It's breakfast week on The Kitchn, so I've been thinking about favorite ways to treat myself when I have a morning alone, a little nibble that elevates the usual yogurt and granola routine into something special—and by special, I mean a fresh-from-the-oven chocolate croissant, courtesy of Trader Joe's frozen food section.
I discovered this treat several years ago while at a food and writing conference and posted about it here. The idea is that you remove the frozen unbaked croissant from the freezer and leave it out overnight to defrost and proof. In the morning, bake it and within 20 minutes or so, you have a hot, just-from-the-oven chocolate croissant to keep you company! (Stephanie also offered her own freezer-friendly scone version this morning.)
Since then, I try to keep a package of Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants in the freezer for those occasional mornings when something special is needed. The only drawback is that you have to know the night before that the following morning is going to be a croissant morning. But as with most things, preparation and anticipation is a big part of satisfaction.
Of course, hot melty chocolate croissants are also a wonderful romantic treat for two. But one of the biggest challenges of eating alone is to remember to make it special now and then. So if you have a morning to yourself, don't hesitate to spend a little extra time to treat yourself.
PS. You can make your own from scratch croissants but be warned, they are a little fussy. This tutorial from Emma is a great way to learn how: How to Make and Shape Homemade Croissants
(Image: Dana Velden)
Martha Concrete Lam...

I do the cheater's choc croissant using Trader Joe's artisan puff pastry (made with real butter) and chunks from the dark Pound Plus bar. Darn good and I don't have start it the night before.
You can also cheat using Pillsbury crescent roll dough, unrolled, filled with chocolate chips, rolled, and heated!
I love these and always have a box in my fridge. It's always the same box too because I rarely plan ahead and when I do it means putting it out but also getting up 20 minutes earlier to bake it. Well more than that, even, because you have to pre-heat your oven.
If you are going the crescent roll dough route, you can always use nutella instead of chocolate chips...
And here I had high hopes for a recipe to make a single chocolatine... Does that even exist?
oh i will have to make some this weekend - the trader joe's by me stinks, it is always so packed you can't move in the aisles at all. good for them, but they lose me as a customer due to the high volume of people pushing & shoving to get at items. i'll have to give these a whirl with crescent dough though, they look great!
@limegreenaffair
try going at 8 or 9 on a sunday morning.
The ones around me are usually a chaotic mess of people and empty shelves any other time of the the day (even by 10:30am sunday they start to get crazy), but early Sunday mornings they are blissfully empty of shoppers and the shelves are all fully stocked.
Oh, these are fantastic. We have them at least a couple weekends a month. The upside of having to take them out the night before is that you get built-in portion control. : ) You can't decide to have "just one more" after finishing the first (which believe me my husband and I would do every time if possible...).
QVC (of all places) has very good croissants that you do not need to defrost; they bake for 30-35 minutes and are much better than any other parbaked/frozen croissants that we've had before. Just ordered the chocolate ones and they are due to arrive tomorrow (danger, Will Robinson).
Fresh Direct sells parbaked ones--no need for the overnight defrost! I have yet to visit Trader joes. The one nearest me has a LINE to get in. Forget about it.
Yes, these really are quite good. Better than 85% of all bakery crossiants.
I live in the Land of Trader Joes and I would still wait in line to go inside.