When you may purchase croissants with the intention of devouring them with a cup of espresso, there’s all the time the opportunity of shopping for greater than you’ll be able to eat contemporary. Fortunately, stale croissants are the proper candidates for croque madame sandwiches. Whether or not they’re dried out or weighed down by humidity, smashing and toasting them in butter will revive and repurpose them into the crispiest, lightest croque madame sandwich bread. A croque madame is among the many most formidable methods to refresh a croissant.
The butter will assist crisp the croissants and revive their savory richness, and the honey acts because the cement to carry their form underneath the burden of the opposite elements. Honey additionally makes the proper complement to this in any other case ultra-savory sandwich. This croissant swap requires a slight change within the typical order of preparation. Crusty bread is sturdy sufficient so as to add to the opposite elements over the skillet to toast till crispy, however with croissants, you’ll first must smash and sear them earlier than persevering with with the everyday layering.
Searing is a fast, scorching methodology that’ll create a crispy char. You may need to flip the warmth down as you layer the ham, bechamel, and cheese. Then, you’ll be able to high the open-faced croissant sandwich to soften the cheese. Select a big skillet so you may make two open-faced sandwiches concurrently earlier than stacking them. You may use the identical skillet to fry the egg for the pièce de résistance.