Native flavours get a sweet show

25th January 2021 | Eativity editors

You might thing of croissants as being classically French (although they may actually have been invented in Austria), but the pastry visionaries at Banksia Bakehouse have created a new, uniquely Aussie croissant that heroes some of our most popular native ingredients.

Since opening in August last year, the bakehouse’s ever-changing creations have proven a huge hit. When tasked with creating a croissant to celebrate one of the world’s most popular pastries in the lead up to National Croissant Day on January 30, the team decided to showcase two unique native Australian flavours – wattleseeds and macadamia nuts. The Hazelnut Wattleseed croissant has a flaky, buttery pastry shell with a hazelnut wattleseed ganache filling, topped with a drizzle of wattleseed caramel, caramel buttercream and macadamia brittle. Are you drooling a little? We don’t blame you…

Get in my belly…

Banksia Bakehouse owner Chris Sheldrick says that his team wanted to create something to celebrate native Australian flora and flavours: “Wattleseeds have this warm, nutty flavour that blends perfectly with hazelnut and caramel,” he says of the new croissant.

In addition to native seeds and nuts, Banksia Bakehouse regularly uses locally-made ingredients for their croissants. For its Hazelnut Wattleseed croissants, the bakehouse’s pastry chefs headed to the Australian Superfood Co.

“Through its Native Harvest Initiative, Australian Superfood Co. works with Indigenous communities and local growers to source native fruits, herbs and seeds,” Sheldrick says. “We wanted to help promote these wonderful ingredients and be a part of the movement to make them more mainstream and give them the recognition they deserve.”

This crazy delicious creation is only one of many from the Banksia Bakehouse team.

The pastry chefs chose ground roasted wattleseeds for their unique taste which, according to the folk at Australian Superfood Co., is “a little bit nutty, a little bit spicy, a little bit chocolatey”. They call wattleseeds “the unsung hero of native Australian foods” because of their high concentrations of potassium, calcium, iron, zinc and protein.

As with every special croissant variety, Banksia Bakehouse’s pastry chefs never rush the creative process – once the ingredients were chosen, it took them two weeks to perfect the Hazelnut Wattleseed croissant recipe.

The Finger Lime croissant is only available until the end of January, so you’d better get your skates on.

Since opening last August, Banksia Bakehouse’s pastry chefs have created special croissant varieties each month. Past creations include Chocolate Hazelnut, Strawberry Rose, S’mores, Pina Colada and Pavlova. The bakehouse’s current January special, Finger Lime, also uses native produce. It has an Australian finger lime curd filling inside and piped on top, and is decorated with torched meringue, meringue cookies, rosemary and fresh finger lime.

The Hazelnut Wattleseed croissant is available from now until the end of February. You’ll find Banksia Bakehouse at Grosvenor Place piazza, 225 George Street, Sydney.