Homemade Chocolate Croissants
If there's one thing that can make us jump out of bed first thing in the morning, it's a flaky pastry. And if there's one thing that can rock us to sleep at night, it's a chocolatey dessert. Combine the best of both worlds with a homemade chocolate croissant, or pain au chocolat, as the French call it. Bonjour, indeed!
Equipment
- Hand mixer
- Rolling Pin
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 4 cups flour
- 0.25 cup sugar
- 1 packet instant dry yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp butter, softened
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 cup cold butter 2 sticks
- 2 bars chocolate, cut into 32 strips 2 strips per croissant
- 1 yolk whisked egg for the egg wash
Instructions
- Mix the flour, sugar, softened butter, and yeast with the dough hook of a hand mixer. Gradually stir in the cold water and knead the dough for about 6 minutes, or until smooth. Form the dough into a ball, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours. Wrap the cold butter in parchment paper, roll it out into a rectangle, and refrigerate with the dough.
- Roll the dough out into an oval, place the butter rectangle on the upper half of the dough, and fold the dough over the butter, enclosing it completely.
- Rotate the dough 90°, flour it, and roll it lengthwise until it's about ⅓-inch thick.
- Fold the upper and lower thirds towards the middle so that both dough layers touch each other, and then fold everything up again.
- Rotate the dough 90°, roll it out lengthwise, fold both ends in towards the middle, and fold everything up again.
- Repeat the folding process and refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes.
- Remove the dough block from the fridge and cut it in half. Each half will make 8 croissants, so if that's all you want for now, go ahead and freeze the other half. Roll the first half out into a rectangle and cut the dough into 8 equal sections.
- If you're only making 8 croissants, you will only need 1 chocolate bar – cut into 16 strips. Place one chocolate strip at the end of a piece of dough, fold the dough over the chocolate, place another chocolate strip on the dough, and then roll the entire thing up. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Place the chocolate croissants on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and let the dough sit at room temperature for 2 hours. Brush the egg wash over the dough, slide the pan in the oven, and bake in a preheated oven set to 400°F for 15 minutes. To make sure the croissants brown evenly, rotate the pan 180° halfway through.
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Notes
It's hard to beat a classic milk chocolate filling, but if you're feeling especially wild, try experimenting with white chocolate, caramel chocolate, mint chocolate, or even a nutty or fruity candy bar.