3-Ingredient Puff Pastry Chocolate Croissants
You don’t have to be a pastry chef to enjoy homemade chocolate croissants in your own kitchen! With these easy and delicious 3-ingredient puff pastry chocolate croissants fresh out of the oven in only 30 minutes, you won’t miss the coffee shop at all!
As you know, I’m a huge fan of making your own kitchen feel like your favorite coffee shop. Being able to be your own barista not only saves money but is empowering. It’s so satisfying to be able to make your own brown sugar shaken espresso or vanilla sweet cream cold foam recipe.
But what’s a great coffee without a pastry to go with it? Okay, still pretty awesome, but on a lazy Saturday morning sometimes you want a little sweet treat to round out your cafe-style breakfast.
Sadly, real croissant dough is one of those things you either have to make yourself or buy from a restaurant supply store. So if you don’t want to spend a full day and a half laminating your own homemade croissant dough, frozen puff pastry dough is a similar and tasty substitute. It’s a convenient and easily accessible product you can use to make pastries like these easy shortcut chocolate croissants or raspberry nutella turnovers. You can make a pretty great “cheaters” chocolate croissant with puff pastry dough!
Criossant dough vs. Puff pastry: What’s the difference?
Croissant dough and puff pastry are similar in that they are both laminated doughs, layering dough and butter to create a light, flaky end result. However, croissant dough also contains milk and sugar, making it a more enriched dough than puff pastry.
Croissant dough uses both yeast and steam to help it rise, whereas puff pastry does not contain yeast and uses only the steam from baking as its leavening agent.
Ingredients
VIDEO: How to make chocolate croissants with puff pastry
How to make puff pastry chocolate croissants
Since the ingredients are so simple, it’s the technique that really makes this chocolate croissant recipe work. I really recommend watching the video above for this one (sound on) because it’s easier to see it in action than with still images.
Prep the puff pastry. Thaw the dough either on the counter for 40 minutes or in the microwave as per the package instructions (wrapped in a paper towel, about 15 seconds per side). Then unfold the dough, roll it out to be a little longer parallel to the fold lines (image 1), and cut each sheet into three pieces along the fold lines (image 2).
Cut the chocolate. A Ghirardelli baking bar has 10 squares of chocolate. You'll need about 14 squares for this recipe to make 6 croissants. The extra will be used for a chocolate drizzle at the end, if desired. Cut the bars into squares and the squares into rectangles (image 3, above). From there, you can break off pieces to arrange on the pastry.
Assemble the croissants. Watching the attached video may help visualize how to fold these croissants.
Start by putting a line of chocolate (about 1 1/2 chocolate rectangles) about half an inch from the short edge of the puff pastry. Roll the dough over the edge of the chocolate, and then over again to enclose the first line of chocolate (images 4-5).
Add a second line of chocolate next to the first roll (image 6). Roll the pastry over again so the two lines of chocolate are next to each other (not stacked), both wrapped in pastry (image 7).
Add a third line of chocolate next to the folded-over pastry (image 8). Take the loose end of the pastry, fold it over the top (image 9) and wrap it around to the other side, stretching if necessary (image 10). Pinch the free edge to the bottom of your croissant so it stays put as it bakes (image 11).
Your croissant should be a wide, flat rectangle with the chocolate rows next to each other, not a cylindrical roll with the chocolate rows stacked. If you look at the croissant from the end, it should look like three lines of chocolate with a bit of pastry between each of them (image 12).
Brush with egg wash. Arrange the six croissants, pinched side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Whisk an egg with about 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl and brush the egg wash on each croissant (images 13-14). This will make the croissants turn nice and glossy as they bake. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
Drizzle with chocolate. Melt the remaining chocolate (images 15-16). Transfer to a zip-top bag, cut off a very small corner, and drizzle over the baked croissants (images 17-20). Wait for the chocolate to cool and harden before stacking them. Store covered at room temperature.
Tips & Tricks
- Pinch the edges: This is the single most important thing you can do to give your croissants the right shape. Otherwise, the croissant will unroll itself as it bakes, giving you some pretty funky shapes.
- Reheat your leftovers: Puff pastry softens when stored overnight, so you lose some of that crisp flakiness from when it's fresh out of the oven. Bring the crispness back by popping it in the oven or toaster oven at 375 degrees for 4-5 minutes! Voila! They're as good as new! Note: If you have drizzled the tops with chocolate, the chocolate drizzle may burn a little if you reheat it too long.
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Puff Pastry Chocolate Croissants
Print RecipeIngredients
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry 1 package, thawed
- 8 oz semisweet baking chocolate bars I used Ghirardelli
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Prep the pastry dough.Preheat oven to 400℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Thaw the pastry dough either at room temperature or in the microwave as directed on the package. You want it actually a little soft so you can stretch and pinch it as we assemble the croissants.Unfold the dough and roll with a rolling pin in one direction only (parallel to the folds, if you have folded pastry dough) so it's a couple inches longer. Cut each pastry sheet into three long rectangles, along the folds.
- Cut the chocolate.Cut the chocolate bars into squares and then cut the squares in half to make little rectangles. You'll be breaking off pieces to fit the pastry but this is a good starting point.
- Assemble the croissants.Arrange chocolate along the short edge of a pastry strip and roll the pastry over the chocolate, making sure to tuck the end underneath the first strip of chocolate.Add another line of chocolate next to the first pastry roll, and roll the pastry over again into a flat rectangle, ensuring the lines of chocolate end up next to each other instead of on top of each other. Add a third line of chocolate next to the new pastry roll. Take the loose end of the pastry and fold it over the top, stretching it to wrap around the back about an inch. Flip the croissant over and pinch the edge of the pastry to seal it.When you look at the end of the pastry, you should see three lines of chocolate with pastry dough in between each.
- Bake the croissants.Arrange the six croissants on the parchment-lined baking sheet, pinched side down. Add a tablespoon of water to a raw egg and beat. Brush the tops of each pastry with the egg wash and bake for 15-18 minutes, until tops are glossy and golden brown.
- Drizzle with chocolate.Melt the remaining chocolate in a small bowl in 20 second increments in the microwave, stirring in between, until smooth. Transfer melted chocolate to a zip top bag and push it toward one corner. Wait about 5 minutes for the chocolate to begin to cool and cut a very small corner off the bag. Drizzle the tops of the croissants with thin lines of chocolate. Let cool completely.
- Enjoy!Store covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. To reheat, pop in the oven or toaster oven at 375 degrees for 3-5 minutes, watching to make sure the drizzled chocolate does not burn. Reheating in the toaster will crisp up the outside again for best results!
