If you’re on Tiktok you’ve seen rice paper croissants. The good ones look just like crispy, golden, flaky croissants with layers upon layers.
I admit, I doomscroll way too much. I love a good Tiktok hack, I love rice paper, and I love croissants, so testing out rice paper croissants was a no brainer.
What are rice paper croissants?
They’re just what they sound like, croissants made of rice paper. Classic French croissants are a multiple day affair with yeasted dough and copious amounts of butter, so these technically aren’t croissant-like at all, except in name and shape. They do share the layers though! Think crispy, crunchy outsides with multiple chewy, mochi-like layers inside. They’re delightful.
Who invented this hack?
I’m not sure who technically invented them, but they’ve gone viral thanks to @twaydabaeb who first saw the recipe on @tastyjapan’s account. Since then, they’ve gone legitimately viral with tonnes of people trying them out for themselves.
What do rice paper croissants taste like?
They’re crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, so nothing like a croissant. That being said, they taste good, like a sweet treat that’s reminiscent of a combination of French toast and mochi. If you’ve had Japanese mochi or Hawaiian butter cake before, this rice paper croissant will remind you of that.
Why rice paper croissants though?
Why not?! Sure, these are technically far away culinarily from croissants, but for our purposes, they have layers like croissants and they kind of look like croissants. Plus, if you have someone gluten-free in your life, you can surprise them with some gorgeous golden rice paper croissants.
How to make rice paper croissants
- Heat and prep – preheat your oven to 350°F and prep a rimmed baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
- Make the custard – In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, melted butter, baking powder, vanilla extract, and cinnamon (if using). To go the extra mile, strain your egg batter through a fine mesh strainer.
- Soak the rice paper – Pour the egg mix into a bowl that’s shallow enough to let you place the rice paper rounds in flat. If you don’t have a large enough bowl, use a rimmed baking sheet. Take a single sheet of rice paper and dip it into the egg custard briefly, flipping.
- Stack – Place the egg-soaked rice paper on a cutting board. Repeat 2 more times so you have a stack of 3 sheets of eggy rice paper stacked up.
- Cut into thirds – Cut (using a sharp knife or kitchen scissors) the stacked rice paper into thirds. The middle piece should be a triangle while the two outer pieces will be half moon/circles.
- Roll – Take one of the side stacks of rice paper and lay it directly on top of the middle triangle. Take the remaining side stack and lay it on top of the middle triangle, so that it’s perpendicular/horizontal to the triangle shape. Roll the rice up from the wide bottom up to the point of the triangle.
- Bake – Place the rice paper croissant on the prepped baking sheet and curve in the sides slightly to make it crescent-shaped. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. The rice paper croissants will be golden and crispy on the outside.
- Enjoy – Let the croissant cool down a bit and enjoy while still warm! The outer shell will be crispy and crunchy and the inside layers will be slightly gooey, chewy, and mochi-like.
Ingredients for rice paper croissants
- Rice paper – Grab a package of round rice paper, it doesn’t matter which size you get, but most of the tutorials online use the larger size. More on rice paper and where to buy it below.
- eggs – the base of rice paper croissants is eggs. Rice paper croissants are more reminiscent of French toast rather than the flaky butter bread-iness of regular croissants.
- milk – the milk helps thin out the eggs and make the batter more of a custard instead of simply beaten eggs.
- sugar – sugar is for sweetness, obviously, but it will also help with browning and crunch.
- butter – you can’t have croissants without butter! Plus the butter aids in coloring and browning. You’ll have to melt the butter so you can easily add it to the batter, the microwave is your friend here.
- baking powder – this is going to help give the batter a little bit of rise, as well as help with crisping and browning.
- vanilla and cinnamon – Vanilla adds a nice creaminess to the rice paper croissants and helps make them taste more like a pastry. If you don’t have any though, I would say optional. As for the cinnamon, I think it’s completely optional. Cinnamon is in the original recipes I’ve seen on Tiktok, but regular croissants don’t have cinnamon in them, so this is completely up to you. If you’re looking for more of a French toast flavor, add in some cinnamon. For the croissants in this post, I opted for no cinnamon.
What is rice paper?
Rice paper, or bánh tráng in Vietnamese, is a standard in Vietnamese cuisine. Rice paper is exactly what it sounds like: thin, edible wrappers made of rice. They come dehydrated and are rehydrating with water when it’s time to eat. Rice paper consists of rice that’s steamed, made into a batter, then dried into a thin sheet. Contrary to the one-ingredient name, sometimes rice paper also contains tapioca starch. Either way, rice paper is always gluten-free which makes it an amazing choice to use as a wrap or when sliced up, gluten-free noodles.
Where to buy rice paper
If you live in a city with a grocery store that has a large international aisle, you’ll be able to find rice paper in the Asian aisle, near the rice vermicelli. All standard Asian grocery stores will carry several kinds of rice paper in the dry noodles aisle. If you’re lucky enough to live near a Vietnamese grocery store, you can also find a whole aisle of rice paper varieties from small to extra large. If you can’t find rice paper locally, it’s also readily available online.
Other recipes that use rice paper
I LOVE rice paper. Honestly, it is one of the most versatile and best ingredients out there. Try it in these recipes:
Do Tiktok rice paper croissants work?
Yes! They are fun, easy to make, and unique. I love the contrast between the crispy outside and the mochi-like chewy insides. They don’t taste like croissants in any way, but I throughly enjoyed making and eating them.
Enjoy! These rice paper croissants aren’t like the other croissants. They’re very demure, very mindful, very cutesy ;)
xoxo steph
Rice Paper Croissants
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1.5 tbsp sugar plus extra for sprinkling
- 1 tbsp butter melted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 6 sheets rice paper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.In a shallow bowl (large enough to lay the rice paper in), whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and baking powder. Make sure everything is well combined and there are no streaky egg bits. Strain the egg custard through a fine mesh strainer if desired.
- Take a single rice paper sheet and dip it into the egg mixture, flipping once. Lay the coated rice paper sheet on a cutting board and repeat with 2 more sheets of rice paper so they are directly on top of each other.
- Cut the stacked rice paper into 3 pieces, with the middle being a triangle and the two sides being half circles.
- Take one of the side half moons and lay it directly on top of the middle triangle.
- Take the last half moon and lay it down perpendicular/horizontal to the triangle.
- Roll the rice paper up and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Slightly shape the tips of the rice paper croissant into a crescent shape. Repeat with the remaining rice paper then sprinkle sugar on top if desired.
- Bake both croissants in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oven, let cool and enjoy.
wow, what a tweak, love it and thank you!
If you want a croissant. Eat one.
But this recipe? Fabulous. The outer layers are like a crisp buttery croissant but inside it’s like a mochi. Just as described. Loved it. Will definitely do it again.
I would like to add- make sure to let the rice paper soak for a little bit otherwise, it might be difficult to cut. I tried soaked and barely soaked for both portions. I preferred when I let the rice papers soak for longer.