What Would You Do For A Cronut?
The Cronuts are coming; The Cronuts are coming! Or more accurately, they’re here (for now)!
Hi folks, cronut officially trademarked today.
— Dominique Ansel (@DominiqueAnsel) May 17, 2013
Three weeks ago, Dominique Ansel — owner of New York City’s Dominique Ansel Bakery and 2013 James Beard Award finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef — unveiled the Cronut: a half croissant, half donut that created a large buzz throughout the city and internet alike (sometimes favorably; sometimes not).
But what is a Cronut? A Cronut begins its life as laminated dough similar to a croissant. It’s then proofed and fried in grapeseed oil at a specific temperature. Then it’s rolled in sugar, filled with cream, and topped with glaze, at which point it begins it’s short-lived adult life as a Cronut. (For the month of May, the inaugural flavor is Rose Vanilla, made with rose sugar, Tahitian vanilla ganache, and a light rose glaze with crystallized rose petals.)
With a shelf life of only six hours and a half dozen per customer limit, the Cronut has become such a scorching commodity, the lines have begun two hours before the bakery opens daily and are sold out daily within minutes. Sold out, as in done for the day, as the bakery has a 200 per day limit that’s imposed God know’s why!
It is not okay to flip off our baristas because we are out of cronuts. Wtf!
— Dominique Ansel (@DominiqueAnsel) May 15, 2013
Wtf: Over the past weeks, the Cronuts have not-so-slowly migrated to the hallowed ‘streets’ of Craigslist, with significant mark-ups from it’s original $5 asking price. Scalpers are offering them for as much as $40 per Cronut in certain parts of Brooklyn. If you’re one of the enviable few to get your hands and mouth all over one, adhere to Ansel’s tips:
- Eat immediately. Cronuts have a short shelf-life and should not be refrigerated as that cause it to go stale.
- If you must cut, please do so with a serrated knife (to avoid crushing the layers).
- Try peeling off the layers one by one like a mille crepe cake!
But don’t expect Cronut shops to be popping up in your neighborhood any time soon. “I’m a big believer in quality over quantity,” says Ansel, “so it’s a limited amount a day, and that’s it.” With Cronut flavors changing every month (May’s Rose Vanilla bows out today, making room for June’s Lemon Maple), the cronuts might be numbered, but they’re certainly here to stay. Dominique Ansel, you will literally be the (worth it!) death of us all.
Bakery Details:
Dominique Ansel Bakery
189 Spring Street (between Sullivan and Thompson) New York, NY 10012
Tel: 212.219.2773 Fax: 917.591.2330 www.dominiqueansel.com
Opening Hours:
8am to 7pm (Tuesday – Saturday) 9am to 6pm (Sunday)
