Black Sugar Mochi Croissants - 85 Degrees

i'm not much of a croissant lover. *gasp!* i know. Weird! Who wouldn't like that flaky butteriness? Well, me. haha. Its usually just a bit too buttery for me...My parents recently brought home a bag of pastries from 85 degrees (the new bakery rave in Irvine...i'm talking long lines at all times of the day. You'd think that they were giving their baked goods away for free by the length of the lines..i'll review this place at another time but this was the preview).

I remember scavenging around the kitchen that night for something sweet. One of the items in the bag of fun was this mochi filled croissant. Eck....I was desperate for something so I decided to just take one bite and throw it back in the bag.....Well one bite turned into a second bite until the whole thing was gone! Woot!

The croissant is coated in this sugary sticky substance, crispy on the outside, flaky on the inside, and filled with this yummy gelatinous substance that sort of reminded me of grass jelly. Its actually filled with a black sugar mochi. Did I just say black sugar? Yupyup. Annnnd, what is black sugar you may ask? Goooood question. I had never heard of such a thing! In fact, I didn't believe my parents that such a thing existed! I was thinking, black food coloring? But they said that black sugar was quite popular in Taiwan and something they would eat growing up. So, I did a little google search and apparently it IS popular in Taiwan...it is a molasses-based sugar that looks black and tastes different from regular sugar. Anyways, the mochi center probably isn't for everyone but I actually loved it. Hence the picture of more mochi croissants purchased at a second visit!