Chocolate Croissants (Pain au Chocolat)

Oh. I can't even. There are no words. Just look. Look!

Pain au Chocolat

Why can't Chocolate croissants have the health benefits of Brussels sprouts? Why can't I eat Pain au Chocolat every day, twice a day? It's a cruel world, this world. My condolences to my gluten-free friends who can't have these at all.

Just look.


This is Vegan Dad's recipe for Easy Vegan Croissants, but cut into rectangles instead of triangles and filled with semi-sweet chocolate chips to make Pain au Chocolat. The flakiness of the croissants is so BEAUTIFUL. Yes, all caps BEAUTIFUL! They are light and flaky and buttery and *sigh*. I made mine with half all purpose flour and half bread flour, as suggested by Vegan Dad, and my fat of choice was Earth Balance buttery spread. They really were very easy to put together and the actual time that it took to make the dough and shape the croissants wasn't much at all. It's just a whole lot of waiting for things to rise, as it usually is with yeast-based breads.

I intended to cut my finished, rolled out rectangular dough into eight little rectangles, but the corners of my rectangle were a bit too rounded and somewhat triangular, so I used the four corners to make more traditionally shaped croissants, as shown on Vegan Dad's post.

Croissant

Then I was left with five rectangles. I used three rectangles to make my Pain au Chocolat. For each one, I placed about two tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips on the bottom half of the rectangle and then rolled it up like a cinnamon roll log. The other two rectangles? I *plopped* some quince spread on the bottom half and rolled it up the same way. Now I realize I should have evenly spread the quince all over the dough instead, but I was in a hurry to finish them and eat'em and there was no stopping to think things through. As soon as all my croissants came out of the oven they were brushed with a little bit of warm agave to give them a nice glossy finish.

Quince "Croissant"
Quince filled roll.

Quince "Croissant"
Quince filling.

I drizzled some melted chocolate chips over the baked Pain au Chocolat and then topped them with slivered almonds.

Pain au Chocolat

If you're a novice baker and you think that this will be too difficult - I say give it a go! As long as you carefully follow the recipe and keep your work surface properly floured to keep your dough from sticking, it will work! Thanks, Vegan Dad, for such a perfect recipe!

Now as if I hadn't hogged all your bandwidth with all my photos, let's share one more and let's see how many different types of birds you can spot!

Snowy dinner
(Left to right, top to bottom: junco, goldfinch, Mrs. Cardinal,
snowy-beaked house finch and two of his finchy friends.)


Comments

  1. Ah man they look amazing. As soon as I saw that post on facebook I bookmarked it. And do you know what I did then.... I bought a tin of accidentally vegan croissants from the supermarket!! hahahha. I might not be lazy though and make these ones for Christmas day breakfast, because they look so good.

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    1. Hehe. Well done, Sal! I would buy accidentally vegan croissants ALL THE TIME if I could find any! These would make an awesome Christmas day breakfast. Maybe I'll make some for Christmas too like the good copycat that I am :)

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  2. Oh my goodness, I'm almost drooling here at my computer. Those are some seriously French looking croissants!

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  3. Oh. My. God. I am so hungry now. Those look amazing.

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    1. I should have put up a disclaimer: Warning - Vegan Dad's croissants will make you hungry! :D

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  4. I don't think condolences are quite enough when combined with photos like these. Seriously, could you have made the photos any more appealing? I should have skipped right to the birds. Ms. Cardinal's beak is positively glowing. Did she have one of the croissants?

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    1. I know. I always feel like a jerk when I post something that can't be easily made gluten free. Mrs. C has the most beautiful beak! I think she buys coral lipstick... or beakstick! :)

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    2. The truth is I never ate croissants when I could, so no need to feel bad. In fact, you should never feel bad about posting things that aren't gluten-free. The only thing I really wish I could have might be sourdough bread, so maybe don't post that. :D (Just kidding!)

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    3. How very convenient - I don't really like sourdough bread so it's unlikely that I will ever blog about it. How perfectly does that work out for us? :D

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  5. Oh my goodness. I'm very blurry-eyed waking up now, but one glance up at the screen at it was as if I'd been transported to food porn heaven. *fans self* What stunning and enticing photos! :D I usually avoid pastries because we don't get vegan marg or butter here, but I'm thinking this looks good enough for me to make homemade butter. nom!

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    1. I wish I could magically email you or message you a couple of these for breakfast! You have my condolences. I don't know what I would do without my precious Earth Balance. Do you have access to coconut oil? Here's a recipe for croissants using coconut oil that I want to try next: http://blog.lagusta.com/2011/08/28/80-perfect-croissants/

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  6. I have big eyes to begin with, but they literally just doubled in size, staring that this dessert masterpiece. WOWZA!!!!!!

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    1. Oh no! I don't want to make your eyes pop out of their sockets! Look away! Look away! :D

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  7. Those look so good! I can't decide if I want a chocolate one or a quince one. Half of each, please!

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    1. Take one of each! And a couple more for the road! :)

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  8. And you will be coming over when???

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    1. When I come over with croissants, should I bring a tiny little plain croissant for Spock? I wouldn't want him to feel left out! :)

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    2. Bird sized croissant - adorable! :D

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  9. Pain au chocolat is one of the very few things I miss from my pre-vegan days. We have a fantastic, truly French creperie in LA that sells crescent-shaped pain au chocolat, so I have had a couple over the last year. But the rectangular ones remain elusive. Thanks (and to Vegan Dad) for showing how it's done!

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    1. It's a good thing I don't have a French creperie that sells vegan pain au chocolat or I would have a hard time not buying them every single day! Glutton! :)

      I hope you get a chance to make these because they are so good! Vegan Dad for president!

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  10. Sweet zombie jesus those look redic! Croissants are still something I've never tried and keep meaning to, but after seeing these, I think it only makes sense that you just send me some of yours.

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    1. LOL! Sweet zombie Jesus is now my favorite exclamation! :D

      You're right. It only makes sense that I just send you some croissants. Unfortunately I've already eaten them all. Oh well, I guess I will have to make some more then. Just for you. Not that I would eat any. Maybe just one. Or five!

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  11. Oh, yums. These look amazing. Shame on Vegan Dad for posting such a dangerous recipe…I thought Canadians were supposed to be so nice…this is just cruel!

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    1. You're right! Shame on Vegan Dad! I know I ate way too many, but I regret nothing. It's always nice to "see" you, Aimee! :)

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  12. Mmmm these look amazing!! I totally love pain au chocolate and I can't wait to try it using Vegan Dad's recipe =)

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  13. This looks absolutely delicious, was looking for a croissant recipe, and came across this...Thanks for sharing...

    Simon

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  14. vEGAN DAD DOESNT LAMINATE WITH BUTTER- DOES IT STILL WORK?
    THANK YOU!

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