Maple-glazed bacon ‘dossants’ with salted caramel filling

Method

1. You can make the crème patissiere a day ahead. To make the crème patissiere, whisk the milk, cornflour, 30 g of the sugar and the vanilla paste together in a saucepan. Keep whisking over a medium heat and bring the mixture to almost boiling point then remove from the heat. Whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar in a large bowl. Then slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking all the time to stop the eggs from curdling. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and heat over a medium–low heat, then keep whisking until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, one cube at a time, until all combined. Pour the custard into a clean bowl, place a sheet of plastic wrap right on the surface of the custard to stop a skin forming, then set aside to let cool completely. Once cooled, add the salted caramel to the custard, then stir to mix well.
2. To make the croissant dough, mix the milk, 60 ml room-temperature water and yeast in a jug. Set aside for 10 minutes until it froths up. Place the flours, butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor, then pulse the mixture a few times, while gradually pouring the yeast mixture into the flour mixture until it forms a rough dough. Do not overmix as you should still see small flecks of butter in the dough.
3. Tip the rough dough onto a floured surface, gather all the loose bits together and gently knead a few times to form a soft dough. Flatten the dough into a rectangular disc, about 2.5 cm thick, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to let it set for at least 1 hour.
4. Now it’s time for the folding process. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, dust the dough and rolling pin with flour, roll the dough to form a rectangle about 15 x 30 cm. Fold the dough into thirds like a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, roll it out into a rectangle and fold into thirds again. Cover with plastic wrap and rest it in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Repeat this process two more times. Then leave it to rest in the refrigerator overnight until ready to be used.
5. When ready to make the dossants, roll the dough into a large rectangle about 6 mm thick. Using 7.5 cm and 2.5 cm round cookie cutters, cut the dough into 12 dossant rings.
6. Remove 6 dossant rings and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Brush these dossant rings with the beaten egg, then place another dossant ring on top of each of them. Now you should have 6 double-layered dossant rings.
7. Cover the dossants with a damp cloth and let them proof for 1 hour in a warm place, or until risen. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside.
8. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium–high heat and fry the bacon until crisp, about 5 minutes. It should be very crunchy and brittle, almost dark brown in colour. Drain on paper towel and set aside.
9. Use a deep-fryer if you have one. If not, fill a large, deep saucepan with the oil to about a third full. Bring the oil temperature up to 175ºC over a medium–high heat.
10. In batches of 2 or 3, gently lower the dossant rings into the hot oil and fry for 3 minutes on each side until they are crisp, golden brown and cooked through. Drain on paper towel. Once cool enough to handle, roll the side of the dossants in the cinnamon sugar, then place them on a wire rack to cool completely.
11. Fill a piping bag fitted with a 3 mm piping tip (or use a squeeze bottle), with the salted caramel crème patissiere. Using a metal skewer or a chopstick, pierce 4 holes evenly over the top of each dossant then fill with the crème patissiere.
12. To make the maple syrup glaze, mix the icing sugar with the maple syrup in a bowl until combined, it should be thick and flow like lava. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the dossants and then garnish with a piece of crispy bacon.