Layer upon layer of light, buttery flaky pastry filled with rich chocolate and drizzled with more chocolate, these made from scratch chocolate croissants are simply mind-blowing! No butter folding or chilling the dough several times needed!
Today was such a beautiful day! High 80’s and I couldn’t have been happier! Summer is around the corner, right? And this summer something amazing is going to happen. I’m going to Sicily for an entire month!! Can you sense my excitement?
I’m already making lists with things I want to see and do. The list is endless and I’m not going to bother you with it, except one thing – taking a pasta making class. I know I can take one here, but doesn’t it sound more fun taking a pasta making class in Italy? It sure does!
In anticipation of my summer vacation, I bought a pasta attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer. I was so excited to make my own spaghetti or lasagna sheets! And I still am, but I discovered I can use my pasta attachment to satisfy my sweet tooth cravings as well. Like making chocolate croissants!!
Yes, flaky, buttery croissants filled with rich chocolate and topped with more chocolate!
And you know what makes these chocolate croissants even better? They use half the butter!
Obviously that translates into – I can have 2 croissants with my coffee!!
I’ve made these chocolate croissants three times so far and have to admit the more I use my pasta attachment the prettier the croissants look (so mind the video, it was made at my 2nd try) and I’ll try to explain the process as detailed as possible. (this is probably the longest recipe on this blog)
If you’re familiar with a pasta attachment, this recipe will be a breeze. If you’re a beginner like me, it takes a little practice.
To make the croissants dough, it’s very simple. All you need is all-purpose flour, milk, active yeast, sugar and butter.
For the filling, you’ll need baking chocolate and more butter.
An egg to brush the croissants just before baking and some melted chocolate to drizzle over as soon as you take them out of the oven.
Using baking chocolate instead of chocolate chips will result in an oozing chocolate filling. The chocolate chips have stabilizers so while they do melt, they stay more intact and don’t have as much flavor as baking chocolate. Use whatever brand you prefer. My 1st choice is Trader Joe’s pound chocolate, but you can use Baker’s, Hershey’s, Ghirardelli, Scharffen Bergeretc.
For the butter, it’s crucial to use the best of the best! I highly recommend using a European butter. Plugra and President are two brands I absolutely adore, but Kerrygold works as well. Please do not use cheap butter. Your croissants will taste as good as your ingredients!
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Pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants) made from scratch recipe with a step by step video
Roxana
Yields 12 chocolate croissants
Layer upon layer of light, buttery flaky pastry filled with rich chocolate and drizzled with more chocolate, these made from scratch chocolate croissants are simply mind-blowing! No butter folding or chilling the dough several times needed!
2 hrPrep Time
25 minCook Time
2 hr, 25 Total Time
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Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup lukewarm milk
- 1 envelope (7 grams) active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (45 grams) butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
- 1 pound (450 grams) baking chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 egg, lightly beaten (optional, to brush the croissants for a shiny crust)
- 2 oz (55 grams) chocolate, melted (optional to drizzle over the croissants once baked)
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add the flour. Make a well in the middle and pour the lukewarm milk. Sprinkle the dry yeast over the milk, give it a little stir with a fork and let the yeast proof. Soon bubbles will appear and the yeast will foam and double in size.
- Fit your stand mixer with the dough hook. Turn it on to the lower speed.
- Add the melted butter, sugar and with the dough hook on, knead the dough until it cleans itself from the sides of the bowl.
- Place the dough in a buttered dish, cover with a tea towel or a plastic wrap and let sit until doubled in size. This should take about 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 12 (almost) equal pieces.
- I found the dough works best if it’s chilled, so place the pieces of dough in the fridge and cover them loosely. Take out only one piece at a time.
- Fit your pasta sheet roller to the stand mixer and set it to #1 setting. Flatten one piece of dough, flour it lightly and shape it into a rectangle.
- Turn on the mixer to the lowest speed. (speed #2 or stir depending on your type of mixer).
- Pass the dough through the pasta sheet roller. Flour and fold the dough in half. Pass it again through the pasta attachment, still on setting #1 (I only did this at my 3rd attempt and the dough turned out more evenly). For best results, fold the dough and pass it through the pasta attachment for a total of 2 times.
- Change the setting to your pasta roller to #2. Pass the dough sheet 2 times through it.
- Change the pasta roller setting to #3. Pass the dough sheet 1 time.
- If needed lightly flour the pastry sheet.
- Change the pasta roller setting to #4. Pass the pastry sheet 1 time.
- Do the same with setting #5, #6 and for the flakiest croissants #7 and #8.
- Lightly flour the pastry sheet if needed as you thin it out.
- Once the pastry sheet is rolled out, brush it with softened butter. For me it was easier to spread a thin layer of butter using a small spatula vs using a pastry brush.
- Place chopped chocolate at one end, and with your fingers roll the pastry sheet. Place the rolled chocolate croissant in the fridge, on a baking sheet until all croissants are done.
- At this point, you can place the croissants in the freezer and take them out when needed (make sure they are in a freezer safe bag or container) or, you can bake them all at once like I did.
- Take the rolled croissants out of the fridge and leave them at room temperature for a couple of hours until almost double in size. Like I said, I have made this recipe 3 times so far and noticed that if I let them rise in the afternoon, it takes about 3 to 4 hours.
- Alternately, you can leave the croissants rest overnight on the counter. At night, my kitchen is not as hot as in the afternoon, so the croissants needed 7 to 8 hours to double in size.
- It’s totally up to you and how pressed you’re with time. If you have frozen croissants, you may have to leave them longer to rest on the counter, maybe 9-10 hours.
- Just before baking, brush the croissants with a beaten egg. This step is optional, but I love the shiny brown crust it gives to the croissants.
- Heat the oven to 400F.
- Bake the croissants in the hot oven for about 25 minutes or until brown (at golden brown the croissants are not fully baked).
- Drizzle some melted chocolate over the warm croissants and serve warm, preferably.
Notes
Using baking chocolate instead of chocolate chips will result in an oozing chocolate filling. The chocolate chips have stabilizers so while they do melt, they stay more intact and don’t have as much flavor as baking chocolate. Use whatever brand you prefer. My 1st choice is Trader Joe’s pound chocolate , but you can use Baker’s , Hershey’s , Ghirardelli , Scharffen Berger etc.
For the butter, it’s crucial to use the best of the best! I highly recommend using a European butter. Plugra and President are two brands I absolutely adore, but Kerrygold works as well. Please do not use cheap butter. Your croissants will taste as good as your ingredients!
7.6.8
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Roxana Yawgel http://atreatsaffair.com/ All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.
Happy baking,
Roxana
