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Chocolate Croissants: A Recipe for Learning French Shapes

 If you’re ever having trouble exciting your kids about a new language or culture, just sugar them up and you’re good to go!  My seventh grade French teacher just happened to have a culinary arts degree under her belt.  Who knew that signing up for her class for the goodies would lead me down such a francophile path? 

Cooking is a valuable hands-on language learning activity.  I incorporate food and cooking as much as I can get away with as a teacher.  Unfortunately, I’m somewhat lacking in culinary skills.  Kids don’t care, they just want to eat.  And you can rest assured that any recipe you get from me will be easy-breezy!

Make this super simple version of a French chocolate croissant, or pain au chocolat, as an immersion activity with the kids.  Learn French shapes along the way.  (The shapes in red are used in this croissant recipe):

• cercle – circle
• ovale – oval
• carré - square
• rectangle – rectangle
• triangle – triangle
• diamant – diamond
• croissant – crescent

Now that you’ve introduced some great French shapes vocabulary, it’s time to bake.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• Refrigerated crescent roll dough
• Hershey’s chocolate bars divided into rectangles
• Melted butter
• Sugar
• Oven

Use these French directions as you prepare the chocolate croissants:

1. Prenez un triangle de la pâte. - Take a triangle of dough.
2. Mettez un rectangle du chocolat sur le triangle. - Put a rectangle of chocolate on the triangle.
3. Roulez la pâte et faites un croissant. - Roll-up the dough and make a crescent.
4. Tartinez le croissant de beurre. - Spread butter on the crescent.
5. Mettez du sucre sur le croissant. - Put sugar on the cresent.
6. Répétez 1-6 pour chaque croissant. – Repeat 1-6 for each crescent.
7. Mettez-les dans le four. - Put them in the oven.
8. Follow the baking directions on the crescent roll package.

Bon appétit!

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