Chocolate Lover's Nutella and Chocolate Stuffed Croissants

My husband is a chocoholic.  Seriously.  I think if he had a choice between a steak and a chunk of milk chocolate, he'd go for the chocolate nine times out of ten.

I'm starting to think this chocoholic tendency may be genetic.  I've watched my husband polish off a pan of brownies covered in fudge icing in mere minutes!  My mother in law said she used to do the same thing!  You might say this is a learned behavior, but Kyle doesn't eat like that in front of Laela.  He waits until she's asleep (he says it's because he agrees with me not wanting her to eat junk, but I think it's just because he doesn't want to share!)

The only thing that I have always given in on with Laela are chocolate croissants.  It all started at Cake, my all time favorite brunch spot in Philly.  Kyle would order these huge breakfasts with eggs and bacon and potatoes, but he simply couldn't leave there without a chocolate filled croissant.

Once Laela got big enough for solids, and started stealing from our plates, she got wise to the chocolate croissant.  My Mom and Kyle used to give her little bites, with only a little chocolate, and eventually, she was snatching big hunks of chocolate filled croissant from everyone's plates!  Needless to say, if my child so much as smells chocolate, she'll hunt it down.  (Thankfully we don't have it in the house very often!  Otherwise I'd be worried we have a problem!!)

Since Laela asked for a treat for breakfast the other day (and come on, she spelled pumpkin with her leapster! so she deserved an awesome reward!!), I decided to surprise my very sleepy husband with his and Laela's favorite breakfast/dessert!!

Don't be afraid guys, this is one of the most simple, seemingly fancy breakfast treats you'll make in your entire life!

Chocolate Stuffed Croissants
makes 6 small croissants

You'll need:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
• Nutella
• 2oz dark chocolate
• 1 egg
• 1Tb cocoa powder (optional)
• Flour (just enough to dust your rolling pin and counter)

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
• Cut your puff pastry into three sections (it should already be indented into three sections, so this should be pretty easy to do- just break or cut along the indented lines on th pastry).
• Dust your counter and rolling pin with flour.
• Roll each strip of puff pastry until it's almost doubled in width.  You don't want it too thin.  If it seems thick to you, it's okay.
• Cut each rolled section into 2 triangles.
• Spread a teaspoon or so of Nutella into each triangle.  Try not to spread it to the edges.
• Shave or cut some chocolate.  Sprinkle some on top of the Nutella.
• Roll your pastry from the big end to the little end.  It should look like a tiny croissant (it will puff up in the oven.)  Don't worry about it looking perfect.  It'll taste delicious!
• Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Place all of the croissants on the baking sheet.
• In a small bowl, beat your egg with a bit of water. (This is called an egg wash.  It makes pastries that yummy golden color.)
• Using a pastry brush, or a clean paint brush, dip your brush into the egg wash and paint each croissant.  Make sure to paint the entire top of the croissant so that it gets a beautiful golden brown and delectably crispy when you bake it.
• Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the croissants are golden brown and puffy.
• For an added touch, sprinkle with a dusting of cocoa powder!

Enjoy!

Nigella's Caramel Croissant Pudding

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love breakfast.  When I came across this Nigella's Express recipe with stale croissants, caramel and custard, well, I have to say I swooned.  While I'm not normally a sweets person, especially not for breakfast, I love caramel, and I just knew Kyle and Laela would really enjoy it.  After all, does Nigella ever share bad recipes?  I think not.

I'm going to warn you.  This is one seriously decadent breakfast, and I'm pretty sure it's in NO way healthy.  But it's totally worth the indulgence.

Nigella's Caramel Croissant Pudding

Ingredients:

• 2 stale croissants
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 2 eggs, beaten

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350- degrees.
• Tear the croissants into pieces and put ina  small gratin dish; I use a cast-iron oval one with a capacity of about 2 cups for this.
• Put the sugar and water into a saucepan, and swirl around to help desolve teh sugar before putting the saucepan on the burner over medium high heat.
• Carmelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away until it al turns a deep amber color; this will take 3-5 minutes.  Keep looking, but don't be too timid.
• Turn the heat down to low and add the cream- ignoring all spluttering- and, whisking, the mnilk and bourbon.  Any solid toffee that forms in the pan will dissolve easily if you keep whisking over low heat.  Take off the heat, and still whisking, add the beaten eggs.  Pour the caramel bourbon custard over the croissants and leave to steep for 10 minutes if the croissants are very stale.
• Place in preheated oven for 20 minutes and prepare to swoon.

Nigella says this serves 2 greedy people, but I think it could serve 4 with a salad, since it's so rich.

And no, I didn't get any pictures of this one.  It disappeared faster than I could get the camera!