Olive-Stuffed Croissant

I love olives, especially black olives. They go extremely well with Labneh and are the perfect accompaniments of pizza toppings, but there is something about olive paste that takes olives to the next level. 

The first time I ever tasted olive paste was at an Italian restaurant in Montreal, Canada. It was served as an appetizer with freshly baked sliced french baguettes. Used as a spread, each bite was an explosion of olives whose whole purpose were to invade your tongue with intense flavour.  The best thing about this appetizer? I could spread as much olive paste on the bread as my heart desired. And spread a lot, I did! This dark mush of edible softness is like the foie gras of olives.

So if you happen to be at one of the franchises of the International RoyalBakery in the UAE and if you enjoy the taste of olives, dear reader, I suggest you try the 'Traditional Olive Pie.'

The Olive-Stuffed Croissant, as I have blatantly renamed because of its crescent shape, is a pastry roll filled with - what seems to be - olive paste. However, unlike the actual French croissant, the roll is not flaky or soft but is somewhat hard and yet, surprisingly easy to chew. The taste of buttery dough is not as pronounced as it is in croissants. The casing is hollow and abundantly stuffed with olive paste.The urge to grab a spoon and scoop out everything inside in repetitive bites might be difficult to resist! It is not as salty as you would expect from the taste of olives, which makes it work harmoniously as a pastry stuffing. On a side note, the grease you see on the paper in the photo is the secretion of olive juice. In other words, olive oil. 

Have it warm for breakfast - The International Royal Bakery staff are always kind enough to heat it for me - or cold for a midday snack, which is how I prefer it and freshly out of the fridge. Somehow, this enhances the flavours and taste. Just like left-over pizza... right?

So the next time you are at a bakery shop, be it the International Royal Bakery or not, look for that olive stuffed pastry and try it. If you are an olive lover, you will most definitely enjoy its taste. However, if you do not happen to have olives on your  palette of delicious tastes, the worst would be the choice of having cheese croissant instead. So try it! You might actually enjoy it and end up having an additional food item for your daily eats. Who knows!