Crescent Roll Chocolate Croissants

When I was in college, there was a cafe near campus called Pain Au Chocolat. Not surprisingly, they served pain au chocolat, which is a fancy, French way of describing a chocolate croissant. I was so excited when I discovered this easy, shortcut way of making them at home.

Crescent Roll Chocolate Croissant Recipe

As I mentioned, when you see the French phrase pain au chocolat, you’re really describing a chocolate croissant. For the longest time I was intimidated by the notion of trying to recreate that beloved chocolate bread snack I would get after class in college. Then I discovered that crescent roll dough can give you the same results.

You’re probably familiar with crescent roll dough that you buy in the refrigerated case at the grocery store. And you’re probably used to using it to make side dishes for dinner, such as, well, rolls. However, crescent roll dough is perfect for making desserts and breakfast items, too. Specifically, I’m talking about using it to make homemade chocolate croissants.

This is the easiest recipe that tastes like it was made from scratch but, in truth, it involves only three ingredients. All three are store-bought, which saves you time. They are:

• crescent roll dough
• mini chocolate chips
• sugar

When cooking and photographing this recipe, you’ll notice that I used Pillsbury brand crescent roll dough. However, I’ve also made chocolate croissants using the store-brand crescent dough, and they came out tasting just as delicious.

If you’re looking for a copycat recipe for chocolate croissants for breakfast or a fast, easy dessert to serve, this one is it. Also, when my daughters were little, they loved helping me make this recipe. So, if you’re looking for a way to get them involved in the kitchen, crescent roll chocolate croissants are a great place to start.

Ingredients

There are only three ingredients when making these crescent roll chocolate croissants. As far as tools, all you need is a non-stick cookie or baking sheet. If you don’t have a non-stick sheet, you could use parchment paper on the cookie sheet.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F according to the package instructions. Open the crescent dough package and separate the eight triangular pieces of dough on your cookie sheet. On the wide end of each triangle of dough, add a pinch of the mini chocolate chips.

Roll the crescent dough so that the chocolate chips are encapsulated on the inside.

Repeat until all eight pieces are filled with chocolate chips and rolled. Then, add chocolate chips on the top.

Sprinkle sugar on the top of the rolled crescent dough and chocolate chips.

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes until golden brown or according to the package instructions. Once baked, remove and cool. When you break them open, you’ll see the gooey, delicious, chocolate filling that the mini chocolate chips created.

Serve with a glass of milk or your favorite beverage. You can eat these chocolate croissants or pain au chocolat as a breakfast item — or if you’re having breakfast for dinner — or as a homemade dessert. They’re also great on a brunch menu.