What do you get when you cross a croissant with a doughnut?
Well, you get a pastry with a bit of an identity crisis. It’s causing such a frenzy that Americans are willing to queue for hours just to get their hands on one.
Introducing the Cronut
The latest foodie lust-have taking over America and the world.
A deep-fried croissant-doughnut hybrid that’s dredged in sugar, filled with pastry cream and dipped in a frosty sugary glaze.
Gone viral
Created by French pastry chef Dominique Ansel at a bakery in Manhattan, his genius idea of merging the two pastries has gone viral.
With each cronut selling for $5 (about R50), Americans are clamouring to get their hands on them. But with just 200 made per day, a limit of just 2 per person, the cronuts selling out within minutes.
Black market
It’s no wonder then, that there is even a black market for them where you can pay anything up to $40 (about R450) just for one. Crazy indeed!
Read more about it on the Mail Online.
A difficult task
Ansel admits that putting his French flair into the American classic wasn’t an easy task.
It took about ten recipes and multiple time and temperature adjustments before the bakery found the trick to sheeting and frying the dough.
Grape-seed oil is Dominique’s fat of choice and the temperature is, of course, top secret.
While the cronut made it’s debut filled with rose Tahitian vanilla cream and petals, June’s flavour is lemon maple, and there will be a new flavour every month after that which will no doubt keep people queuing for blocks.
It seems Dominique is sitting on a gold mine, and he knows it too; the word ‘cronut’ has now been internationally trademarked. So it’s hands-off for anyone wanting to cash in on his light bulb moment but that hasn’t stopped other bakeries from trying by creating their own versions.
The ‘doissant’
So comes the cronut knock-off, the ‘doissant’, which has popped up over all over the world, from bakeries in America to Australia.
Jason Bakery
Always one to poke fun at trends, Captain Bread (also known as Jason Lilley) of Jason Bakery has created his own version similarly named ‘doughssant’ which he only prepares on a Saturday morning.
Jason’s version is baked, not deep-fried (your heart will thank you later) and filled with vanilla custard, topped with chocolate and toasted flaked almonds. Absolutely delicious!
What does it taste like?
But what does the real thing taste like? Reporters, bloggers and celebs have described the cronut as flakey, but chewy, heavier than a croissant but fluffier than a doughnut. Sound heavenly?
As much as I would’ve liked to hop on a plane to New York and stand in a cronut queue to see what all the fuss is about, that’s not going to happen, so I rolled up my sleeves, put on my big girl panties and attempted to make my own croissant dough from scratch.
Tricky? Yes. Delicious? Of course! But worth it? I’m not so sure.
With Dominique refusing to make more than 200 per day, the cronut is another rare and expensive fad. Like white truffles or Almas Caviar, they’re sought-after for their scarcity, which of course only improves their allure and flavour.
But give the recipe a try and then decide for yourself. What do you think, is the cronut the new cupcake?
Katelyn WIlliams writes the beautiful blog The Kate Tin.