Pain au Chocolat: The sweet story behind a French breakfast icon

It's flaky, buttery, and a chocolate-filled heaven. We're talking about the national treasure that is the pain au chocolat. Pain au chocolat are a favorite for all ages in France, whether it's for breakfast or an afternoon snack. And French people eat about 1.4 billion of them a year. But who invented the pain au chocolat? Turns out the French might not get all the credit. Its roots go back to 19th century Paris, when Austrian baker August Zang helped introduce Viennese-style pastries, les Viennoiseries, to the French capital. One of them was the chocolatine croissant, a chocolate-filled croissant. Over time, French bakers transformed and improved the recipe into the buttery laminated pastry we know today. But there's still a major debate that rages on over what to call it. For most of France, it's a pain au chocolat. But head to the southwest and you'll hear chocolatine. Where does the word chocolatine come from? Well, one theory says it evolved from the German Schokoladen in the original chocolatine croissant name. But historians admit nobody knows for sure. What we do know for sure is that no matter what you call it, it's delicious.