Chocolate Croissant Smores

This Dessert has everything you could want, Flakey, buttery croissant, with a rich chocolaty kick, Stuffed with smooth Marshmallow cream.

Yes, its a bit time consuming to make, but don't let that scare you, Puff pastry, while very difficult to perfect, is almost guaranteed to taste good no matter what you do.

All Ingredients should be room temp, unless stated otherwise.

This recipe gave me 16 small croissants.

For the Dough: (I recommend using weights for precision sake)

• 600g All-purpose flour, you can use bread flour if you want
• 70g Granulated sugar
• 16g Salt
• 10g Active dry yeast
• 120g Whole Milk
• 214g Water
• 58g butter, lightly melted

For Chocolate Dough:

• 210g Dough
• 20g cocoa powder
• Enough water to make a paste

For Butter block;

• (1 1/2 cups) 340g Butter (82%) (you can also use homemade if you can't find it)

For Egg Wash:

• 1 large egg
• 1Tbs cream

Marshmallow Cream:

• 2 large egg whites
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• ½ Cup Granulated sugar
• ½ Cup Corn Syrup
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or whatever you prefer)

Tools and Supplies

• Kitchen Scale
• Stand or Hand Mixer with a dough hook (Paddle is optional)
• Mixing Bowls
• Rolling Pin
• Parchment Paper
• Pizza Cutter/Knife
• Saran Wrap
• Baking Trays
• Candy Thermometer (optional)
• Pastry Brush
• Ruler
• Piping Bag with Large tip (It doesn't mater what kind)
• Oven

The Day Before you want Croissants;

Weigh out the Flour, Sugar, Salt, and Yeast, into a mixing bowl, I like to use a whisk to combine, and aerate the dry ingredients

Weigh out the Milk, Water, and Butter, Keep the butter separate.

Fit mixer with the dough hook, mix together the dry ingredients with the milk, water.

Mix on low till combined then you can speed it up a bit, Kneed till dough is smooth.

Now you can add in the butter and mix for about 10 minutes. The dough will be quite dense, it should be smooth, stretchy, and really fun to play with.

Mix together the cocoa powder with just enough water to make a smooth paste (it will look delicious, resist tasting it). You want as little water as possible.

Take 210g of the dough you made in Step 1, add it back in the mixer, along with the chocolate paste, here I tried using the dough hook, but found it much better to switch to the paddle attachment to kneed till you have a rich, brown colour that isn't streaky at all.

Note; If you want other colours, omit the chocolate paste, and just add a bit of food coloring to this dough.

Lightly grease two mixing bowls, place your dough balls inside, they should have room to grow.

Cover in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight or for 10-12 hours, dough should be doubled in size.

Take a large sheet of parchment paper, use the ruler to draw a 7'' by 13'' rectangle. flip over.

Cut butter up in smaller pieces, lay out inside the drawn rectangle.

Place another piece of parchment paper on top and use the rolling pin to spread it out a bit.

Fold over the edges on the lines, you can use the ruler to keep them tight.

Now, use to rolling pin to create a flat even rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. You will want your butter to be soft, as if you apply to much force the parchment can tear.

Place Butter into refrigerator to wait for the dough.

Take out the chocolate dough, place onto a lightly greased table.

Roll out into a small square about 8''

Wrap in plastic wrap, and return to fridge till we need it.

(Take out the the butter block from the refrigerator)

Take out the dough and turn it out on a very lightly greased table.

Now you want to roll it out into a 14'' by 14'' square,

To help roll it out so it is almost as long as you want, then use your hands to form corners, then you can use to rolling pin to widen it, being sure to keep it as square as possible.

Take the Butter, Remove the top sheet of parchment, flip butter onto the middle of the square, peel off the rest of the parchment. Butter should be soft enough that it can bend, but not too soft that it loses its shape.

Fold the top of the dough down, and the bottom up, so that they meet in the middle, overlapping slightly.

Rotate 90* so the seam is vertical, to you.

Using the rolling pin, Tap out the dough, you don't want to roll at first just try to get it stretched out a bit. then flip it over and do the same on the other side.

Now you can roll it out into a 20'' long strip, try not to get it to wide, Use light even pressure I find that it helps me to flip over the dough, so one side doesn't get bigger then the other.

Once you have it 20'' long, cut the ends straight. (I like saving all the scraps till the end)

Mark the middle then fold the top down, and the bottom up so they are about 1/2 inch apart in the middle,

Fold it in half so that you have 4 folds, it should look like the picture.

Wrap in plastic warp and chill in frigid for 30min

Unwrap chilled dough, place onto table, (pop any air bubbles you see with a tooth pick or knife)

Now use the rolling pin to tap it out a bit once again, this helps the layer stick together better and helps the butter stretch, instead of breaking.

Roll dough out into a 20'' long rectangle, flipping when necessary.

Cut edges straight, save the scraps

Take the bottom and fold it up one third of the way, fold the top down over it. (see pictures)

Wrap back up a place into fridge for 30min

Take out layered dough roll it out into a 10'' by 14'' rectangle, the butter should be thin enough that you shouldn't have to tap it out, but you might still need to flip it.

Now take the chocolate dough and roll it out till its just a bit smaller.

Lightly brush the layered dough with water, just enough that its sticky, but you don't want it too wet.

Place the chocolate dough on top and carefully stretched it out to cover the Layered dough.

Roll out both together just a bit more, Pop any air bubbles, and try to keep both even.

Wrap up in plastic warp again, then back into the cooler-downer for 30 min, use a baking tray to transport it if you want.

Roll out the dough into a 20'' by 14'' rectangle you want it to be about 1/3'' inch thick.

Try to keep the edges a straight, and even as possible.

Trim the edges with the pizza roller or knife

admire the layers, you worked hard for those layers

Now is the time to decide if you want large or small croissants, if you just want two-toned croissants then by all means make then large, you will get more layers that way; however if your planning on filling them, then I recommend that you make them smaller, otherwise its too much filling. But who am I to tell you what to do, you have cool two-toned pastry dough, the possibilities are endless.

I chose to cut the dough in half the long way then I divided it into 5'' strips across.

Now I cut the squares into half diagonally giving me two right triangles,

I find this method gives me the most even results even if its a bit more tricky to work with

Take one of the Right Triangles

Stretch the top corner up and into the middle.

Now take the corner and stretch it out a bit, till you have a isosceles Triangle (see pictures)

Flip it over, so the chocolate side is down, and use the rolling pin to elongate the tip, try to keep the base small, you want your croissants to be more compact.

Starting at the base roll up the croissants keeping the point centered, keep a light pressure, but you don't want to wrap them to tightly as they might roll over when rising.

Place onto baking tray leaving a lot of room for them to expand (they will more then double in size)

Be sure to lay them down so the point is almost visible on the other side. You don't want your croissants waving at you in the oven.

If you want you can put a few in the freezer for later.

Cover them in the plastic wrap and place in a warm, humid place to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

You can put a pan of hot water in your oven, and let them rise there, but you don't want to butter to melt so be careful.

I don't like wasting the bits of dough that are cut and discarded in the folding process so what I like to do is combine a few and roll them together into a rope twist it around in a spiral and bake it the same way as I do the croissants. do they taste as good as real croissants? no, are they delicious? yes.

Beat together the egg and cream till you can't see any streaks.

Once Croissants have doubled in size, and have a slight jiggle to them, carefully uncover them.

and brush the chocolate side with the egg and cream mixture.

You will need to be very gentle, you don't want to deflate them.

Preheat oven to 400*

Bake for 6 minutes, then reduce temp to 350* and finish for another 10-12 minutes, till nicely golden brown.

Don't worry if butter pools around them, most of it will disperse.

Once ready remove from baking tray and place on a wire rack to cool down.

While the croissants are baking i like to make the marshmallow fluff for the filling, as I find it easiest to work with when fresh.

Can you use the store bought stuff? Absolutely, you just made croissants, no one is going to judge you.

Place the sugar, corn syrup, and water into a medium sauce pan, bring to a boil over medium heat, till it reaches about 240*F, or makes a gummy ball if dropped in cold water. it should take 3-5 minutes.

While syrup is boiling, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in the mixer with the whisk attachment.

whisk together till it makes soft peaks.

With the mixer as low as it will go, slowly and carefully pour the syrup into the egg whites, try to keep it from running down the side as it has a tendency to harden there, and not incorporate as well.

The syrup is very hot so be cautious

Once all the syrup is added Turn the mixer back up to medium- high and whip for a couple minutes 2-3, (Put the syrup pot to soak in hot water) It will transform into a lovely thick and glossy mixture, keep your eye on it as you don't want it to be to thick, you want to soft for ease of piping and to get some nice points. Just before it's done add in the extract of your choice.

Fill a piping bag with the marshmallow cream, i find it best to fold the ends over my hand then you can use the other to scoop it in without getting the edges sticky.

twist end together

Now turn your croissant over, using a knife make a hole big enough for the piping tip to get into,

Fill the croissants till you can see the cream coming out around the edges of the hole.

This is completely optional. but i think it gives the croissant that last bit of smoky flavor it needs to really be a smore.

With your leftover Fluff dip in one end of the croissant, then using a kitchen torch, roast the marshmallow it won't take much, so go over lightly.

Now, you can sit back and enjoy, this sinfully good dessert. You absolutely deserve it.