Pain au Chocolat

I don't speak French, I know practically nothing of French culture and history. My mom lived in southern France for a couple years in her twenties, so I do know a couple of children's songs that my she taught me when I was a kid. Everyone knows Frere Jacques, but do you know Alouette or Ansi Font? But that pretty much sums it up. Oh, I guess I can count to ten, but every little kid who watched Sesame Street can count to ten in different languages.

I've found recently that my baking has leaned toward the French side of life, though. I suppose that makes sense, as many of the great pastries and desserts hail from a French tradition. But for whatever reason, my own baking interests have not been particularly French in the past. There is one pastry that I remeber my mom giving us a version of as children, Pain au Chocolat with warm sugar milk.

Pain au Chocolat is essentially a crossant with chocolate inside. I was inspired at the last minute to make some for my book club this morning. Again, I should have picked something that I knew would work in case the Pain au Chocolat didn't "pan" out (ha ha, sorry), but sometimes when I want to do something, I do it! Well, it didn't turn out at all like it was supposed to, (they were not at all croissant flaky-like) but fortunately the bread was still good, and I just didn't say anything! ;)

My recipe comes from Jacques Torres over at the Food Network. I know I used too little butter (I spazed and wasn't paying attention to what was going on), so I'll have to try again sometime soon and see if I can't get actual croissants. This is a good regular bread recipe, too, though!