Thursday, August 25, 2011

Recipe: Petits Pains au Chocolat

One of the best things about French culture is the food, of course. And one of my favorite French foods is a bakery staple: pain au chocolat, or chocolate croissants as we Americans call them.

I recently came across a quick and easy recipe for a mini version of these pastry delights and of course, had to try it.

Here are the ingredients:

(Plus a little sanding sugar for dusting, which I forgot to put in the picture)

The quality of chocolate is very important for the flavor. Cadbury works fine but of course it would taste so much better with Swiss chocolate. ;) You may use milk chocolate if you like, but personally I like the rich, less sweet taste of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate. As Cadbury is thicker than say, Lindt bars, I actually only used half of what the recipe called for. 

Break chocolate apart into rows. 

Yeah, this is happening.

Spread out the puff pastry (or phyllo dough) and cut each sheet into 12 equal squares. Brush each square with egg wash (an egg and a tsp of water mixed together) and lay a row of chocolate at one edge. When I make these again, I'll add vanilla to the egg wash for a little extra flavor.


Tightly roll each square of dough, sealing the edges tightly around the chocolate. This is important or it will split open during baking and the chocolate will spill out.


Lay seam-side down on the pan and brush the tops with egg wash.

See the hole? Yeah, that one was a mess after it baked.

Sprinkle each roll with preferably sanding sugar but regular table sugar will do. Feel free to dust with a cinnamon/sugar mix, if you prefer.


Bake at 400°F for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. 


Now pour yourself a cup of coffee and practice conjugating your French verbs. 
Bon appétit! 

Again I have created a nice little photo card for your baking pleasure.


6 comments:

  1. These were divine. They were small, so I had to eat four of them to equal one regular size Pain au Chocolat. I also had to run an extra quarter of a mile, but it was worth it.
    ~your favorite taste tester

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  2. yum! i've made these with Nutella too :)

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  3. It's wonderful how you go to great pains to bring us such things!

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  4. This sounds like a great after school treat for the kids! I think I'll get the ingredients today! Thanks:)

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  5. Yes. Please. Sooner rather than later. xoxo

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  6. Stop it. (By "stop it", I mean "make me some.")

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