We’re going to explore how these two beloved breakfast pastries are different, but they do have one major thing in common: they’re both delicious! 

Both the cornetto and croissant are the golden standard for breakfast pastries in their respective countries: in France you’d start your day with a flakey, buttery croissant and a cafe au lait, while in Italy breakfast would be a soft and sweet cornetto with a cappuccino. So, how exactly are these two pastries different?

On first glance, they look similar: a layered, folded half-moon of pastry deliciousness. However, there are distinct differences. A classic French croissant (meaning “crescent”) will have more lift, and be more crunchy-crispy. A cornetto (meaning “little horn”) however, is a sweeter and softer pastry that is a bit flatter visually. This difference here comes down to how the dough is made.

Cornetti dough, unlike that of the croissant, has eggs – this makes for a richer dough akin to a brioche or danish. There is usually more sugar in cornetto dough as well. Croissants, on the other hand, have distinctly more butter (as you’d expect from a French classic!) and the lack of eggs gives them that quintessential flaky crispiness. Both pastries get their fluffy layers from something called laminated dough, which refers to the process of layering in butter between folds of dough. It can be an intricate and long process to do at home, but a rewarding one indeed!

Traditionally, croissants have a small variety of flavors (which is changing, thanks to innovative bakeries like Supermoon Bakehouse in NYC, or Blackmarket Bakery in Southern California!) that consist of plain, chocolate, or almond. When you stumble across a bakery in Italy with cornetti, however, the options are much more plentiful. Cornetti can be filled with custard, chocolate, an array of jams, honey, or nutella! 

One thing is the same between these two quintessential breakfast pastries, however – we wouldn’t be mad to wake up to either of them with a cup of coffee. Which do you prefer?