This Fusion Pastry Is One Of The Best Things You Can Order At Starbucks

Sometimes, you want a little sweet something to pair with your handcrafted drink at Starbucks, but can't decide from the plethora of items in the display case. When we ranked Starbucks bakery items, a surprising contender rose high on our writer's list. Only a couple spots below the beloved chocolate chip cookie was an unassuming apple croissant. Our writer didn't initially have the loftiest of hopes for this pastry, which looked a bit squished straight from the bag, but Starbucks delivered the goods — one taste, and she was hooked.

"[T]he mix of the buttery flavor from the croissant with an apple pie-type filling was absolutely delicious. It was perfectly sweet with that comforting buttery flavor. In fact, my only complaint? It was too small. Even in its smooshed form, it was still one of my favorites. So good!" our writer raved. Starbucks' apple croissant is a perfect fusion of some of your dessert favorites: A croissant, a donut, and some succulent apple pie. Starbucks' own description of the pastry on its website details its construction: "Layers of croissant dough wrapped around a warm apple filling, topped with sugar and baked to a golden finish."

While our writer found that some Starbucks eats, like the cinnamon coffee cake or the banana streusel muffin, tended to be painfully dry, that wasn't the case with the apple croissant. In fact, its taste and texture delivered some of the biggest satisfaction to be found at the home of the Siren. But don't take our writer's word for it ... social media site Reddit is full of users who are also gung-ho about this treat.

"To answer your questions, yes, the apple croissant is that popular. We are normally sold out by around the end of breakfast," one self-proclaimed Starbucks barista commented on Reddit, where folks complained that the item was hard to get when it first was released. "[I]'ve been getting one everyday for like a month and they're sooo good," a happy customer sighed. Elsewhere on Reddit, discussing the (then) seasonal availability of this treat, even more praises flowed. "Legit one of the best Starbucks treats I've ever tried. It wasn't too sweet which was why I loved it," a customer raved. In fact, a quick Google search reveals that the internet is replete with copycat recipes aiming to dupe the Starbucks apple treat, proving that folks just can't get enough of it... or want a chance to snack on one even when they are sold out.

Anecdotally, based on social media conversations, it seems that the baked apple croissant used to be only be sold in the fall, around the same time that Starbucks rolls out the PSL. Now, however, it has been moved to the everyday menu. This is great news for those who believe apple season never really ends — count us in that number! Unless you live in the state capital that's missing Starbucks (and McDonald's!), something yummy is just a quick drive-thru run away. We think a baked apple croissant would taste scrumptious with any caramel-based drink, owing to the timeless combination of caramel and apple.