A buttery celebration of World Croissant Day

Updated Jan. 30, 2025, 6:25 a.m. | By East Coast Breakfast / Skyye Ndlovu

Flaky, buttery and undeniably delicious. It's World Croissant Day, which is the perfect excuse to learn – and indulge! Did you know this iconic French delicacy actually has Austrian roots?

Ah, the croissant. The buttery, flaky, golden delight that turns any breakfast into a five-star experience. Whether you enjoy it plain, stuffed with chocolate or with bacon and cheese, January 30 is the perfect excuse to indulge because it’s World Croissant Day!

Now, we all think croissants are as French as the beret, but they actually originated in Austria in the 17th century.

Austrian bakers created the kipferl, a crescent-shaped pastry that was the great-great-grandparent of the croissant.

It made its way to France when an Austrian baker, August Zang, opened a Viennese bakery in Paris in the 1830s. Then of course, because the French are food magicians, they took the kipferl, added more butter, laminated it to perfection, and voilà – the croissant as we know it was born.

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How are croissants so flaky?

Croissants owe their soft layers to a technique called lamination (not the kind that preserves your primary school certificates).

In this instance, lamination is the process of folding butter into dough over and over again.

This creates hundreds of thin layers that puff up when baked, giving croissants that irresistible flakiness.

So, if you’ve ever taken a bite of a croissant and left a crime scene of crumbs on your lap, that’s just science at work.

Croissants around the world

Croissants may have been perfected in France, but they’ve been given makeovers all around the world:

In South Africa, we love stuffing croissants with anything from biltong and cheese to just butter, because sometimes simple is best.
In Italy, their version, the cornetto, is a little bit sweeter and softer.
In Argentina, they’re known as medialunas, and they’re often glazed and slightly denser.
In Japan, they make a croissant taiyaki. It’s a croissant-like pastry shaped like a fish, often filled with custard or red bean paste.

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So, as we celebrate this not-so-French delicacy, here’s how you can celebrate World Croissant Day like a pro:

1. Eat a croissant. Obviously.

2. Try making them from scratch. If you have patience, a rolling pin, and a fridge big enough for all that chilled dough, give it a shot.

3. Find the best croissant in town. Whether it’s a fancy bakery or your go-to coffee spot, treat yourself.

4. Experiment with different fillings. You can go classic with just butter, a bit fancier with bacon, or authentically South African with some Mrs Ball’s Chutney.

However you choose to enjoy them, today is the day to celebrate croissants in all their flaky, buttery glory.

So go forth, take a bite, and let those crumbs fall where they may!

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