Pain au Chocolat Cinnamon Rolls

One of the things I love most about living in close proximity to continental Europe is the access to the best pastries on earth.  I know the English have a profound weakness for the ever popular Full English Breakfast, complete with its eggs, mushrooms, sausages, grilled tomato and all the rest of the trimmings, but give me a frothy cappuccino and basket of fresh croissants or pain au chocolat and I'm a very happy girl.

Having spent the bank holiday in Spain for a friend's wedding this past weekend, I had the opportunity to get my long overdue fix of those classic continental treats. While nothing (in my humble opinion) equals the kind of magic the French seem to elicit from simple mixtures of sugar, eggs and yeast, I will admit that the Spanish bread and pastries I sampled definitely held their own and left me wanting more.  

After returning to London and counting up the days to our anniversary weekend that will be taking place in Paris this year, I decided a month was simply too long to wait and decided to take matters into my own hands and attempt some Parisian inspired treats of my own. It's fair to say that there are plenty of recipes for traditional French pastries out there, however when I tripped over Kerry Saretsky's French Revolution blog with her creative recipe mash up of classic pain au chocolat meets American style cinnamon rolls, I knew this was the one for me.

I concede, nothing can really top the experience of having a fresh-from-the-oven basket of delicate pastries delivered to your room by a man with a charming Gallic accent.  However for those of you awaiting your next visit to Paris, these delicious hybrid pastries should more than help get you by in the meantime!