By Noelle Khan
Courtesy of Noelle Khan
The cronut, a $5.50 flaky twist on your favorite pastries, has the layers of a warm croissant and the doughiness of a classic, sweet doughnut. My taste buds were buzzing when I learned I was finally going to taste this popular hybrid dessert. Lines have stretched out the door of the Dominique Ansel Bakery since May 2013 as New York City dessert lovers fight to get their hands on the shop’s most prized creation. Luckily, my friend and I had placed an order for two cronut pastries a month in advance so we could avoid the long line and get right to taming our cronut craving.
Arriving at the bakery on a Thursday allowed us to avoid the line of hungry customers who wake up in the peak hours of early weekend mornings to grab all of Ansel’s delicious pastries before they run out. I recommend placing an order (on a weekday) or stopping by the shop so you can avoid the long lines and get straight to the best part — the dessert.
The pre-order online system allows customers to snatch a cronut (or six) before they sell out. The flavor of the month is listed on the pre-order form so you know the exact flavor you will be sinking your teeth into when it is time to pick up your delectable dessert. My friend and I were set to try the March flavor of the month — raspberry coconut with lime sugar. There have been a series of enticing past flavors like rich salted dulce de leche, spicy pumpkin chai and classic coconut.
As a lover of all things chocolate, caramel or peanut butter, I was not too psyched about the March flavor of the month. I wished Dominique Ansel, the French pastry chef behind the popular dessert, crafted more than one flavor per month. Yet, Ansel takes the cronut seriously, producing only a limited amount of cronuts per day.
Although the flavor varies each month, the technique and the quality of the ingredients that go into crafting the cronut do not budge. The making of the cronut begins with buttery laminated dough that gives the pastry its multiple, flaky, croissant type layers. Like a yeast based doughnut, the cronut poofs, doubling in size and is then fried in bubbling hot grapeseed oil. After it is fried, the cronut receives the last finishing touches that transform it into the unique flavor of the month. The pastry is literally doused in sugar, injected with copious amounts of cream and, lastly, the top is glazed with a rich and creamy icing. The cronut is definitely not a diet- friendly dessert, so be sure to leave the calorie counting behind.
I had no idea what to expect when I sunk my teeth into my chewy raspberry and lime infused cronut. Going against Ansel’s recommendation, I used a plastic knife instead of a serrated knife to slice the thick pastry in half. Luckily, the layers of the aesthetically striking dessert stayed intact as I struggled to split it in two.
Each layer of the flaky dough alternated between a tangy raspberry jam and custard-like filling. To my surprise, the lime sugar did not add a citrus tang to the cronut, but a burnt brown sugar flavor instead. My favorite addition to the cronut was the icing, but I have always been a sucker for icing on any dessert. Yet, despite the delicious icing, I was not too pleased with the cronut. It failed my expectations. While it was fairly delicious, it was messy to eat, slightly cold and way too sweet.
I am sucker for all things sweet and gooey, but the cronut just did not meet my expectations in the way I initially hoped it would. I would not consider the March cronut flavor worth the wait or hype. I would have been satisfied with a doughnut doused in the same icing instead. The cronut may not have sat too well with my taste buds, but it did make for a very good Instagram shot. Although I will not be craving a cronut anytime in the near future, I will be heading back to Ansel’s shop in the future to snack on some of the other hidden gems his bakery has to offer.
