Pain au Chocolat

According to the most recent Williams Sonoma catalog, pain au chocolat is an after school snack served to children in France. It is literally a chocolate sandwich; a chocolate bar placed between two slices of bread. This treat is also served to schoolchildren in Spain. The famous Barcelona tapa bars serve a scrumptious variation; they top a toasted bread slice with barely melted bittersweet chocolate, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. The Pain au chocolat tradition has not yet been imported to the U.S.

When I was growing up I was an extremely picky eater. It was difficult for my mother to get me to eat anything outside of my two favorite food groups; chocolate and snack chips. I refused to take part in my school's hot lunch program. Each day my mother packed my lunch, which consisted of a bologna sandwich, some type of hostess product (preferably of the chocolate variety) and a small bag of chips. Since I detested bologna sandwiches I always threw them away eating only the Suzy Q and bag of chips. One day I told my Mother that I disliked bologna sandwiches and not to bother packing them anymore. Well of course this was unacceptable and after much discussion I agreed to eat one half of a peanut butter sandwich each day. If only there had been pain au chocolat I would have been one happy little munchkin.