The Shortcut Way To Make A Delicious Chocolate Croissant Loaf At Home

Is there anything better than biting into a warm, puffy pain au chocolat filled with endless buttery layers and molten dark chocolate? It's a classic that's beloved around the world for a reason, but there is a version out there that can maybe rival the quintessential pastries we know and love: chocolate croissant loaves. If you haven't yet been introduced to croissant loaves, they're basically loaves of bread, but they're baked using laminated yeast dough, resulting in a large, rectangular, sliceable croissant.

Just think about the airy inside and flaky crust of a croissant, but by the slice. And when you take inspiration from a pain au chocolat, it gets even better. However, making a chocolate croissant loaf from scratch can be time-consuming, so you might want to try out this hack to miraculously speed up the process: Use frozen croissants.

The idea has been trialled and shared by a few different people online, and the process is incredibly simple. Just get your hands on some frozen pain au chocolats, place them side by side in a loaf tin, and bake. The look of the loaf may not be as uniform, but it's still delicious, and the melted chocolate will mask a lot.

The team at Wildgrain, a bake-from-frozen pastry delivery service in Boston, uploaded a reel demonstrating a recipe inspired by Twisted using about 10 pain au chocolats taken right from the freezer. But proofing is a crucial step for baking Trader Joe's chocolate croissants, so you might want to keep that in mind if you shop there. Leaving them out overnight might help your loaf puff up a bit more and lead to a lighter, airier texture.

The square shape of a pain au chocolat will work better for stacking than regular, crescent-shaped croissants, but if you can't find any, you could try using plain croissants and dotting chunks of dark chocolate throughout. Canned crescent roll dough could work too, but you might need to experiment with that a little more.

You can follow the baking directions on the box of whatever croissants you choose, but you really just need to make sure the loaf is baked until it's a deep golden color. Some egg wash might help give a more polished finish, and you can sprinkle the top with sugar too for a little crunch on the crust. You could also add additional chocolate chips or a drizzle of melted chocolate if you really have a sweet tooth. Once the loaf is ready, rip it open while it's still warm and enjoy.