Croissant Crawl | A Crème Brûlée Cruffin at Farine Bakery and Cafe, Redmond, WA

A crackly sugary top

The other day I thought to myself, for someone who wrote a tagline about croissants I really haven't mentioned them much. My only post showing one was the key lime pie croissant I had at Maman. So to give the viennoiserie its due, I present to you ... Croissant Crawl. A series documenting croissant and sweets I’ve come across during this journey.

During the summer I visited Seattle for World Cup action as USMNT took on Belgium in the Round of 16. My friend Tanya took me to visit Farine in Redmond, which we had visited years before. On this occasion I peered into their display and something I had never seen before caught my eye, a creme brulee cruffin. Sure I thought, my A1C is in good enough shape from my last physical.

For the uninitiated, a cruffin is a hybrid between a croissant and muffin. I don't think I've ever had one nor recall seeing them in France. The original is usually attributed to Kate Reid of Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne, Australia. She has a really interesting story of turning to baking as a way to cope for anorexia and also interned at Du Pain et des Idées in Paris at one point, which reminds me, I have had a croissant from there.

The idea took on life in in the States via San Francisco at Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, where they fill their version with all types of fillings. In any case, the structural integrity to even get these to work is rather impressive.

A perfect half

Interestingly, the owner of Farine, Olivier Dispas, is from Belgium, and had a past life in software at Microsoft. He and his wife started the bakery which has now taken on a life of its own. The oven was originally shipped in from Europe, Tanya explained, when it had first opened. Now they have their own mill to make in-house flour. People can see it through a glass window at their Woodinville location.

The creme brulee cruffin at Farine was nice and to me, this type of hybrid evolves into its own thing. I think once you start building something like this it becomes more of an essence of a croissant than a croissant anymore. It almost gets to some kouign amann type texture to hold. Getting the nice crispy sugary top was satisfying and the creme was indulgent. A nice interplay between all the textures.

We split one, which worked out well. All in all, a nice accompaniment to my Americano in the Pacific Northwest.