How to make a ‘CRONUT’ – It’s a CROISSANT… AND a DONUT

The Guardian: “The man behind the Cronut has just published the official recipe … and it’s not for the faint of heart.  Pastry chef Dominique Ansel invented the Cronut last year at his New York bakery. With its flaky croissant and custard interior and fried, sugar-dipped exterior, it was bound to be popular – but no one could have predicted the ensuing, pastry-flecked frenzy.

Just days after Ansel started selling the croissant-donut hybrid in May 2013, things got crazy. Lines formed at the doors at 6am, news crews camped outside the bakery, and a thriving Cronut black market sprang up on Craigslist. The canny Ansel trademarked his Cronut, but that hasn’t stopped doissants and fauxnuts springing up across the globe.

His new cookbook, Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes, features many elegant and inventive confections, though of course there’s one getting all the attention. The not-so-secret Cronut recipe is now plastered all over the internet. But would-be imitators will need their piping bags and patience at the ready – this one is best left well alone if the most complicated thing you’ve ever baked is a lemon drizzle.

The official Cronut takes three days to make, thanks in part to the laminated dough. This is rolled together with a block of chilled butter to form layers, and needs a lengthy rest in the fridge. Ansel takes things to the next level, however. Two days before you’re allowed near the fryer, you must make a dough square. For unexplained reasons, you also have to make the ganache 48 hours ahead of time.

On day two, you get the dough out of the fridge and roll it with a perfect square of butter made using parchment and a ruler. Then back in the fridge it goes until day three – a frenzy of frying, glazing, flavoured sugar and piping work. The equipment list specifies a stand mixer with dough hook (cost £250-£400), the ruler, piping bags and a deep-frying thermometer.

It may be lengthy, and require a decent level of kitchen experience, but the most surprising thing about Ansel’s “secret” recipe is that it contains no great secrets. “The only thing that surprises me is that it isn’t a bit more different,” says former Bake Off winner Edd Kimber, who has just published his own patisserie cookbook and created a fauxnut recipe last year.

“Ansel has said in the past that it’s different to a croissant dough, but looking at the recipe, the technique is very similar. There’s the addition of a little egg white and cream, so it’s almost like a croissant dough with a bit of Danish recipe thrown in.”

The secret of the Cronut has been solved. It takes three days and a lot of sugar, butter and graft. One question remains, however: will anyone have the patience to make their own?”

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SORTED food: “Cronuts are a mix between a croissant and a doughnut/donut, and are the most gorgeous sweet treats that have been taking over Manhattan and London over the last few years! Dominique Ansel may have started them, but this recipe is courtesy of Edd Kimber.“