Pillsbury just made croissants so much easier

These freezer-to-oven croissants promise 48 flaky layers with no thawing, rolling, or shaping required!

Making croissants from scratch is super hard for me. There is a lot of rolling, folding, shaping, chilling, and patience involved before they ever make it into the oven. Pillsbury is helping out with its new Butter Grands! Croissants and Chocolate Grands! Croissants, two freezer-to-oven pastries joining the brand’s permanent lineup.

I tried both of them, and the biggest thing that stood out was how much they actually felt like croissants rather than refrigerated crescent rolls. They were flaky on the outside, soft and chewy inside, and had the texture of a true pastry rather than baked dough from a tube.

They go straight from the freezer to the oven

The convenience is probably the biggest selling point here. Each package contains eight large, pre-shaped croissants, and there is no thawing required before baking. You can bake the entire batch or just make one when you want without making eight pastries at once.

Pillsbury says each croissant has 48 layers, and the Butter Grands! Croissants are made with real butter, while the Chocolate Grands! Croissants use real Belgian cocoa. Once baked, both had that familiar flaky exterior you expect from a croissant, along with a softer center. These are also very different from Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. The shape, texture, and layers make them feel much closer to a classic croissant.

The Butter Croissant

The Butter Grands! Croissant was buttery without being greasy and had a really nice flaky texture. The inside stayed soft, which gave it a good contrast with the crispier outside layers.

This is the one I would serve alongside eggs for an easy weekend breakfast. It could also work with butter and jam or as the base for a breakfast sandwich. For something that requires essentially no prep, it feels like a major upgrade from opening a tube of dough.

The Chocolate Croissant

The Chocolate Grands! Croissant was the one I was most excited to try, and it ended up being my favorite of the two. The amount of chocolate was just right. It tasted closer to semisweet chocolate than an overly sweet dessert filling, which meant the buttery croissant itself still came through.

The texture was also excellent. The outside stayed flaky while the center was soft and slightly chewy. I especially liked that the chocolate version could easily work for breakfast or dessert. It was sweet enough to feel like a treat, but not so sweet that I wouldn’t pair it with coffee in the morning. It would also be just as good warmed up for an after-dinner dessert.

My take

Pillsbury’s new Grands! Croissants manage to make croissants significantly easier without losing the flaky texture that makes them worth eating in the first place.

I would definitely buy both again, although the Chocolate Grands! Croissants would be the first box going into my cart. For anyone who loves warm croissants but doesn’t want to spend hours making the dough, these make an awesome shortcut.