Bakehouse – Mini Croissants: Award winner

Excellence in Food and Drink Awards 2007
Category: Bakery and Sandwiches
Winner: Bakehouse Mini Croissants

We all know small is beautiful, and an ingenious idea by Bakehouse was to create mini versions of its best-selling croissants in traditional, chocolate and almond flavours. The flavours are already popular, and the mini versions open up serving opportunities such as a selection for sharing.

Each product is made using a long dough resting time, which replicates traditional methods of croissant production and ensures a "rich, buttery" taste and "light" texture.

The croissants bake from frozen in 15 minutes at 180°C. No finishing is required on the traditional or chocolate croissants, and icing sugar is supplied for finishing the almond croissant.

Being preglazed with egg ensures a good colour for the 35g traditional croissant, and the straight shape offers the option to add fillings. The 45g almond croissant is filled end-to-end with almond paste and topped with flaked almonds, while the chocolate croissant, also 45g, is filled end-to-end with a chocolate-flavoured filling and topped with chocolate shavings.

The company's aim of providing a versatile pack format with all three flavours in one case to save on freezer space was appreciated by the judges, who declared the product "great for storage" and "a nice selection". At 16p each they were felt to be "value for money".

Shortlisted
Freshway Foods Prawn Mayonnaise Filling
Apetito Premium Sausage Rolls
Cranks Argy Bhaji Sandwich
Bakehouse Baguette Rusticata