Hi everyone! On the menu today I have an incredibly easy recipe for a French classic: gluten free pain au chocolat made with ready rolled gluten free puff pastry.
Whenever someone asks “what do you miss the most?” on social media, flaky pastries of all kinds always land a high spot on the list. And for good reasons too… pastries are notoriously hard to make without gluten! As if making puff pastry from scratch wasn’t time consuming enough (seriously have you ever looked into it? ?Β It’s insane…), well making it gluten free adds a whole new level of challenges. And the result is never anything quite like its gluten equivalent. Add on top of that the fact that pastries are best eaten freshly cooked and you get something underwhelming at the best of time, hence the lack of choice out there… And the disappointment that often comes with the few options we do have.
But does that mean we need to take pastries out of our lives for good? No way!Β Making your own delicious pastries at home is a lot easier than you may think, especially since being spoiled with not only one but a few different gluten free puff pastries on the market. At least here in the UK we have a good selection including Genius, Jus-Rol and Silly Yak.
And the result is a lot better than any pre-made gluten free pastries I’ve had. More crispy, more flaky and just tastier in general. So if you miss all the classics, homemade is well worth a try before you forever give up on pastries. ?
PS: the Jus-Rol pastry is dairy free so these gluten free pain au chocolat can easily be made without by swapping the butter and chocolate for dairy free alternatives and omitting the milk in the egg wash.
Gluten Free Pain au Chocolat Recipe:
- Gluten free puff pastry (I used Jus-Rol)
- Chocolate (I used Morrisons orange dark chocolate)
- 2 Tbsp icing sugar
- 1 heaped Tbsp unsalted butter
- Egg wash (1 egg + a dash of milk)
- Optional: icing sugar and chocolate sauce (melted butter + melted chocolate) drizzled on top
Directions
(See images below)
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C (360F) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Take the ready rolled puff pastry out of the fridge and let it sit for 5 minutes at room temperature before unrolling it (if too cold, it’ll crack).
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling: melt the butter in the microwave (in 20 second increments) and cut the chocolate bar in little sticks.
- Carefully unroll the pastry and, using a pastry brush, coat with a thin layer of melted butter.
- Using a sieve, add a thin layer of icing sugar.
- Gently slice the pastry dough in half with a knife and pile one half on top of the other (both sugary layers facing up).
- Divide the dough in 3 rectangles.
- Roll the pain au chocolat: add chocolate sticks on one end, leaving a bit of room, and roll the pastry dough over once. Gently press down a little and roll one more time. Add a second portion of chocolate sticks and complete the roll. Again, gently press down and tap the sides lightly to shape them up. Seal that bottom layer by working the dough gently with your fingers.
- Put the pain au chocolat on the baking tray and brush a bit of egg wash (1 egg beaten with a dash of milk) all over them with a pastry brush.
- Bake on the middle shelf for 25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy, at 180C (360F).
- Take them out of the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray.
- Optional: at this point you can add a dusting of icing sugar (using a sieve) and/or a drizzle of chocolate sauce (melted butter + melted chocolate), but make sure you give the pastries time to cool down first.
Enjoy!
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Once made can they be warmed again after they have gone cold. Also if they can be warmed can you do it in the microwave. Many thanks
Hi! Although they’re best eaten fresh, you can warm them up again but I’d recommend doing so in the oven or under the grill. Microwaving them will affect the texture and make them go soft.
Could you freeze these?
I’ve never personally tried to freeze this puff pastry so it’s hard for me to say, but I have a feeling it may not defrost too well. I’ll have to test it out at some point!