Chocolate Croissants and Caramel Cups

While holiday two weeks ago, sister and I very quickly got into a morning breakfast ritual of coffee and chocolate croissants followed by the splitting of a mother-loaded omelet. We would slather our croissants with butter and Nutella. Very good.

Because I have really missed those croissants, Hubby took me to Panera Bread this past weekend for a breakfast of chocolate croissants. It was awful! I could not even finish it. Who in the &*^% screws up chocolate?!?!?!?! If it were not for Panera's egg souffles, I would totally quit that place because, in my book, if you can not get chocolate right, you should not be allowed to serve food to the public.

This morning I attempted to make my own chocolate croissants and they actually tasted better than the ones on the ship! Big giddy up!! However, they do not look as pretty. So I am going to need to make more batches to get the pretty department down pat. Once they look good, I will post photos and the recipe.

I did make some caramel cups for a meeting a had last night. I am not usually a fan of fillo cups, however, I found that the combination richness of the caramel and dark chocolates more than made up for the bland cups. See what you think:

Caramel Cups

2 cans of condensed sweetened milk (do not use fat-free version)

2 boxes of Athens Mini Fillo shells (in frozen section)

Package of Dove's Silky Smooth Dark Chocolate Promises

Peel labels off the condensed sweetened milk cans. Place both cans in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil cans continuously for three hours. Add water as needed throughout cooking time to ensure cans are always covered in water. At the end of cooking time, pull cans out of water and set aside to cool until warm enough to handle. Take Fillo shells out of freezer and let them thaw for about 10-15 minutes. Open cans and scoop caramel into fillo cups. Cut 4-8 Dove squares into four pieces and place each piece on top of caramel.