New York's Viral Hot Chocolate Croissant Looks Like A Soggy Mistake
With hits like the cronut, the croffle, and TikTok's viral crookie, it feels as though the croissant hybrid trend just can't miss. And yet, a recent take on the pastry has left us — and others across the internet — scratching our heads. The item's base is a round croissant with its top removed to expose its hollow middle. Hot chocolate is then poured inside, and the treat is finished off with a toasted marshmallow topping and a straw. At least visually, it seems to borrow from the Suprême, another NYC pastry that had everyone talking in 2022.
While the trend sounds delicious on paper, one hot chocolate croissant from Bella's Bake Shop in Mt. Kisco, New York didn't exactly go viral for the right reasons. As seen in an Instagram video from user @travelgramwithlaurab_ct, hot chocolate began leaking out of the croissant's sides almost immediately, despite there supposedly being a layer of chocolate ganache inside. This led some commenters to believe that the confection is more of a mess-maker than a tasty, two-in-one treat.
"Y'all can keep that soggy disaster," one commenter wrote, while another imagined their worst-case eating scenario. "The way my mouth would burn and then all the liquid [would] spill out and be lost and I'm left with a soggy croissant, burning hot chocolate on my legs/shirt, and scorched earth mouth," they wrote.
A few changes could make the hot chocolate croissant a success
The internet is definitely onto something with hot chocolate croissants, and with a few tweaks, the treat could very likely resurface on the right side of internet history. For starters, in @travelgramwithlaurab_ct's Instagram post, it appeared as though the pastry-drink hybrid was served with nothing more than a napkin, practically guaranteeing a disastrous mess. Instead of the napkin, customers might benefit from a sturdier cardboard container, as shown in another Instagram post from user @chokorii.
The second (and possibly most important) upgrade to the hot chocolate croissant concerns the beverage itself. Bella's Bake Shop appeared to use American-style hot chocolate. While certainly delicious and comforting, this version of the drink is also thin and soupy, resulting in a soggy croissant and potential leaks in the sides.
Instead, the treat should use other types of hot chocolate from around the world, specifically those from France, Italy, or Spain, where the beverage is more likely to be thick, rich, and velvety. While this may not completely prevent any mushiness, the pastry likely wouldn't succumb to the liquid quite as quickly if the hot chocolate was a bit denser. This change would make the confection cleaner and easier to eat, but it would still be just as tasty.