I haven’t had a chance to visit New York City this year yet but ran into a friend who was just there last week. She a dietitian and a foodie just like me and she told me about a bakery she ran into that had line ups down the street to try something called a “cronut”.
What is a cronut?
A cronut is a donut that has been made with laminated puffed pastry (a similar dough used to make croissants) and fried rather than baked. Hence, a hybrid of the two pastries. I first heard about cronuts a year and a half ago when a friend of mine showed me an article about it.
I actually thought the whole thing was quite unnecessary as I was a bit of a croissant purist until recently. I even have a handful of bakeries that I go to just for their croissants because I really appreciate a good croissant (and finding one in Toronto can be tricky). The cronut was invented by an American pastry chef called Dominique Ansel who has a bakery in Manhattan.
What makes Chef Dominique Ansel’s cronuts unique (besides the fact that he’s trademarked the name) is that he uses a special mix of flour specifically designed for the cronuts so it’s not simple as just taking croissant dough. This price tag for originality doesn’t come cheap though. The cronuts cost are sold for $5 a piece, that is a tall order for a breakfast bread and simple donut.
I’m not a donut fan so I don’t really see the appeal. I really appreciate the crisp, delicate, flakiness of a good croissant and can only imagine that frying it would make it overly greasy (as if croissants could get any more greasy) and complicated (especially if you got a cronut stuffed with pastry cream, or covered in icing).
However, if you do want to try it, there is a bakery in Toronto that has it – Le Dolci. Or if you are planning a trip to New York City, the line up starts as early as 2 hours before opening in order to be sure you get a cronut.
For those of you who are truly motivated, you can try making cronuts yourself.
It looks like the cronut is here to stay. For more information about cronuts, visit the Dominique Ansel website.
Have you ever had a cronut? What did you think? And where do they sell a good cronut so I can finally try one?!