Petit Pains au Chocolat aux Amandes (Petite Chocolate Almond Croissants) #ChristmasWeek

Petit Pains au Chocolat aux Amandes (Petite Chocolate Almond Croissants)

Christmas Week is still going strong and this is my second recipe for the week. Petit Pains Au Chocolat aux Amandes which is French for small chocolate almond croissants. These are ridiculously easy to make and are perfect for Christmas morning breakfast. This holiday season, I’ve teamed up with over 35 other bloggers for Christmas Week–a collection of sweet treats for your enjoyment!! 

I love croissants and have still yet to make puff pastry from scratch. I know, I know. Its been on my culinary bucket list forever now and I promise I will try it one day. Until then there is pre-made puff pastry dough that is crazy simple to work with.

I love pastry but often they are huge and I can never finish them all.  I hate pastry going to waste and let's face it, day old pastry isn't good. At all. So with that in mind I decided to make petite chocolate almond croissants instead of big ones so I could enjoy the few small bites, get my pastry fix and not feel like I ate a ton or am wasting any. A perfect sized pastry.

I used the puff pastry from Trader Joes. I have to say it is just OK. It doesn't puff up super high like I was hoping. So use any puff pastry brand you like, just make sure its square/rectangle. You want to get 6 pastries out of each sheet.

I love almond croissants and when I saw these marzipan loafs at World Market, I knew exactly what I wanted to make with them. I am not the biggest chocolate fan, so this is the perfect amount for me in these pastries. The marzipan has a thin coating of chocolate that melts with the marzipan when baking. If you want you can add in a few chocolate chips to make them more chocolaty.

What also is great about these is you can assemble the night before, take them out of the fridge in the am and thaw to room temp before baking. Great for Christmas morning breakfast. No need to get up at 4 am to start baking.  The kids will be up at 4 am trying to see if Santa came anyway. Too early to bake. I told my kids if they are up that early, they need to make me my coffee first.

Normally for Christmas breakfast I make cinnamon rolls. I have done the ones in the past that you make the night before, let rise, bake in the am. Some recipes have worked, some not so well. Not sure if it was the yeast, or if they were still too cold when baking. So the years I make cinnamon rolls I do get up really early to start them. I think I might skip the rolls this year and make these chocolate almond croissants.

Petit Pains au Chocolat aux Amandes (Simple Petite Chocolate Almond Croissants) #ChristmasWeek

Shanna

Petit Pains au Chocolat aux Amandes (Simple Petite Chocolate Almond Croissants) www.pineappleandcoconut.com #christmasweek

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Servings 12 -16

Ingredients

  

• 2-3 sheets rectangular puff pastry dough, thawed
• 4 to 5 - 3 ounce chocolate covered marzipan loafs
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• sliced almonds
• 2 ounces chocolate
• powdered, confectioners sugar

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375 Deg F. Prepare baking pans with parchment paper or silicone bake mats
• Lay the puff pastry sheets one at a time on a piece of parchment paper and place another piece of parchment on top. Gently roll to 9 x 12 inches. Cut the puff pastry into 6 even rectangles ( 4 ½” x 3 “)
• Slice the marzipan loaves in half lengthwise then widthwise to make 4 even pieces per loaf. About 2” long. Place in the middle of each puff pastry rectangle.
• Whisk the egg and water together and brush three edges of the puff pastry, leaving one short edge without egg wash. Fold the non-egg washed edge up over the marzipan then fold the egg washed edge on top of that one. The egg-wash will help seal the pastry together. Place seam side down on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining rectangles of puff pastry and pieces of marzipan.
• Once all the pastries are assembled, brush the tops of them all with egg wash and sprinkle some almond slices over the top.
• Bake for 25 minutes.
• Let cool for 5 min then drizzle the tops of some with with melted chocolate, some with just powdered sugar and some with the chocolate drizzle and powdered sugar. Serve immediately
• These can be assembled the day before baking. Just wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Thaw on the counter until room temperature, still wrapped in plastic. Remove plastic wrap. brush with the egg wash and add almonds and bake as instructed above.

Recipes from Day 3 of Christmas Week! Please visit all our talented participants:

Dark Chocolate Turtle Cups from Try Anything Once Culinary

Holiday Marshmallow Oreo Santa's Hats from Desserts Required

Cranberry Gin Fizz from Poet in the Pantry

Peppermint Mocha Fudge from The Redhead Baker

Petit Pains au Chocolat aux Amandes (Petite Chocolate Almond Croissants) from Pineapple and Coconut

Salted Cashew Caramels from All Roads Lead to the Kitchen

Hazelnut Crescents from Amee's Savory Dish

Bacon Butter Toffee from Comfortably Domestic

Grandma's Scottish Shortbread from Farm Fresh Feasts

OREO Snowball Cookies from Flour On My Face

Holiday Triple Chocolate Bark from Mother Would Know

Classic Chocolate Crinkles from Daily Appetite

Orange Cardamom Slice and Bake Cookies from Savory Experiments

Homemade Maple Candy from Cooking In Stilettos

Cranberry Cherry Spice Cake Trifle from Food Babbles

Chocolate Walnut Cranberry Pie from Rants From My Crazy Kitchen

No Bake Peppermint Oreo Cheesecake from Big Bear's Wife

Cream Puffs With Cranberry Orange Sauce from Everyday Southwest

Mini No Bake Eggnog Cheesecake from From Gate to Plate

Chewy Sugar Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Pignolata-Italian Honey Balls from Savoring Italy

Caramel Chocolate Cups with Peppermint Chips from Dixie Chik Cooks

Maple Gingerbread Marshmallows from The Tomato Tart

Doesn't everything sound amazing??

Happy day 3 of Christmas week. Still lots more to come!