Coconut pastry cream filled croissants topped with melted chocolate and coconut shavings. It’s the perfect little treat when you’re craving coconut cream pie but don’t really feel like baking an entire pie.

Use store-bought croissants to make this a super easy treat, I always bake them in the oven to crisp the exterior before filling them - trust me, it’s worth the extra step.

Coconut Cream Pie Croissants 🥥🥐

4 large croissants, homemade or store-bought

Coconut Pastry Cream
3 Tbsp (21g) cornstarch
2/3 cup (67g) sugar
Pinch salt
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
300ml canned coconut milk
2 1/2 Tbsp (36g) butter
1/4 cup (21g) shredded or desiccated coconut

1/4 cup (57g) heavy cream

Melted chocolate, for garnish
Shaved coconut, for garnish

Directions

1. Bake croissants in 300°F oven for 8-10 minutes to crisp up. Set aside to cool completely.

2. In a saucepan, whisk cornstarch, sugar and salt to break up any clumps. Add egg yolks, vanilla and coconut milk and mix to combine. Cook on medium heat until thickened and bubbling, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from stove and whisk in butter. Fold in coconut, transfer to a bowl or baking sheet, cover with plastic and chill completely in fridge.

3. Whip heavy cream to stiff peaks, fold into the coconut pastry cream. Slice croissants in half or cut slits on the bottoms to pipe cream. Top with melted chocolate and coconut shavings. Store leftovers in fridge.

*to speed up chilling of coconut pastry cream, I spread it on a metal baking sheet, cover in plastic and pop it into the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone celebrating! 🧧 If there’s sweetened red bean on the menu, I’m always the first to order it. These puff pastry pockets are filled with a sweetened red bean paste, white chocolate chips (8 to be exact) and topped with red fondant to resemble the beautiful red pockets given out during this time and of course cutie clementines for good luck.

I use store-bought sweetened red bean paste, you can easily find it at any asian grocery store, either canned or in the refrigerator aisle. I love making pie dough or rough puff for the flakiest pastry but honestly, store-bought works great too!

Red Bean Pastry Pockets

Yield: 6 pastry pockets
Bake time: 30-35 minutes

Pie Dough
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp (13g) granulated sugar
¾ tsp salt
1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
125ml ice cold water
2 tsp (10g) apple cider vinegar

240g sweetened red bean paste (coarse or fine)
1/3 cup white chocolate chips

Egg wash
1 large egg
1 Tbsp heavy cream

Red, orange and green fondant, for garnish

Directions

For the pie dough:

1. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and use your hands to toss the butter in the flour. Rub the butter between your fingers to break it into pea-sized pieces. Create a well in the centre.

2. Measure out the water and stir in apple cider vinegar. Add 1 Tbsp of water to the flour mixture and use a fork to work it into a shaggy dough. You’ll need about 7-8 Tbsp of water, depending on how your flour hydrates - remember less is more. Typically I use around 7 Tbsp (104g) of water to make my dough.

3. Transfer the shaggy dough to a clean work surface, press the dough together, making sure not to knead, you can use a bench scraper to help gather the flour together. Once the dough comes together, I like to form it into a square, cut the dough in half and stack it on top of each other, this will help to create more layers. Press the block down, cut it in half again and stack. Repeat 2 more times. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least 4 hours.

Assembly:

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. Whisk together egg and heavy cream for egg wash, set aside.

5. Lightly flour the counter and roll out the dough into a rough rectangle, about 5mm thick. Cut into rectangles, about 8x10cm. Spoon about 2 Tbsp sweetened red bean paste in the centre, add 8 white chocolate chips, brush egg wash around the perimeter of the rectangle, place another pastry rectangle on top and press along the edges to adhere. Use a lightly floured fork to crimp the edges to seal. Use the fork to poke 2-3 air vents on the top and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining rectangles. You can reroll the scraps to make more pockets.

6. Pop in the freeze for 15-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F convection or 375°F convectional.

7. Brush the tops with egg wash and bake for 30-35 minutes until puffy and golden brown (adjust timing for store-bought puff pastry). Let cool completely before decorating with fondant or icing.

Can’t wait for you to try these! Happy LNY 🫶🏼

x Sabrina

Sharing some of my favourite easy + delicious desserts you can make this weekend for whoever you’re celebrating with. And if you’re not celebrating, you should make them anyway 🤭

Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding

Croissant Glow-up: Strawberries & Cream

Fluffiest Lemon Sweet Rolls

Strawberry Rice Krispie Treats

Pink-striped Shortbread Cookies

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie

Buttered Toast & Jam Cookies

Tiramisu Croissant Bake

Hope you have a beautiful Valentine’s Day!!

xSabrina

If you follow me on social, you know by now that I love anything tiramisu.. and croissants. Obviously I had to mash the two into a croissant bake. Buttery flaky croissants are soaked in a sweet, espresso-infused custard, baked so the top gets golden and crispy. Served with sweetened mascarpone cream.

Tiramisu Croissant Bake

4 large croissants

4 large eggs
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup whole milk
150 ml strong brewed coffee or espresso, cooled
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
Flaky salt

Mascarpone Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt

Cocoa powder, garnish

Directions

1. Cut croissants into 1.5-2 inch cubes, set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together eggs, brown sugar, milk, cooled coffee, vanilla and salt. Dip the croissants into egg mixture and place in a buttered 9 inch baking pan. repeat with all croissant pieces.

3. Pour the remaining egg mixture over top. Place in fridge to rest and preheat the oven to 350°F.

4. Once oven is to temp, place pieces of butter overtop and sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and set.

5. For the mascarpone cream, place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to medium peaks. Dust with cocoa and enjoy!

Growing up, my parents only bought two kinds of cereal, Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes. You can probably guess which one is the not-so-secret ingredient in my strawberry rice krispies squares.

Strawberry Rice Krispies Squares 🍓✨

3 Tbsp butter
3 cups mini marshmallows, divided
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt
2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup Frosted Flakes
1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries, divided
2oz white chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Cook butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until golden and toasted. Lower heat and add 2.5 cups mini marshmallows, vanilla and salt and mix until melted. Remove from heat and add in cereal then remaining 1/2 cup marshmallows and 1/3 cup strawberries. Mix then transfer to a parchment lined loaf pan. Set aside to cool.

2. Add remaining strawberries to a blender until you get a fine powder. Add to melted white chocolate. Transfer to a piping bag and drizzle on cooled treats.

3. Cut in squares and enjoy!

There’s something so indulgent about eating dessert straight out of the pan.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie

6 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F convection or 375°F conventional oven.

2. In a 6-inch cast iron skillet, cook butter until golden and nutty then transfer to a bowl to let cool slightly. Whisk in brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Divide the dough in half and place one half into a separate bowl. To one half, fold in 1 Tbsp cocoa powder.

4. Drop cookie dough into the cast iron skillet, alternating between both doughs to create a marble effect.

5. Bake for 17-21 minutes until golden brown.

Fluffy Lemon Sweet Rolls 🍋

Dough
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 large eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
6 Tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup homemade or store-bought lemon curd, plus more for garnish

1/2 cup heavy cream

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
8 Tbsp cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
Pinch salt
Splash vanilla

Directions
DOUGH
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the hook attachment, add milk, sugar and instant yeast, give it a stir. Then add flour and salt. Knead on medium speed until dough starts to come together then add the butter. Continue to work the dough on medium for another 5 to 8 minutes until smooth, has pulled away from the sides of the bowl and passes the windowpane test. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise and double in size, about 60-75 minutes.

ASSEMBLE
1. Degass the dough but punching it down then transfer onto lightly floured surface, lightly flour your rolling pin and roll out to about 1/8-inch thick rectangle, about 18 x 14 inches.
2. Spread lemon curd in one even layer. Use a pizza cutter to slice 1 1/2-inch thick strips. Roll each strip into a spiral and place in a greased and lined 9x13 baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and set aside for about 30-45 minutes to double in size again.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F.
4. Pour 1/2 cup heavy cream into the gaps and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

ICING
1. Whip room temp butter and cream cheese until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add icing sugar, vanilla and salt and beat for 1 minute on medium-high speed.

Pink & White Striped Shortbread Cookies

1 cup (227g) unsalted butter
1 cup (113g) icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
10g freeze-dried strawberries (or dragonfruit or raspberries)

1 egg white, lightly whisked

Directions

1. In bowl of stand mixer, cream butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add in flour and salt.

2. Ground the freeze-dried strawberries until you get a fine powder, set aside.

3. Divide cookie dough into two separate bowls. To one bowl, sift in the strawberry powder and mix until homogeneous, try not to overmix dough.

4. Roll out each dough to about 1/4-inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper, into a rectangle and roughly the same size and shape.

5. Lightly brush the top of the pink dough with egg white to act as the “glue”. Carefully lift and place the vanilla layer on top. Use a knife or bench scraper to cut the dough in half so you have two squares, brush one half with egg white, stack the other half on top. Slice the square in half and repeat with egg wash and stacking.

6. Use a sharp knife to slice 1/4-inch thick slices of cookies and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in fridge to chill for 15-30 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 325°F convection or 350°F conventional. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden on the edges and centres are set.

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Strawberries & Cream Croissants

4 large store-bought croissants

Strawberry Purée
2 cups strawberries, quartered
Juice of half lemon
1/4 cup sugar

Macarpone Cream Filling
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt

Strawberry Glaze
1 cup icing sugar
2 Tbsp strawberry purée
2-4 Tbsp heavy cream

Directions
1. Bake croissants in 300°F oven for 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
2. Make strawberry purée: Cook strawberries, sugar and lemon in a saucepan over medium heat until soft and purée has thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before pureeing until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, whip heavy cream, mascarpone cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and salt to firm peaks. Fold in cooled strawberry purée in 2-3 batches. Transfer to piping bag.
4. Make the glaze: whisk icing sugar, 2 Tbsp strawberry purée and 2-4 Tbsp heavy cream to desired consistency.
5. Insert a sharp knife at the bottom of each croissant, pipe strawberry cream filling. Top with glaze and enjoy.

The best sticky toffee pudding I’ve ever had was in London at Hawksmoor. A moist date cake soaked in a spiced toffee sauce topped with CLOTTED CREAM. I think we had it 3 times in the 6 or 7 days we were there. Of course I needed to recreate that with an even more decadent twist by adding chocolate. This recipe makes 6 individual ramekins but can easily be baked into a 9-inch round or square cake.

Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding 🍫

1 cup pitted dates
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp espresso powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Chocolate Toffee Sauce
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
3oz semi-sweet chocolate
Pinch salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F convection or 375°F conventional. Grease and line the bottoms of 6 ramekins with parchment paper or use a 9-inch square or round pan, set aside.

2. In a small bowl, soak the dates with boiling water, baking soda and espresso powder, set aside for 10 minutes to soften and then use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Add cocoa powder.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, egg, butter, vanilla. Stir in the chocolate date mixture until combined. Then add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until batter just comes together.

4. Divide evenly among the ramekins and bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean, okay with there’s a few crumbs. Let cool in ramekins for 10-15 minutes then unmold.

5. Make the chocolate toffee sauce: In a saucepan, add butter, brown sugar and heavy cream, cook on medium until mixture begins o bubble, stirring constantly. Cook for another minute then remove from heat, let cool 5 minutes before stirring in the chocolate. Serve overtop of the warn cakes and enjoy!

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This is scary but I’m doing it anyway.

1. Why this, why now?

Guess how long this post has been sitting in my Substack drafts? Way too long. I promised myself that this year is the year that I just… let go. Let go of the fear of being judged, of trying to be perfect, of standing in my own way. So here goes.

I started my first blog in 2015, it was around the time when everyone had a blog. And to be honest, writing intimidates me because I feel like I need to write or sound a certain way or the words that I’m using are not sophisticated enough or I might say the wrong things and someone would judge me - all things pointing to fear. This year, I’ve decided that I just want to am going to show up just how I am and not fear how I will be perceived or what others might think or say about me. I actually find it a little exhausting at this point.

I think having experienced social media growth in the early stages of Instagram - where everything need to be super aesthetic, picture perfect and heavily filtered in order to be shared was both wonderful and tiresome. Eventually it stripped the joy out of creating for me. I remember Taylor and I traveling and in my head, I always had to “get the shot”. Of course when the shot didn’t turn out the way I had envisioned it, it would completely ruin my day.

We were in Thailand and I researched this pink cafe that I HAD to visit to get a photo (I was in my pink era at the time). Taylor and I waited over an hour for this place to open. Of course we had to be the first ones in, I ordered the most mediocre drink, snapped my photos (ended up throwing out the drink after a couple sips) and that was it. Looking back, I feel so silly having done that and wasted money on something that really didn’t add any value to anyone’s life.

Anyways, all that to say… this year, I look forward to showing up as myself, aesthetic or not. I don’t want to worry about anything other than creating joy. I don’t need the perfect lighting, perfect outfit or hair in order to film a video or even edit this post a gazillion times before I feel good enough to press publish (it is scary though lol).

2. I want to find my people and share my life

I quit my job earlier this year (2025). I was working as a Content Creator for Food Network and HGTV Canada and had been with the company for 6 years. I am so grateful for that job and everything it taught me. This is my second time attempting full-time content creation and working for myself. It’s a little scary with how unstable freelance is but I have faith everything will work out. I experienced a lot of growth while I shared recipes during mat leave and am excited to continue to share my favourite recipes, share my life and connect with you guys!

3. What will you find here?

I want a place where I can share my recipes, my thoughts, my life and just fun things I’ve been working on lately with the ultimate goal of connecting with people that enjoy the same things that I do.

I hope you subscribe and stick around :)

x Sabrina

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