Pour mes chers amis francophiles/français--un bon 14 juillet à vous! « Bonne fête ! » Today is Bastille Day en France--a national holiday in commemoration of the storming of the Bastille prison, which took place in 1789 and marked the beginning of the French Revolution. I can't miss the chance to celebrate, but today is a busy day, so I did a bit of cheating this morning. I love a fresh pain au chocolat, a common French pastry that is like a square croissant with chocolate running through the center of it. I wish that I had the time to make them from scratch today, but it just wasn't in the cards.

Although I am normally not one to use storebought items like cookie dough or crescent roll dough, occasionally I will make an exception. So, cheater pains au chocolat for this morning! Granted, they're nowhere near as good as the real thing, but for taking about 2 minutes of prep time and about 12 minutes in the oven? YUMMY!

I pulled out a tube of crescent roll dough,

unrolled it,

pinched together some of the seams to make 4 rectangles out of the 8 triangles,

then cut each rectangle in half to get 8 squares.

Then I brushed each square with a glaze made from 1 large egg beaten with about 2 tablespoons of water,

and placed some semisweet chocolate chunks at one end of each square (you could also use chocolate chips).

Then I rolled up the squares (starting at the end with the chocolate so that the chocolate ends up in the middle), brushed them with the remaining egg wash and sprinkled them with some coarse sugar.

I baked them on a silicone baking mat (but you could use parchment paper as well) according to the directions on the package, et voila!

Hot fresh cheater pains au chocolat to start off this 14 juillet the right way!

Coming Tomorrow: Washoku Warriors 1st Roundup!