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chocolate pastry puffs
These perfectly puffed-up treats will make you feel like a pastry pro. You can find this recipe and many more in our cookbook Kids Can Cook Anything!
Prepare Ingredients
Gather Baking Equipment
- Rimmed baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Ruler
- Bench scraper or chef’s knife
- Pastry brush
- Oven mitts
- Cooling rack
- Fine-mesh strainer
- Small bowl
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Lightly sprinkle clean counter with flour. Unfold puff pastry onto floured counter. Use rolling pin to gently roll puff pastry into 10½-inch square.
Cut, fill, and shape pastries following photos below.
FILLING PASTRY PT. 1
- Use bench scraper to cut pastry into six 3½-by-5¼-inch rectangles.
- Place 1 chocolate square in top half of each rectangle, leaving ¾-inch border.
FILLING PASTRY PT. 2
- Use pastry brush to paint edges of pastry with beaten egg on 3 sides around chocolate square.
- Fold pastry in half over chocolate. Use your fingers to press edges of pastry to seal.
Transfer shaped pastries to parchment‑lined baking sheet, leaving space between pastries. Use pastry brush to paint tops of pastries evenly with beaten egg.
Place baking sheet in oven and bake until pastries are puffed and deep golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Food for Thought
Puff It Up!
These breakfast treats are similar to pain au chocolat (“PAHN oh shock-uh-LAH”), a flaky French pastry with a chocolate center, but they’re much simpler to make! We start with store-bought puff pastry, which is made of superthin layers of dough and butter. It puffs up in the oven as the water in the butter heats up and escapes as steam. To get the biggest puff in your pastries, follow these two tips.
Use a bench scraper or short knife: A bench scraper or sharp knife will help you make clean cuts through the dough. A dull knife will pinch the edges of the dough shut, trapping steam and preventing maximum puff.
Keep it cool: You don’t want the butter in the puff pastry to melt until the pastries are in the oven. Thawing the dough in the refrigerator overnight (or on the counter for just 30 minutes) keeps it from getting too warm.
