When Do We Innovate - And When Do We Leave Classics Alone

Tiramisu is the latest to get a makeover

To me, the test of a good bakery is a butter croissant. If you can master that, I trust you to make fancier things.

However, bakers get bored with classics, and they feel a desire to tinker. Croissants have been a victim of this experimentation.

(By the way, it is pronounced “kwah-sont.” You do not pronounce the “r.” Doing so drives me nuts.)

Almond croissants were invented as a way to use up day old croissants and convince customers they were getting something special. Well, they are, in terms of almond paste and slivered almonds and maybe some icing. But it is still a stale croissant underneath.

From almond croissants, we got ham and cheese croissants, croissant sandwiches and fruit filled croissants.

Then, we got the cruffin, a croissant baked in a muffin shape. The first known Cruffin to be created was by Kate Reid of Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne, Australia in 2013.

Here in Ann Arbor, Ondo bakery is making round croissants, akin to Swiss rolls, only they are called New York rolls. They are filled and topped with everything from whipped cream to chocolate to pistachio.

Last summer brought the crookie, an alliance between a croissant and a chocolate chip cookie, which I managed to avoid.

This year, the latest dessert to get a glow up is tiramisu.