Le Kouign Amann

A new obsession.

The perfect Kougin Amann.

I have never seen one of these outside of France, but also, I've never looked. I've had a few incarnations at different bakeries, including one chain that specializes in them and has dozens of flavors to choose from. I prefer the salt caramel version. I have yet to be able to pronounce it correctly.

Le Kouign Amann. Sigh. The best one so far is from the bakery down the street from me. When they are fresh, they are irresistible.

It's a Breton specialty. It's basically croissant dough saturated in sugar, which turns to caramel that was hot enough to hard-crack and become crunchy and gooey at the same time. It's a buttery caramel wonder of the world. Find one if you can. If not, you are out of luck. Once this has sat around for a few hours, the magic is gone.