Flakey and buttery croissants with little chunks of chocolate are incredibly quick and easy with frozen puff pastry. You just need 3 ingredients!
These breakfast treats are best warm from the oven, but can be assembled the night before, and baked off the next morning.
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Pain au Chocolat, also known as chocolate croissant, is my husband's favorite pastry. And it turns out, they're amazingly easy to make at home.
All you need is frozen puff pastry, chocolate squares, and egg white (to help the puff pastry adhere to itself). These come together very quickly and easily once the puff pastry thaws, and are great with your morning coffee or a cup of this ginger lemon honey tea.
🤷♀️ Are Chocolate Croissants and Pain au Chocolate the Same?
Yes and no.
They use the same laminated dough, but they're cut into different shapes and are rolled differently.
Specifically, chocolate croissants start with a triangle, and are rolled up into a rounded shape that's puffy in the middle and compressed at the ends. Pain au chocolate, on the other hand, is cut into rectangles, folded over small rectangles of chocolate, and then rolled up like a jelly roll.
So they're the same idea, but slightly different.
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. Shortcut store-bought options and ingredients you can make ahead and save in the refrigerator can turn a dish that takes 60 (or more) minutes to make into a 30 minute meal or less.
For the all of the ingredients, measurements and directions, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
- Puff pastry - I prefer Dufour's Puff Pastry, but honestly, Pepperidge Farm makes a great product too. And it might be easier to find.
- Chocolate - I use semi-sweet Ghirardelli 60% Dark Chocolate Bar, but I encourage you to use your own favorite semi-sweet or milk chocolate.
- Egg White - this adheres the end of the puff pastry to itself at the end of the rolling. Otherwise, the roll will lift away from the rest of Pain au Chocolat while it bakes.
- Your favorite jam - (optional)
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.
🔪 Recommended Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Chef's knife - for cutting the chocolate into slivers.
👩🍳 How to Work With Frozen Puff Pastry
Two Major Brands
The two major brands of frozen puff pastry are Dufour, which uses butter, and Pepperidge Farm, which uses palm, soybean, and hydrogenated cottonseed vegetable oils.
Dufour recently introduced a plant-based frozen puff pastry. It uses four all natural ingredients: organic wheat flour, organic palm fruit oil, water, and sea salt. It's free from trans fats, artificial colors & flavors, sugar - including high fructose corn syrup.
They both work fine, but I prefer Dufour.
Step 1: Thaw and roll out
Thaw the pastry sheets either in the refrigerator overnight, or on the counter until you can unfold the sheets without cracking them. The pastry should be cold to the touch.
Carefully unfold the sheets on a work space. You should not need to flour the workspace first. If the pastry comes apart a little at the folds, just gently press it together using your fingers.
Smooth out the pastry using a rolling pin, but don't press down too hard.
Pro tip: It's possible to roll out the dough to a larger sheet, but this can keep it from rising as much in the oven.
If the dough becomes too soft, slide it into the refrigerator on a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper. Cover, and chill for at least 15 minutes.
Step # 2: Shape the pastry
You can use the entire sheet for a tart, or cut it into smaller pieces, such as for this Pain au Chocolat recipe or small galettes like these Caramelized Onion and Feta appetizers.
If you use the whole sheet for a tart, make a raised border by slicing off one inch strips from each side, and stacking the strips around the tart like a frame. This easy process is shown in pictures in this Onion Tart recipe.
Step # 3: Bake
For any recipe requiring the puff pastry to be baked first, such as with a tart, prick the pastry base several times with a fork to keep the base from puffing too much while it bakes, and bake according to the package or recipe directions.
💡Ideas for Possible Variations
- Use milk chocolate or dark chocolate.
- Eliminate the jam.
And now lets made this Petit Pain au Chocolat recipe!!
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Mini Pain au Chocolat
Ingredients
- 1 sheet frozen Dufour puff pastry, or Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
- 1 package Ghirardelli 60% Intense Dark Chocolate Bar
- 1 egg white
- 4 tablespoons Raspberry jam, optional
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, optional
Instructions
- Place an oven rack in the top third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Thaw the frozen puff pastry according to the directions on the package.
- Gently unfold the puff pastry. Dufours unfolds into 4 equal sections. Use a sharp knife to separate the sheet at the fold lines to have 4 equal squares. Wrap and refrigerate 3 of the squares, and roll the 4th piece out to a 7" X 7" square. Slice the square into 3 equal strips.
- Pro-Tip: If the puff pastry gets too warm, it may stick to your work surface. Return it to the refrigerator for a few minutes and try again.
- Note: Pepperidge Farm Frozen Puff Pastry is folded in thirds. Unfold and roll into a square. Cut into 4 equal squares, and then into 3 strips.
- Separate the yolk from the egg white of one whole egg. Discard the yolk, and spill the egg white into a small bowl.
- Optional: If you're using the raspberry jam, smear 1 teaspoon of jam along the length of each strip, leaving a 1-inch border at each end.
- Remove the chocolate from its packaging. It should be divided into 8 squares. Using a sharp knife, divide each of those squares in half. It's fine if the chocolate square breaks apart a bit. Each half square of chocolate weighs approximately .25 ounces.
- Place a half square of chocolate at one end of the puff pastry strip over the jam. Fold the end of the pastry over the chocolate, and carefully roll it almost to the end of the strip. Baste the end of the strip with egg white. Complete rolling, and place on the baking sheet with the seam facing down.
- Pro-Tip: It's very important to ensure that the seam is on the bottom of the roll, against the baking pan. This, in addition to the egg white, helps to seal the puff pastry to itself during baking.
- Repeat with the remaining squares of frozen puff pastry, one at a time.
- Optional: Baste the top of each roll with egg white, and sprinkle turbinado sugar over the top.
- Bake for 20 minutes at high altitude, or until a golden brown. (Note: I baked them at 7100 feet.) At sea level, bake for 15 minutes.
- Place on a cooling rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Lola Osinkolu | Chef Lola's Kitchen
Can't wait to try it with evening my afternoon tea!
Lola Osinkolu | Chef Lola's Kitchen
my afternoon tea* ops
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I hope you like it!! Let me know how it goes for you!!