When I worked in Boston, there was an Au Bon Pain in the lobby of my building. On particularly rough days I’d sneak down at around 3pm and grab my favorite snack at the time, one of their chocolate croissants. This was before I started cooking or baking at all, so that croissant was a real treat, and I didn’t think it could get any better than that. Then last year I attempted homemade croissants for the first time and realized I was wrong. Warm homemade croissants fresh from the oven were about a thousand times better than the ones that had been sitting in the store all day, and cheaper too 🙂
When I wrote that post, and decided to include step-by-step photos, I had no idea how well-received it would be. The emails I’ve received from readers telling me they successfully baked croissants at home too just make my day. I’ve been wanting to make chocolate croissants for a while now, and decided to again include process photos since I used a completely different recipe than last time. I’m by no means an expert, I’m just showing you what worked for me. Hopefully a few more people will discover the joy of homemade croissants!
I chose to make these croissants on pretty much the worst day possible. The skies were overcast so there was little to no light for the process pictures, and the humidity was about 99.9% which meant the butter just wanted to melt all over the counter, no matter how many times I stuck it back in the fridge to chill it. Still, despite the trying conditions, these turned out better than I could ever have dreamed. Golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside, which yielded to the most delicious buttery, flaky interior. And of course, there was the chocolate! It melted perfectly in the oven (thankfully without escaping the croissants) and really took these croissants to the next level. I made half of mine with milk chocolate and half with bittersweet. I am a milk chocolate girl all the way, but in these croissants, I was surprised to discover that I really preferred the bittersweet. These were heavenly warm from the oven, but with a quick zap in the microwave the next day we still enjoyed them a lot.
I actually think these chocolate croissants are a tiny bit easier than the original recipe I shared last year for two reasons. First, I liked the method for making the butter square better in this recipe. I definitely struggled a lot less than I did the first time I made croissants. Also, these chocolate croissants have a rectangular shape as opposed to a crescent shape, and it doesn’t get much more simple than a rectangle. Both recipes are long, but a majority of the time involved is hands-off just waiting for the dough to chill and proof. As I mentioned the last time I made croissants, I don’t think the process is incredibly difficult as long as you take your time and go step-by-step. There’s no question in my mind the end result is worth the effort, I still think homemade croissants are one of the most delicious treats to ever emerge from my kitchen 🙂
PS – if you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments, or email me at traceysculinaryadventures@gmail.com
Step-by-Step Chocolate Croissants
from Baking Illustrated
Dough
3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups cold whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Butter Square
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 large egg, lightly beaten (for egg wash)
To make the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk 2 3/4 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt. Add the milk to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the dry ingredients and turn to the mixer to low, beating until the dough comes together in a rough ball, about 4 minutes.
Add the pieces of butter and continue kneading until the butter is completely incorporated, about 5-6 minutes. The dough will still be sticky, but should form a rough ball and mostly clear the sides of the bowl (if you make bread regularly, this dough will be more sticky than you’re used to and won’t clear the sides of the bowl as fully as a typical yeast bread). If it’s too sticky, add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap.
Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
To make the butter square: Place the pieces of butter on your work surface and sprinkle the flour over the top of them.
Use a bench scraper to smear the butter/flour mixture back and forth against the work surface.
Continue until the mixture is uniform and smooth. Gather in a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a 7-inch square.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll into an 11-inch square, lifting and turning as you go to make sure the dough isn’t sticking. Place the chilled butter square diagonally in the center of the dough.
Lift each of the four corners of the dough up and over the butter square.
It’s fine if they don’t meet exactly, just pinch them together to seal completely.
Use your rolling pin to gently tap the dough, starting in the center and going outward, until square gets larger and the butter begins to soften slightly. Roll the dough into a 14-inch square, flouring your work surface and rolling pin as necessary to ensure the dough isn’t sticking. (no idea why I chose to roll it diagonally over my parchment…)
Fold one side of the dough to the center and then bring the other side up and over it – basically, you’re folding the dough like you would a business letter. This is also called a “turn” of the dough.
Complete a second turn by folding the top half of the dough down to the center and then bringing the bottom up and over it.
Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Repeat the process above (roll into a 14-inch square and fold like a business letter twice) to complete 2 more turns of the dough. Again, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface, and roll into a 20-inch square (flour as necessary to make sure it’s not sticking). Cut the dough into 4 equal 10-inch squares.
Cut each of those squares into 3 rectangles (about 10 x 3 1/4-inches each) – you should have a total of 12 rectangles.
Add about 1 tablespoon (about 1/2-oz) of chopped chocolate to the center of each rectangle.
Fold the top of the rectangle over the chocolate and down to the center, then lift the bottom up and over it (again, we’re folding it like it’s a business letter).
Transfer to the prepared baking sheets, seam-side down. Try to keep the croissants horizontal as you move them so the chocolate doesn’t spill out the sides. Also, you can see on mine I have a little flap sticking out the side – that flap will get bigger as the croissants rise and puff so you can try to hide it under the croissant a little better than I did to avoid that.
Loosely cover the croissant with plastic wrap and let them rise at room temperature for 45-60 minutes, or until they’re puffy (they won’t necessarily double in size). While they’re rising, preheat oven to 400 F with racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven.
Brush the croissants with the egg wash then bake for 18-22 minutes, or until they are golden brown, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the halfway point. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the croissants cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. They’re best warm, but will keep for a few days at room temperature if tightly wrapped. I zapped mine for 15-ish seconds in the microwave on the 2nd day to enjoy it warm.
Makes 12 croissants
Ooo yummy! I have never made my own but step by step photos definitely make it seem doable. I want to put nutella or peanut butter inside mine.
Great step by step photos! Shows me exactly where to leave that chocolate out of mine and add it for Mark’s! Beautiful!
Such a great tutorial with all the photos! I’d love to try this method next. Thanks, Tracey!!!
Gorgeous! And what a great photo tutorial. I’m very impressed!
I’m sending this recipe to my sister. I’ve never known a bigger chocolate croissant fan and the last batch she tried didn’t live up to expectations. I think these would be perfect for her. Thanks for sharing it!
When you ask what I want for my birthday next year..this is it!
Can I just say how cool this is to be able to see step-by-step how to make flaky croissants? Thanks so much! 🙂
The blog world is making croissants today! I love it. I am going to try my hand at it this weekend. Your step by step photos will sure come in handy, thanks!
Oh, I’ve never made croissants but now you have inspired me! They look delicious with the chocolate. Thanks for the lesson!
Fantastic post! I had no idea how to make croissants before, so I enjoyed the step by step tutorial. Now I know why croissants aren’t good for me (butter square, anyone?), but they certainly look delicious!
Wow. I’m really impressed. I didn’t know how to make croissants before I read this!
As I recall, I think I was too tired to tell you how much I enjoyed these croissants when we had them the morning we got back from vacation. The pastry was flakey and buttery and the chocolate just oozed out from the center. I’m usually a milk chocolate person too but I think I liked them equally. Thanks again, Tracey.
Oh sigh, these are a thing of beauty! And your photography is amazing–thank you for sharing!!
I love chocolate croissants, and would love to make them at home, but feel intimidated. Your photo tutorial is easy to follow and gives me hope that I can make these!
These look amazing! Is it possible to get them to a certain point and then leave in the refrigerator overnight so they can be fresh from the oven first thing in the morning? Would that work?
(Thanks for all the awesome recipes – I love your blog!)
Ooooh wow these look insane! I’ve never made my own croissants before but maybe now I’ll give it a go!
Excited doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about your step-by-step photos. My goal in October was to make chocolate croissants. Now I really have NO excuse! Amazing instructions!
These look absolutely fantastic. I’ve had croissant in the bakery, and it just want tasty, I’m not sure if it was just their recipe or what, but I didn’t like them. I think it would be interesting to make croissants myself, but I guess I’m going to have to do it over the summer when I’m not plagued by school and stuff.
Lovely pictures too, I like the step-by-step aspect of it.
Oh my dear goodness. These are beautiful! I love this! Your step by step instructions are so clear. Thanks!
Would you believe I’ve never made croissants?? I had a chocolate croissant for the first time when my family was in Paris when I was a girl and LOVED it. Haven’t had one as good since. I think I need to make these.
Love! The process for the dough reminds me of making puff pastry. Plus your version with chocolate? Divinely inspired. 🙂
The process pics are perfect. Have been wanting to make some chocolate croissants. Now I have no excuse. They look AMAZING!!!
These look amazing! I have a question, is it possible to make them to a certain point and bake them next morning so as to have a chocolate croissant breakfast? Perhaps the last 45 mins rise can be done in the fridge overnight?
These were reeeeal tasty, and much better than what I was imagining when you first said you were making chocolate croissants! Thanks again for making them!
Those step-by-step pictures you posted are so helpful. I tried making chocolate croissants last weekend, and I’m definitely going to have to try them again now incorporating your ideas. Your croissants turned out beautifully!
They look absolutely perfect! I’ve been meaning to make chocolate croissants for a long time. I even bought little chocolate sticks from King Arthur, and they are still sitting in my pantry.
@Rachel and Nidhi: I’m honestly not sure if it’s possible to start the process and then pop these in the fridge to bake the next day since I made the recipe all the way through in one day. I find that the authors of the book this recipe comes from are generally good about mentioning if it’s possible to pause a recipe like that, but they were silent here.
I suspect it might be ok to shape them then freeze them. You could then defrost overnight in the fridge and proof the next morning before baking. If I give it a shot at some point I’ll update this post to let you know 🙂
I love the photo with the croissant cut open and you can see the airy, flaky interior! I had my first chocolate croissant in Paris and fell in love. I’ll have to give these a try one day I’m feeling ambitious!
I made these over the weekend and they turned out perfectly. Thanks so much for your thorough recipe and overview. I had been wanting to make chocolate croissants for months and when I stumbled on your post – I knew it was time to go for it! Thanks so much for sharing. I will be making again!
Oh my, these are my favs! I have been to intimidated to try them, but you make it look simple. Thank you Pinterest for leading me here!
Ohhh MYYYY! I just followed your directions step by step…PERFECTION! I am a very picky Pain Au Chocolate fan and these were amazing. I wouldn’t change a thing! Thanks for giving me the confidence to try these for myself.
Thank you so much for taking your time to help us learn to bake this fabulous treat. Can’t wait to try it.
Question, Can the Croissants be frozen at the point, right before you set them out to raise? Then raised and baked at another time.
When your repeat the step of folling into a 14 inch square, do you make another butter square?
hello! what an amazing way to exaplain how to make this beautifull goodies! I have a question! if we put cold milk, how it will rise? instead of cold milk, isn´t it warm milk? hope you reply soon! thankyou
@Helna – The recipe definitely calls for cold milk, which I agree is a bit non-conventional when working with yeast. I looked back to see if any explanation was provided as to why they chose to use the milk cold, but the recipe was silent. My best guess is that cold milk will still activate the yeast, but does so more slowly, which allows for all of the rest and refrigeration periods in this recipe to occur without the dough rising like crazy.
Good luck, I hope you enjoy the croissants – let me know how it goes 🙂
Thank you sooo much for this recipe! I made them today and it was my first attempt at pastry from scratch and they turned out perfectly! I used the bittersweet chocolate and everyone loved them and was super impressed, thanks again!
Hi, I’ve just made these croissants and they’re amazing!
To all u guys out there that want to make the dough before hand and then bake the next morning or freeze them…. you must shape the dough and let them rise first. then you can leave them in the freezer until ready to cook. cook them from frozen and add an extra 5mins (approx.) to the cooking time. there is no need to defrost them first.
Thank you so much for the recipe! I made them this morning and they were a success- so, so tasty. I would have never tried them if not for your great instructions and pictures.
I just made these, after a lifetime of wanting to attempt to make croissants. I did not realize they took so long, so at 1:00 in the a.m., I let them sit in the refrigerator overnight after the second folding. I don’t think this affected them at all.
Here are a few things I would change: If you are keeping the rectangle shape, more chocolate is needed to compensate for all the bread. I cooked two batches, one at 400 degrees and one at 375 degrees. The ones at 375 were better. The ones at the higher temperature browned before the interior was fully cooked. Also, I prefer a whipped egg white wash over a full egg wash. I thought the batch with the full egg wash tasted “eggy” and it also browned quicker than the egg white wash.
I took half of the recipe and made petite plain croissants, and they melt in your mouth.
The dough was very easy to work with which surprised me. It is just a lot of time waiting for the chilling to happen!
Thank you for the site (it is amazing, as I just found it on Facebook) and for the recipe! Keep them coming!
If I have only fresh yeast,should I use the same amount?Because I can’t find anywhere in my country at the supermarket instant yeast.I have searched somewhere and it said that I should use 3 times the amount of fresh yeast if I do not have instant yeast.
About the bittersweet chocolate…would Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate be acceptable?