Buttery, flaky croissants filled with pastry cream, fresh berries, and chocolate ganache.
This is one of those desserts that will make you a SUPERSTAR to whomever you serve it to. This dessert is pure decadence on a plate. It’s GORGEOUS, elegant, fancy schmancy, hoity toity, and just unbelievably incredible.
Now it’s not difficult to make but you will need some patience. Now I’m giving you an out and telling you it’s “okay” to use store/bakery-bought croissants
There’s just something about those buttery flaky layers that you kind of just peel apart (at least I do) and eat almost like cotton candy – a layer/piece at a time.
When I buy these from Sam’s Club/Costco, inevitably we don’t eat them all fast enough. So I packaged up 2 so I could have them another day. As I stood there staring at them I got to thinking about Valentine’s Day and dessert other than my Chocolate Covered Strawberries.
I had 2 lbs of berries left and wanted to make a different dessert with them. Now I’ve had chocolate croissants before (and LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE them) so I wanted to go that kind of route but more dessert-y. Honestly, this dessert just kind of came together. I had wanted to make some pastry cream to stuff into the dipped strawberries so I decided to make a bit more and use that in this dessert. Since the croissants themselves were chocolate, I needed to add a chocolate element. And yeah it was a no-brainer – ganache was a MUST!
Since the pastry cream takes a while to make and chill I made that first. Once everything was all made, chilled, and rested it was go-time. Only I wasn’t sure still what I was doing with it.
Now for me, I committed a cardinal sin and took a serrated knife to those buttery, flaky croissants and sliced it in half. I felt as if I had to apologize to the croissant community for doing so. It felt wrong.
So okay, it’s sliced and as I looked at those gorgeous flaky layers it reminded me of how a pâte à choux looks when you make profiteroles, croquembouches, or éclairs. Now you could easily use that dough to make this but I was all about this croissant.
The ganache had cooled and thickened to where it was spreadable. Now after testing it to make sure it wasn’t “poisonous” (LOL) I slathered on a thin layer followed by a layer of pastry cream, sliced juicy thick strawberries, and then another layer of cream and berries. When I placed the top back on this dessert was just gorgeous but…
it was “missing” something. So I drizzled some chocolate sauce on top and OMG. I can’t tell you the last time I remember seeing a beautiful dessert. Something so pretty basic if you think about it (bread, chocolate, cream, fruit); pretty straightforward but yet truly jaw-dropping gorgeous.
Now this dessert is HUGE and is meant to be shared (that is if you want to). So I let this chill in the fridge (covered) and served it later that night for us to split. We fell in LOVE with this dessert but honestly, even with 2 of us, we still had a bunch left over (first time I think). I would advise if you’re serving this for guests, I’d advise using smaller-sized croissants.
So if you want to wow your Valentine or your guests or treat yourself because you are THAT awesome, then definitely make this! This WILL become your go-to dessert!
PrintCroissants Stuffed with Pastry Cream, Fresh Berries & Chocolate
Buttery, flaky croissants filled with pastry cream, fresh berries and chocolate ganache.
- Yield: 2
Ingredients
Croissants
- 2 large fresh croissants or 4 small ones
Ganache
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups good quality chocolate, chopped
Pastry Cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup white sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 large whole egg
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon butter, unsalted
- 1 scraped vanilla bean seeds
2 cups sliced strawberries
Chocolate sauce for drizzle
Instructions
- Make the ganache by putting half of the chocolate pieces in a glass bowl. Heat the cream over medium heat just until it starts to get bubbles around the edges. Immediately remove it from the heat and pour it over the chocolate pieces. Let it sit for 5 minutes and then stir slowly.
- As you stir, gradually add the rest of the chocolate pieces until they are all melted and the mixture is emulsified. This takes about 2 minutes. You want it super smooth and shiny. Allow to cool to a thicker form but still spreadable (but not pourable).
- Make the pastry cream by stirring together the milk and 1/4 cup of sugar in a heavy sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and egg. Stir together the 1/3 cup of sugar and cornstarch until incorporated. Add them into the eggs until smooth.
- When the milk comes to a boil, SLOWLY drizzle it into the bowl in a thin stream while whisking nonstop so that you do not cook the eggs. Once all added, return the mixture to the saucepan, and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly so the eggs don’t curdle or scorch on the bottom. Once the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla, mixing until the butter is completely blended in. Pour into a heat-proof container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for at least 1 hour before using.
- To assemble slice each croissant in half. Carefully smooth on about 3 tablespoon of ganache on to the bottom portion of the ganache. Next, add a layer of pastry cream (you can either spread it on or pipe it on). On top of that place a layer of strawberries.
- At this point you can replace the top of the croissant or you can add another layer of pastry cream and another layer of berries (just don’t make the layers though too thick). Place the top of the croissant on top and drizzle chocolate sauce on top. Store in the fridge, covered loosely with plastic wrap if not serving immediately.
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