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Active Time
1½ hours
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Total Time
1½ hours (plus chilling)
The only thing better than having a chocolate croissant atbrunchis being handed one crisp and warm from the oven. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend years working the Parisian patisserie circuit to make this dream a reality. Anyone with a rolling pin and a cache ofbutter(and yes, a fair amount of time on their hands), can perfect pain au chocolat at home. If this is your first time making this style of pastry, there are a few essential tools that may seem out of place: a spray bottle and a garbage bag. As the shaped croissants rise, you’ll tuck them into an (unscented!) large plastic bag (a garbage bag is the usual go-to and much easier to manage than a bunch of fiddly sheets of plastic wrap) to generate a moist environment that prevents the pastries’ surfaces from drying out. The spray bottle is used to spritz the walls of your oven with water, creating steam that renders the tops a shiny golden brown and enhances the airy, flaky layers.
Croissant dough isn’t dissimilar frompuff pastry, but for one key ingredient:yeast. The process of making it requires a technique called folding. First you wrap the dough around a block of butter, then roll it, fold it into thirds, and chill it before repeating the process an hour or two later. It takes some time, but it’s incredibly worth it. This recipe makes enough dough for two batches of croissants. You can freeze half for another batch down the road or use it to make a round of almond croissants simply by swapping out the chocolate batons for a pat of almond paste. (For a savory take, fill with a dollop of cream cheese and dust the tops witheverything bagel seasoning).
About those batons: Using qualitydark chocolatedistinguishes an ordinary pain au chocolat from an excellent one. It’s worth the effort to order high-qualitydark chocolate batons而不是用巧克力,可以创建pools of saccharine, unevenly melted chocolate in your otherwise perfect dough. You may see percentages as low as 40% rather than the usual 60%–70% seen on most bitter- and semisweet chocolate packaging. According to our resident baking expert,Shilpa Uskokovic, as long as the batons have a minimum of 35% cocoa solids and no dairy, it qualifies as “dark” and will work wonderfully in this chocolate croissant recipe.
Ingredients
Makes 16
Step 1
Stir together1½ cups warm whole milk (105°–110°),¼ cup (packed; 50 g) light brown sugar, and1 Tbsp. plus ¼ tsp. active dry yeastin the bowl of a standing mixer. Let sit until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes.
Step 2
Fit bowl onto mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add3¾ (369 g) cups all-purpose flourand1 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¾ tsp. Morton kosher saltand mix on low speed, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until dough is smooth, 6–8 minutes.
Step 3
Transfer dough to a surface and knead, dusting with more flour if needed, until soft and just slightly sticky, about 2 minutes. Form into a 1½″-thick rectangle, wrap in plastic, and chill until cold, about 1 hour.
Step 4
Arrange3 sticks (1½ cups ) chilled unsalted butterhorizontally, long sides touching, on a clean work surface and pound with a rolling pin until slightly softened (butter should be malleable but still cold). Scrape butter into a block and transfer to a kitchen towel. Cover with a second kitchen towel and roll out to an 8x5″ rectangle. Chill butter (still in towels) while you roll out dough.
Step 5
Unwrap dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a 16x10″ rectangle, lifting and stretching dough and dusting with more flour as needed. Rotate dough so a short side is nearest to you. Unwrap butter and place in center of dough with long sides of butter parallel to short sides of dough. Fold dough into thirds like folding a letter; brush off excess flour.
Step 6
Flatten dough slightly, then roll out to a 15x10″ rectangle, rolling just to, but not over, the edges; brush off excess flour. Fold dough into thirds once again and shape dough into a 10x5″ rectangle, stretching the corners to square off. At this point, you have completed the first "fold." Wrap dough in plastic and chill 1 hour.
Step 7
Repeat rolling and chilling process 3 more times for a total of 4 “folds.” (If any butter oozes out while rolling, sprinkle with flour to prevent sticking.) Halve dough crosswise and wrap each half in plastic. Chill at least 8 hours and up to 18 hours.
Step 8
Unwrap 1 dough half and roll out on a lightly floured surface into an 18x10″ rectangle. Brush off excess flour and trim edges. Slice dough lengthwise in quarters, then crosswise into quarters to make 16 rectangles.
Step 9
Working with 1 rectangle at a time, place2 dark chocolate batons, flat sides together, along a short side of dough about ¾″ from edge, letting batons extend over sides. Fold bottom edge of dough up and over batons and roll up around chocolate. Arrange pastries, seam side down, on 2 large parchment-paper-lined baking sheets, spacing 2″ apart.
Step 10
每一个烤盘陷入一个垃圾袋。支持你p top of bags with inverted glasses to prevent them from touching pastries, then tuck open end of bags under baking sheets. Let pastries rise at room temperature until slightly puffy and spongy, 2–2½ hours.
Step 11
Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 425°. Generously spray inside of oven with water; immediately close oven door. Remove baking sheets from bags and transfer to oven; spray inside of oven again just before closing door. Reduce oven temperature to 400° and bake croissants, without opening oven door, 10 minutes. Rotate baking sheets top to bottom and front to back, reduce oven temperature to 375°, and continue to bake until croissants are deep golden, 8–12 minutes longer.
Do Ahead:Use the remaining croissant dough half for another batch of croissants or freeze for up to 3 months (defrost overnight in the refrigerator). Croissants can be baked 1 month ahead. Let cool, then freeze on baking sheets. Wrap individually in foil and transfer to resealable plastic bags. Reheat in a 325° oven 5–10 minutes.
Editor’s note:This recipe was first printed in the October 2000 issue of ‘Gourmet.’ Head this way for more ofour best French desserts→-
How would you rate Chocolate Croissants (Pains au Chocolat)?
Leave a Review
Reviews (21)
Back to TopFor chocolate batons, try King Arthur Flour (search for “pain au chocolat sticks”).
charjoy
Newberg, OR
1/24/2021
万博官网epicurious——回答我们的问题!如果我们离开question in the Comment Section, it means we have a question; it needs to be responded to. DO YOUR JOBS! A Cook From Nashville, TN. had a great question -- has this recipe been tried with frozen pre-made puff pastry sheets? i also want to know the answer to that, and if the answer is Yes, then i'd like to know how to approach it from THAT standpoint. and i might use Nutella instead of frou-frou designer chocolate, too. i'd ask what epi thinks of this, but i already know i'll get no response.
hollisevon
Vero Beach, FL
4/13/2019
No egg wash?
ecarrykc
Tampa, Fl
1/16/2017
I get so aggravated looking for good recipes sometimes--this is an excellent recipe for pains au chocolat, but to go to the extremes of ordering specialty chocolate to make them with? A great deal of overkill if you ask me--I've made these several times and the first I used plain semi-sweet Hershey's chocolate morsels and they came out heavenly and have done so since.
TxTiket2Ride2
2/3/2011
Delicious. Tasted like the pains au chocolat I had in France. I made some with the bittersweet chocolate batons and some with white chocolate. They were amazing.
Mags22
11/12/2010
Hi This is my first time attempting this recipe. What does "spritz the oven" mean?
Cherryp1
Canada
6/28/2009
Worth all the effort! These were delicious and a hit on Christmas morning. I used Lindt chocolate as batons were not available.
baabwajones
Northborough, MA
1/15/2009
Very good....left my review on the croissant dough recipe
shericyng
utah
2/13/2008
Since I double the croissant dough recipe to keep croissants in the freezer, I used a half portion to make these. They are wicked, easily the best pains chocolats I've tasted since I left Montreal. Didn't have batons, but an 8-oz bar of Ghirardelli bittersweet is scored to fit perfectly. I used 2 (one stick/pain), and will get proper batons for the next time. Warning: finished product is highly addictive; increase exercise accordingly.
jharris2
10/14/2006
A ton of work for an o.k. result- my croissants didn't come out flaky- more doughy- they still tasted good- You can use bakers chocolate cut up instead of the sticks.
Anonymous
Toronto
9/20/2004
This is a wonderful recipe!! Don't be intimidated by it either. It's much easier than it looks. I didn't have time to get the batons, so I just cut some Dove dark chocolate promises in half. They worked beautifully. YUM!
Anonymous
Minnesota
9/3/2004
I'd love to make these for my daughter's first grade class when she's to take snack in next, but it's in the middle of a very busy week for me. Since there is no way I can make them from scratch between now and then, and since I don't want to pay $2.50 per child for the only decent pains au chocolat to be bought in Nashville, TN, I'm wondering about a compromise: Has anyone ever tried making these with Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets?
Anonymous
Nashville, TN
2/17/2004
Any luck with locating a store to buy the batons?
Anonymous
9/8/2003
This is the most wonderful recipe- I have made it a few times and absolutely love it- it is very easy to make-the first time I made it, I was a bit intimidated as I thought It would be impossible to do well- I think that a few illustrations would have made the process much easier to understand for a newbie, but that aside- it's an amazing recipe.
Anonymous
West Hartford CT
3/2/2003
To the cook in Maine - chocolate batons (also called pain au chocolat sticks) are available from the King Arthur flour website and catalog. They are excellent.
Anonymous
sterling, va
1/11/2003
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