked goodness” of cookies and rolls frequently.

Pillsbury Original Crescent Rolls arrived in 1965, along with the Pillsbury Doughboy (his name is Poppin’ Fresh).
 

[7] Another favorite “crescent”: rugelach. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Baking).
 
 
OTHER CRESCENT-SHAPED FOODS

Crescent shapes in baking show up often: in pastries, rolls, and even cookies. A few examples:
Bread-Like: Crescent-Shaped Pastries & Rolls

 
Cookie/Pastry Hybrids: Crescent-Shaped Filled Pastries

 
Crescent-Shaped Cookies

 
Savory Pastries

Although they’re half-moons rather than crescents, we give a shout-out to baked savory pastries like calzones and empanadas; and another nod to sweet turnovers.

 

[8] https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cinnamon-crescents/The cornetto (“little horn”) is called the “Italian croissant.” Here’s the recipe (photo © Cookist).

_______________

*Viennoiserie are buttery, flaky breakfast breads and pastries made with laminated dough, a technique of layering and folding a yeast dough to create brioche, croissants, danish, pain au chocolat and other so-called “Viennoiserie.” It is a marriage between traditional bread baking and sweet pastry baking. The technique of lamination produces many buttery layers that can be pulled apart to reveal thin leaves within. You can see the striations, or layers, of pastry when you look at the top of the Viennoiserie or when you cut into them (photo ##5). This technique is time-consuming and expensive (because of the amount of butter needed).

†The pressurized can/tube was patented in 1931 by Lively Willoughby, a Kentucky bakery owner, to sell his biscuits. He later sold the patent to Ballard & Ballard Flour Co., and biscuits had become a key refrigerated dough item by the 1950s, when Pillsbury acquired Ballard (1951), enabling it to expand into packaged refrigerated biscuit doughs. In 1958 Pillsbury filed a patent for the “breakable tube,” which was granted in 1961.
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

It had been a New Year’s resolution to eat beans—nutritious, with plenty of fiber and protein, and affordable—at least twice a week. While best practices involve soaking dry beans overnight before cooking, we knew we were less likely to plan ahead.

Hence, a variety of ready to eat, canned bean choices: black beans, cannellini beans, great northern beans, pinto beans, red beans. Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) are also an option, but we eat plenty of them each week in hummus.

Here are ways we’ll be using the beans, along with a hint: Drain the beans in a colander and then rinse them well under cold water to remove as much of the sodium as possible. The un-healthful side of canned beans is the amount of sodium in the can.

Check out our glossary of the different types of beans.
 
Beans For Breakfast

Beans For Dinner

 
Beans For Snacking

As a side, serve beans with sausage or bacon. Photo courtesy MackenzieLtd.com.

 
Have more ideas? Add them here!

Ramen: voted the greatest Japanese
invention of the 20th century. Photo ©
Olga Nayashkova | Fotolia.

It may be old news, but we just came across an old Japanese survey that names instant ramen as “the greatest invention of the 20th century.”

We would have passed it by, but for the the fact that Nation’s Restaurant News recently published an article about how ramen was trending among chefs in U.S. restaurants—albet the original ramen, not the instant noodles (see “The History Of Ramen,” below).

In 2000, Fuji Research Institute, a financial research firm in Tokyo, asked 2,000 adults in the region to rate the greatest Japanese inventions of the 20th century.

They were given three categories: manufactured goods, culture and technology.

Japan is known for its technological innovation. So most people were surprised that ramen, instant noodles, was voted the best invention of the 20th century.

Created in 1958, instant ramen went into commercial production in 1971. Worldwide, almost 50 billion cups are now consumed each year.

 
While the Fuji Institute’s survey may not have been the most scientific, it does show one thing: Even in a country famous for its technology, food rules.
 

*The first camera, called the camera obscura, dates back to the ancient Chinese and Greeks. It projected an image on to a surface but did not create a permanent image. The first photographed camera image was made around 1816 in France by Nicéphore Niépce. In 1837 his partner, Louis Daguerre, created the first practical photographic process, the daguerreotype, using silver-plated copper plates. Commercially introduced in 1839, the date considered as the birth year of practical photography. It was replaced by easier processes in 1860, including paper-based negatives and much shorter exposure times. The use of photographic film was pioneered by George Eastman, who started manufacturing paper film in 1885 before switching to celluloid in 1889. His first camera, the Kodak, was first offered for sale in 1888.

THE HISTORY OF RAMEN

Ramen are Japanese wheat noodles. While they are known to Americans largely as salty, inexpensive packaged noodle soup mixes, in Japan there are as many varieties of noodle and recipes as there are prefectures, ramen dishes are fine cuisine and innovation is the name of the game, where recipes are closely-guarded secrets.

The concept of a dish of noodles in meat broth—chicken or pork—originated in China. It differs from native Japanese noodle soup dishes, in that until ramen appeared, Japanese broth was based on either made from vegetables or seafood.

The type of noodles and toppings used in ramen also came from China. It is believed that “ramen” is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word “lamian,” meaning “hand-pulled noodles” (as opposed to noodles that are sliced with a knife).

While some ramen dishes began to appear in Japan in the late 1600s, they didn’t become widespread until the Meiji Era (1868 through 1912), when Japan moved from being an isolated feudal society to a modern nation.

The growth of ramen dishes continued after World War II, but was still a special occasion that required going out.
 
Soup recipes and methods of preparation are closely-guarded secrets in many restaurants. Beyond regional variations, innovative Japanese chefs continue to push the boundaries of ramen cuisine. Curry ramen, invented in the Hokkaido region, became a national favorite, as has ramen based on the Chinese dish of shrimp in chili sauce. Non-Japanese ingredients such as black pepper and butter have found their way into recipes.

Here’s a recipe for homemade pork ramen soup.

Check out this article, which details the different type of ramen by region.
 
THE INVENTION OF INSTANT RAMEN

In 1958, instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando, founder and chairman of Nissin Foods. Named the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century in a Japanese poll, instant ramen allowed anyone to make this dish simply by adding boiling water. Exported, these ramen soup packages soon became a pop culture sensation across the globe.

Look for the bright orange-red boxes in your
grocer’s freezer case. Photo courtesy
Tandoor Chef.

The family-run company produces authentic, restaurant quality, all natural frozen Indian cuisine. All the traditional favorites are available, as well as modern creations like naan pizza and vegetarian masala burgers.

The choices include meat plus vegetarian and certified vegan options, along with a line that is gluten free.

If you haven’t been exposed to Indian food (or good Indian food), here’s a chance to get to know it, in a most convenient way.

Depending on what your retailer carries, you can feast on:

We didn’t get to try the pizzas, but everything we did try was impeccably spiced for American palates. We’ll certainly keep a supply in our freezer, for when we crave crunchy samosas or palak paneer, one of our favorite spinach dishes.

Learn more at TandoorChef.com.

While not all Tandoor Chef products are cooked tandoori-style, here’s an overview of this famous Indian cooking technique.

A tandoor is a cylindrical clay or metal oven (it can be as simple as a large pot) used in cooking and baking—not only in India but elsewhere in central, southern and western Asia. It is typically dug into the ground or built into an enclosure to keep anyone from coming into contact with the extremely hot surface.

The tandoor ia used to cook meats or vegetables (and sometimes breads) over an intense charcoal fire, which is built inside the oven. The meats or vegetables are marinated and lowered into the oven on long metal skewers. Cooking in a smoky and extremely hot environment (often 500°F), they take on a special flavor.

Tandoori-style foods are first marinated in yogurt, a medium with natural acidity (required in a marinade) and a thickness that helps to adhere the herbs and spices to the food.

.

If you’ve ever had tandoori chicken and wondered why it is bright red or yellow, the answer is spice. The red color is provided by ground annatto seeds; the yellow comes from saffron (pricey!) or turmeric.
  

The world over, what people eat for breakfast varies widely.

 
So what’s wrong with a breakfast salad? Why not tortilla chips instead of bread?

This recipe, from Amanda Paa of HeartbeetKitchen.com, is a salad with bacon and eggs. Food Should Taste Good’s “The Works” tortilla chips standn in for a bagel.

If you don’t want a salad, there’s a breakfast sausage and cheese dip to enjoy with tortilla chips, below.

Ingredients For 2 Servings

 
Preparation

1. EQUALLY DIVIDE the salad greens, bacon (1 slice crumbled and 1 slice whole per plate) tomatoes and olives between two plates.

2. POACH the eggs: Fill a medium saucepan 2 inches deep with water and set over medium-high heat. When the water boils, turn the heat down so that the water is just simmering. Crack one egg into a small dish and slide it into the water. Quickly do the same with the second egg. Set the timer for 3-1/2 minutes (if you like a firmer yolk, cook for 4-1/2 minutes). Make sure the water stays at a simmer. When the timer goes off…

3. USE a slotted spoon to scoop one egg out of the water. Tilt the spoon so the liquid drains completely, then place the egg on top of one of the salads. Repeat with the second egg.

4. TOP the eggs with a sprinkle of salt and a few grinds of black pepper, then drizzle each salad with dressing (we made a balsamic vinaigrette but some people may prefer a creamy dressing).
 

RECIPE #2: ROSEMARY & CHEDDAR BREAKFAST SAUSAGE DIP

Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
Preparation

1. COOK the sausage in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently and breaking it up into crumbles. When sausage has just a little pink remaining, add the onion and continue cooking until the meat is no longer pink and the onions are translucent. Using a colander, drain the meat and set it aside.

3. TOSS together the cheese, cornstarch, and rosemary in a bowl. Add this to warm milk and turn the heat up slightly, constantly stirring to melt the cheese evenly.

4. COOK for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted and smooth. Stir in the salt and garlic powder, then add the sausage. Mix well and serve immediately.