Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants (Gluten-Free)
These Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants are a cross between a rugelach and a croissant featuring a fluffy no-yeast dough spread thickly with chocolate and cookie butter spreads and rolled up into croissant shapes. They are naturally vegan and easily gluten-free.
It happens to be Mothering Sunday in the UK today and what better way to celebrate all of the amazing women in our lives than with chocolate, Biscoff and croissants. These are the perfect brunch to make for loved ones or to snack on with a cup of tea.
How delicious are these Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants?
They are pretty special, they are:
- Light and fluffy inside
- Crisp and golden on the outside
- Filled with chocolate spread and cookie butter (aka Biscoff spread)
- Naturally vegan
- Easily gluten-free
- Easy to make and bake in 30 minutes
- Fun to roll up (a great baking project with little ones)
- Can be made into any flavour
- Croissant in shape and similar to rugelach
If you are already excited about baking these, skip ahead to the recipe car below, or let’s first discuss the recipe in more detail.
What ingredients do I need?
The no-yeast dough is one of my favourite recipes:
- Thick dairy-free yoghurt: I always use coconut yoghurt. You are looking for a Greek-style yoghurt texture otherwise the dough won’t hold together.
- Caster sugar: just a little to sweeten the dough. I used caster sugar to keep the dough lighter in colour but coconut, golden caster or light brown sugar will all work.
- Self-raising flour: this can be regular or gluten-free and when combined with the yoghurt it makes for the fluffiest dough. Read my post here about using a gluten-free blend (make sure it contains xantham gum) as you may need a spoon or two more yoghurt to keep the dough soft.
As for the filling, we only need two ingredients:
- Dairy-free chocolate spread: there are quite a few brands nowadays that are vegan and dairy-free so use your favourite. I went for a dark chocolate spread as the Biscoff is quite sweet.
- Biscoff cookie butter spread: this is delicious and tastes like pure heaven especially when mixed with chocolate. You can use the Lotus Biscoff brand or a supermarket brand, too. It’s a warmingly spiced cookie butter made from crushed down speculoos cookies which are traditional spiced gingerbread shortcrust cookies.
A few other ingredients we need:
- Vegan butter: to brush over the Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants before being baked.
- Light brown sugar: for a crunch top that is sprinkled on top of the butter before being baked.
- Dark chocolate: I like to finish these croissants off with a drizzle of melted chocolate. Any dairy-free chocolate will be great here.
How do I make these Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants?
They really are so simple despite looking impressive. The steps are:
- Make the dough: stir together the yoghurt, sugar and flour to a shaggy dough and then bring to a ball with your hands.
- Roll out the dough to a rectangle: to about 30-cm and the dough will be ½-cm thick.
- Cut out a circle from the dough: using a plate or something similar that is as big as the rectangle to save on wasted dough. See the recipe card for how to use up the scraps.
- Spread over the chocolate spread and Biscoff butter: to cover the circle of dough.
- Use a knife or pastry cutter to slice the circle into 16 triangles: like you’d slice into a pizza or cake.
- Start from the outside of one triangle and roll over the filling: continue to roll into the centre of the circle and you should see a crescent or croissant shape appear.
- Place the croissant on the baking tray: and seal the edge by pressing down lightly.
- Repeat to make al 16 triangles of dough into croissants: it can get messy but that’s ok.
- Brush the pastries with butter: and sprinkle over the sugar.
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes until golden brown: and tender in the middle.
- Enjoy warm or allow to cool and drizzle with the chocolate: then eat.
Why is this a croissant-rugelach hybrid?
As we all know, croissants are a lot of work to make the pastry yourself and I wanted these Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants to be easy and fun to make. So I used the classic croissant shape and instead of using homemade pastry (like a lot of recipes call for) I use my healthier and delicious no-yeast magic dough. The dough element of this bake makes them more like Rugelach, which is a filled sweet bake that originates from the Jewish communities of Poland. Rugelach are made in the form of a crescent by rolling a triangle of (often cream cheese) dough around a filling, which is the method I chose here.
How long do these croissants last?
These bakes are definitely tastiest on the day they are made but are also delicious for 2-3 days store in a sealed container at room temperature.
Are these gluten-free and nut-free?
These are naturally nut-free as long as your yoghurt and chocolate spread is nut-free, so read the labels. To make the dough gluten-free, use a gluten-free self-raising flour which contains xantham gum and read here about using a little bit more yoghurt to keep the dough supple. Biscoff spread is not naturally gluten-free as the speculoos cookies contain gluten, so I suggest mixing 80-100g of nut or seed butter with ½ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground ginger and a pinch of nutmeg and using in place of the Biscoff. This is also a great homemade Biscoff butter if you don’t have any at home.
Can I use another filling?
Yes of course, these are delicious made as cinnamon roll croissants, using my filling for No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls, or making into Salted Caramel Pecan Cinnamon rugelach. Or, spread with just chocolate spread, or a lovely berry jam.
Can I make these into large croissants, too?
Yes, instead of slicing the circle of dough into 16, you can slice it into 8 larger triangles and following the same method. They will need longer to cook, 15-20 minutes, but keep an eye on them.
I love these mini pastries, what other sweet recipes can I make?
I hope you are going to love these Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants and for more buns, rolls and scrolls, how about my:
- No Yeast Single Serve Cinnamon Roll
- Strawberry No-Yeast Swirl Buns
- Vegan Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls
- Salted Caramel Banana Bread Pecan Cinnamon Rolls
- Vegan Espresso Cinnamon Roll Tear and Share
Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants (Gluten-Free)
These Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants are a cross between a rugelach and a croissant featuring a fluffy no-yeast dough spread thickly with chocolate and cookie butter spreads and rolled up into croissant shapes. They are naturally vegan and easily gluten-free.
Ingredients
- For the Dough:
- 250g thick dairy-free yoghurt
- 20g caster sugar
- 250g self-raising flour For the Filling:
- 80-100g dairy-free chocolate spread
- 80-100g Biscoff cookie spread (or for a GF option: 80-100g of nut or seed butter with ½ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground ginger and a pinch of nutmeg)
- 15g vegan butter, melted
- 1 tsp light brown sugar
- Melted chocolate
- Crushed Biscoff cookies
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 160Fan/180*C and line 2-3 trays with parchment paper.
- Stir together the yoghurt, sugar and flour to reach a shaggy dough. Then tip onto a parchment paper lined work surface, lightly dusted with flour and knead roughly for 1 minute to reach a smooth dough. Roll out to a large square, approximately 30-cm.
- Position a plate or similar circular object in the centre to cover as much of the dough as possible and cut around it. Remove the scraps and save these to make other small buns by cutting the scraps into triangles, spread them with extra chocolate/Biscoff and roll up as detailed below.
- Onto the circle of dough, drop spoonfuls of the chocolate and Biscoff spread and then spread out the mixture evenly over the dough, almost all the way to the edges.
- Using a small pastry cutter or large knife, slice the circle into 16 equal pieces (like you would a cake or pizza).
- One by one, roll up each mini croissant. Start at the outer edge and roll the triangle of dough up to make a croissant shape. Place on the tray and repeat to make all 16 croissants, leaving space around them as they do expand.
- Brush with the butter and sprinkle over the sugar. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown and evenly cooked, turning the trays around in the oven halfway through.
- Enjoy warm, or once cool, drizzle with melted chocolate and crushed cookies.
- Keep these Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants in a sealed container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
I look forward to hearing what you think of these Mini Vegan Chocolate Biscoff Croissants so please let me know in the comments below. If you do make these croissants, I’d love to see them so please tag me in your bakes, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest – please say hello!
With mini choc-Biscoff croissant love x
