The Perfect Chocolate Croissant

Something I've always wanted to do is master some kind of European pastry. Both times I have been to Europe, frequenting pastry shops daily was vital. Those of you who have been with me in Europe can attest to this...such as this little lady:

(She loves me so much that she even greeted me at the airport with
a pastry when I went to visit her in Portugal!)

So, due to my love for sugar and carbs (oh how wonderful...it makes me happy inside just thinking of the two together...in one perfect treat!) I set out to find the perfect beginner pastry to try. After my internet search returned void, I decided I should venture to the local library to see what I could find. I carefully crafted my list of books to search out when I got there...you can see the list was quite extensive.

I should have guessed that when my list consisted only of 3 books that this search would probably return void as well...but I pressed on hoping that I would find that perfect gem among the rows of books.

(I apologize for the blurriness of this picture...I felt very stressed by
a girl ripping books off the shelf next to me only to look at two pages
and replace them. She didn't understand that the library is supposed to
be a calm environment.)

But after all that extra expenditure of energy...I could not find anything that grabbed me. So I decided I would give in and just make a good 'ole croissant since I had gotten so excited at Whole Foods when I found fresh chocolate croissants!

So, I went back to the vast portal of the world wide web and cast my request for the perfect croissant recipe. Unlike the others, this search did not return void and I was led here. I was a touch skeptical, but I decided I would try it out and hope to not have a disaster. This is where the journey to the perfect chocolate croissant truly begins.

First, I mixed all my ingredients:

Then the dough needed to rise:

While I waited for the dough to double in size I rolled out 12 tablespoons of butter...that's right twelve tablespoons:
The next steps took place over the 24 hours that followed. Rolling the dough out and folding it over the butter. Then chilling it, then rolling and folding again and then chilling it, then rolling and folding one more time and letting it chill overnight:

Then finally the time arrived to roll the dough out again, cut it into triangles, and add chocolate chips to roll into croissants:



And then finally...after spending over a day preparing these, the perfect chocolate croissant was in my kitchen.


Now, I must be frank...I'm generally not that impressed with myself, but these little croissants were literally perfect! They were just the right amount of crisp on the top and fluffy bread on the inside. They tasted just like they came from a beautiful pastry shop on the streets of a European city.


I was quite pleased to say the least. So, the next time I have you over maybe I'll make some of these little guys for you. They are a treat indeed!