the long-awaited croissant post

this post was promised to stevieK a long time ago and i didn't have the chance to type it up until now. so first i am going to start with the history of the croissant and then go into my detailed description. hope y'all enjoy!

history of the croissant from http://www.ochef.com/

Many people have heard that the croissant was created in 1686 in Budapest,
Hungary by a courageous and watchful baker, at a time when the city was being
attacked by the Turks. Working late one night, he heard odd rumbling noises and
alerted the city's military leaders. They found that the Turks were trying to
get into the city by tunneling under the city's walls. The tunnel was destroyed
and the baker was a hero, but a humble hero — all he wanted in reward was the
sole right to bake a special pastry commemorating the fight. The pastry was
shaped like a crescent, the symbol of Islam, and presumably meant that the
Hungarians had eaten the Turks for lunch. The problem with this story is that
it's all made up. It first showed up in the first version of the great French
food reference Larousse Gastronmique, in 1938. Later on, the story switched
locations to Vienna, during the Turkish siege there in 1863, but that was also a
fabrication. The sad thing is, the truth in this case is not nearly as
interesting as the myth. No one knows when or where the first croissant was
baked, but it was definitely in France and certainly not before 1850. The word
was first used in a dictionary in 1863. The first croissant recipe was published
in 1891, but it wasn't the same kind of croissant we are familiar with today.
The first recipe that would produce what we consider to be a flaky croissant
wasn't published until 1905, and, again, it was in France.

i often wonder when i am eating the croissants here if they are just subconsciously better because i'm actually in france? or are they really just better?
i think the second

so flaky on the outside, shiny and golden
alternating shades - light like butter cream and dark like caramel
layered like the rings of a tree stump
almost chewy on the inside
melts in your mouth like warm m&ms
layers swirling around like a cinnamon roll
revealing air pockets that make the dense dough somewhat fluffy

sometimes they are eaten with jam
always strawberry
consistency like the juice from the fruit
dripping if you don't eat it fast enough


update: i did a little research on the recipe for croissants and to my question of "are they actually better in france?" the answer is yes. in america we don't really have the type of butter that is apparently best for making croissants so they are actually better in france for a real reason and not just my subconscious!