Chocolatine | |
Alternative names | Chocolatine, chocolate croissant, couque au chocolat, pain au chocolat, petit pain |
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Type | Viennoiserie sweet roll |
Place of origin | France |
Serving temperature | Hot or cold |
Main ingredients | Yeast-leavened dough, chocolate[1] |
Pain au chocolat (French pronunciation: [pɛ̃ o ʃɔkɔla] (listen))), also known as Chocolatine (pronounced [ʃɔkɔlatin] (
listen) in the south-west part of France and in Canada, or couque au chocolat in Belgium, is a type of viennoiserie sweet pastry consisting of a cuboid-shaped piece of yeast-leavened laminated dough, similar in texture to a puff pastry, with one or two pieces of dark chocolate in the center.
Chocolatine is made of the same layered doughs as a croissant. Often sold still hot or warm from the oven, they are commonly sold alongside croissants in French bakeries and supermarkets.
In France, the name of the chocolatine varies by region:
In Belgium, the words couque au chocolat are also used.
They are often sold in packages at supermarkets and convenience stores, or made fresh in pastry shops.
Legend has it that Marie-Antoinette introduced the croissant to France, but croissants and chocolatines are a relatively modern invention.[3] The word croissant, which refers to a pastry shaped like a half-moon or "crescent", made its entry in the French dictionary in 1863.[4] The type of pastry, called viennoiserie in French, was introduced in the early 19th century, when August Zang, an Austrian officer, and Ernest Schwarzer, an Austrian aristocrat, founded a Viennese bakery in Paris located at 92, rue de Richelieu.
Originally, croissants and pains au chocolat were made from a brioche base but later evolved to incorporate a buttery flaky dough (pâte feuilletée).