Chocolate Croissants

Enjoy warm Chocolate Croissants right at your own home. Making these flaky and buttery pastries will greatly reward you with a feeling of accomplishment and a whole tray of irresistible chocolate hazelnut goodness.

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword chocolate croissants, croissants

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 15

chill and rise times for the dough 14 30

Total Time 6 15

Servings pieces

Calories 439kcal

Author sanna

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk heated to 105°F–110°F
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tablespoon salt
3 sticks cold unsalted butter 1 1/2 cups
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup Chocolate hazelnut Spread, like Nutella chilled

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make dough:

In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together warm milk, brown sugar, and yeast. Let mixture stand for about 5 minutes until foamy and thick . If it doesn’t foam, discard and start over. Add 3 3/4 cups flour and salt and using the dough hook attachment, mix on low for about 7 minutes, until dough is soft and smooth.
Transfer dough to a work surface and briefly knead by hand for about 2 minutes. Add flour, a little at a time as needed to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Once your dough is smooth and not to sticky, you have needed enough. You only need to use about 1-3 tablespoon of flour. You can use the rest during rolling and folding. Pat and shape dough into a roughly 1 1/2-inch-thick rectangle, wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Prepare and shape butter:

While the dough is in the fridge, prepare the butter. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat butter and flour with paddle attachment until incorporated and creamy.
Transfer the butter into a large plastic film.Wrap it and pat into a 5 inch rectangle that is about 1 inch thick. Make sure to tap and pack it well to release any air pockets. Chill this in the fridge until the dough is ready.

Enclose the Butter

After the dough has chilled, unwrap it and transfer onto a clean, floured surface. Roll the dough into a 16 x 10 inches rectangle. Flour your surface and rolling pin as needed. Lift the dough often and stretch the corners to maintain the rectangular shape. Unwrap the butter by gently peeling off the towels and place on the center of the dough. The long side of the butter should be parallel to the short side of the dough. Fold the bottom part of the dough over the butter, then fold the upper part of the dough over it, fully enclosing the butter inside the dough. This is called the business letter style fold.

Roll and Fold the Dough

Turn dough so a short side is facing you. Make impressions on the surface of the dough by pressing the body of the rolling pin against the dough. Repeat until dough is flattened. Roll the dough into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle. When you roll, make sure to roll to the ends but not over the very edges, so as not to seal the layers in there.
Brush off any excess flour. Fold dough, business letter style: bottom third over the butter and upper third over it, stretching the corners to maintain the sharp edges. This is your first fold. Wrap dough in plastic and chill in the fridge for 1 hour, or freeze for 30 minutes.

Repeat the Rolling and Folding

Repeat the rolling and folding three more times: After chilling, unwrap dough and roll in the same manner with the short side facing you. Fold in business letter style and chill. After the final fold, refrigerate the dough for at least 8 hours but not more than 18 hours.

Assemble the Chocolate Croissants

Divide the chilled dough into two. In a lightly floured surface, roll the croissant dough into an 18 x 10 inch rectangle. Dust off flour from the dough. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 5 sections horizontally, and 2 sections vertically to form 10 rectangles.
Spoon about a tablespoon of chocolate hazelnut spread on one of the short edge of a rectangle. Stretch the dough briefly, then fold the dough over the filling. Roll it to form a tight log while keeping the dough taut and stretched using the other hand. Place each rolled dough on a large baking tray that is lined with two layers of parchment paper. Repeat process with the rest of the dough. Position the rolls two inches apart from each other. You may need two trays. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Repeat the process with the other half of dough.
Preheat oven to 425 F. using a spray bottle, spritz water generously on the inside of the oven and close the door briefly. Place the croissant trays inside the oven and spritz with water once more before closing the oven door. Lower the temperature to 400 F and bake the croissants for 8 minutes without opening the door.
After 8 minutes, switch the position of the baking trays and rotate them 180 degrees. Lower heat to 375 F. Bake for another 5-8 minutes or until the pastries are golden.

Notes

Dough recipe from Epicurious.
You can also use a quality bar of dark or milk chocolate to fill the croissants. I put 3-4 squares in each portion, then roll as directed.

Nutrition