Cheat’s Super Easy Pain Au Chocolat

Everyone loves pain au chocolat, that flaky French pastry with the melting chocolate centre that goes so well with a cup of coffee in the morning or as a teat with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

What’s to love about this recipe?

• These pain au chocolat have only 2 basic ingredients, so really you can’t go far wrong with that.
• They are SUPER easy to make, and I really mean that folks!
• Speed, you’re pain au chocolat can be whipped up start to finish within half an hour and be on the plate ready for you to bite into.

The inspiration

Years of staying in France ended with both myself and my daughter being totally addicted to the great pain au chocolat which translates basically as ‘chocolate bread’.

It’s a classic in every French patisserie and no cafe would be seen dead without a good supply of the classic French pain au chocolat pastry.

Originally pain au chocolate was a snack for children but it’s one of those things that just goes on into adulthood.

I mean, what better way is there to eat chocolate for breakfast and just say, ho hum I’m just being French!

Pain au chocolat is also known as chocolatine in South West France and also as couque au chocolat in Belgium. They are also often known as chocolate croissants.

Whatever you want to call it, pain au chocolate is a delicious pastry with a chocolate filling.

Ingredients;

As I’ve already said, there are basically only 2 ingredients for these super easy pain au chocolat/chocolate croissants.

Chocolate – go for your favourite chocolate here. I have used a mix of plain and milk chocolate. If you go for all plain chocolate your pain au chocolat will have a much richer, deeper flavour. All milk chocolate will be really sweet (very much one of the kids) but a mixture of both milk chocolate and dark chocolate for me hits the right note every time – rich and creamy with a touch of sweetness.

Puff pastry is the other main ingredient for pain au chocolat. Go for a good quality all-butter puff pastry to get the best possible flaky, buttery taste in these chocolate pastries.

The other ingredients are a tiny touch of sugar to sprinkle on before baking and a teensy amount of icing sugar just to jazz up your pain au chocolate right before you place them on the table.

Pro tip

I always keep rolls of puff pastry in my freezer. Good quality all-butter ready-made puff pastry is used by many chefs, so why bother with the hassle of trying to make your own when the store-bought stuff is so good. You can use your ready-made puff pastry to make everything from savoury to sweet bakes, like my carrot and thyme tart or my super easy rhubarb and raspberry tarts.

Method

This pain au chocolat recipe couldn’t be easier to make.

Simply unroll the pastry and layout so the long side is at the base and cut it into four equal-sized strips up the way. This way you are getting shorter and wider strips of pastry than you would if you cut it lengthwise. See my images and video.

Now place a row of chocolate at the start of the strip, roll the pastry over once and place another piece of chocolate in place then just fold over the pastry till you get to the end.

Gently press down the edges of the pastry to seal in that lovely chocolate and place on a baking tray. Spritze with a little water and sprinkle with a tiny amount of sugar.

Bake your pain au chocolat for about 20 minutes till they are all golden and crispy.

Sprinkle with a little icing sugar and you are ready to serve.

How to serve pain au chocolat

Serve your pain au chocolat pastries warm so that the chocolate is all melty and gooey inside.

Note;

Once cold the chocolate will harden so simply reheat them in the oven again for a few minutes just to get it melted again.

How long will they keep?

Your homemade pain au chocolate will keep for a couple of days in an airtight box. Just warm them up before serving.

Alternative ingredients

If you want your pain au chocolate to be permanently gooey inside when cold you could use Nutella (or my homemade version of this classic chocolate hazelnut spread) instead.

Why not use slices of Terry’s chocolate orange and get a delicious chocolate orange pain au chocolat.

Try any flavour of chocolate really, there is everything out there from salted caramel chocolate to strawberries and cream. Get creative and go crazy with your homemade pain au chocolat flavours!

Looking for more delicious quick and easy bakes to try? Then check these out before you go;

3 ingredient oatmeal peanut butter cookies

Super easy cinnamon palmiers

3 ingredient gluten-free chocolate cake

Traditional drop scones/Scotch pancakes

3 ingredient lemonade scones

Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.