Pain au Chocolat is a French Viennoiserie roll made with a combination of yeast-leavened dough and a few chocolate sticks or chocolate ganache. Viennoiserie is perhaps the most recognized category of French pastry around the world, thanks to its flagship baked good, the croissant.
This style of baking also represents a halfway point between the baker at the boulangerie, who exclusively bakes BREAD, and the artisan of the pâtisserie, who makes only PASTRY. The filled dough is rolled, baked, then served, ideally while still hot or warm. This flaky pastry can be bought at numerous French bakeries and supermarkets, and is the favorite after-school snack for French children everywhere.
The recipe below uses mini-morsels of dark chocolate rolled up into refrigerated croissant or buttermilk biscuit dough. It can also be made with pieces of raw bread dough and is particularly delicious using frozen puff pastry, thawed and cut into squares.
The general idea is to bake some good quality chocolate in your bread of choice, and enjoy!
Pain Au Chocolat
1 can (8-oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated crescent rolls
½ cup mini-chocolate chips or 1 4-oz bar of good quality chocolate, broken into small pieces
1 egg, mixed with 1 tsp water
Granulated sugar
Heat oven to 350°F. Separate dough into 8 triangles.
Place a tablespoon of chocolate chips on wide end of each triangle. Roll up, starting at the widest side of the triangle, rolling to opposite point. Shape each into the familiar crescent shape.
Place on ungreased, parchment-lined cookie sheet. Brush egg wash on each roll; sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Bake at 350°F. for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm.