What could be better than a hybrid pastry of donut and croissant?<\/p>\n
The cronut, a \u201cbaked good heard round the mediasphere,\u201d according to Vogue magazine, is just that \u2014 flaky, buttery dough that\u2019s deep-fried to golden brown perfection, and then filled with cream and glazed. Since its debut in the spring of 2013, the cronut has launched into an international phenomenon, and with a dedicated following. With its burgeoning popularity, the donut-meets-croissant is in high demand \u2014 and has even found its way onto the black market. What are cronuts<\/strong>?<\/p>\n The mastermind behind the cronut craze is pastry chef and owner of Manhattan\u2019s Domnique Ansel Bakery, Dominique Ansel, who invented the circular treat to blend his French upbringing with an American classic. Word on the street is that Ansel\u2019s secrets include using croissant-like dough, which he then fries in grapeseed oil. The result is a light and flaky cronut that is finished in three ways: rolled in sugar, filled with cream, and topped with glaze.<\/p>\n The cronut has become so popular that people can\u2019t resist trying to replicate it, and news outlets and food and drink websites can\u2019t stop themselves from breathlessly covering new cronut developments every five minutes. ChicagoMag.com reports that a local Windy City bakery is serving a knockoff, dubbed the \u201cdossant.\u201d While on the West Coast, a San Diego, Calif., bakery is dishing up an imitation of the crazy pastry, appropriately titled \u201ccray-nut.\u201d The cronut is even going international, with \u201cfrissants\u201d popping up in Vancouver, and Down Under, reports the The Sydney Morning Herald, with \u201czonuts.\u201d One Las Vegas bakery, succumbing to the hype, is simply calling their version \u201cOne of Those.\u201d Oh, and, there are the people who think they\u2019re the ones who created it to begin with, like one drama-loving soap opera-actress-turned-cook in Texas. What are cronuts<\/em>?<\/p>\n As you may have guessed, we tried replicating it, too. Although Ansel and the rest of the bakery\u2019s team are keeping mum on the coveted recipe, we got the inside scoop from a professional pastry chef who used to work for Ansel \u2014 before he created the cronut \u2014 on how to make croissant dough at home. Her keys to cronut success include, \u201cKeeping the dough chilled, otherwise you\u2019ll have a buttery mess on your hands.\u201d Also, \u201cWhen initially mixing the dough, resist the urge to overmix. Just mix until the dough is a consistent texture.\u201d Although the process seems laborious, she says,\u201dThis dough is easier to make at home than most [people] expect.\u201d<\/p>\n We were up for the challenge and based our recipe on classic croissant dough. we were asked What are cronuts?.Taken from what we know about the original cronut recipe, we fried in ours in grapeseed oil and finished it by giving it a dusting of sugar, filling it with cream, and topping with glaze. While Ansel\u2019s version takes a lengthy three days to complete, we\u2019ve skillfully compressed it down to one \u2014 if you start early! So while cronut-craving tourists and New Yorkers are lining up, hundreds-deep, to get their hands on one, you\u2019ll have no problem scoring the elusive pastry with our recipe at home \u2014 that we think just might rival the original.<\/p>\n Like the original cronut, we based our recipe on croissant dough, which consists of layers of alternating dough and butter. This creates the flaky, airy texture of a croissant \u2014 or cronut \u2014 in this case. What are cronuts<\/span>?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n For the soft butter, wrap it in plastic wrap and gently soften it by warming it with your fingers. When added to the dough, it helps with the elasticity and texture. Ever wondered What are cronuts?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n The most important thing to remember is to not overmix the dough. Just mix until the dry ingredients and wet ingredients are combined. This will prevent gluten development and make the dough easier to work with when rolling out. The dough doesn\u2019t have to be perfectly smooth. Every time you touch the dough, you are working it. So make every moment count and work quickly to gather the dough into a ball and chill. What are cronuts?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n We let our dough rest in a greased bowl, covered with a damp cloth, and in a warm spot for about 45 minutes until it had risen to about double in size. While the dough is rising, roll out the butter between two pieces of parchment paper. We found that it\u2019s much easier to work with room temperature butter.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Now the fun part begins \u2014 and get out your tape measure! To get those flaky layers of dough, we had to incorporate a lot of butter. Wrap the butter up with the dough like a little present.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Make sure to seal the edges so that the butter doesn\u2019t escape from the sides of the dough.<\/span><\/p>\n To lock in the butter, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. The dough should be longer than it is wide. Fold the right side toward the middle and then the left side over on top of the right side, like you are folding a letter. This creates the dough layers. Repeat this process two more times and remember to chill thoroughly in between. Roll the dough out again, making sure that your corners are squared off, and cut dough into thirds. We chose to stack these pieces of dough to give the cronut height and lots of flaky and buttery layers. Roll the dough out one last time. Make it large enough to cut out one dozen cronuts. What are cronuts?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Use two different-sized ring molds to make a donut shape out of the dough. We tried frying the cronut holes, but unfortunately they fell apart instantly once they hit the oil. Cut out all of the cronut shapes. If the dough is getting too sticky, put it back in the refrigerator and chill for a few minutes<\/span>. Original Source<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n
Ingredients<\/h2>\n
The Butter<\/h2>\n
Don\u2019t Overmix<\/h2>\n
Rolling the Butter<\/h2>\n
Buttering Our Dough<\/h2>\n
Rolling It Out<\/h2>\n
Shaping the Cronut<\/h2>\n