Cronut Recipe Made with Puff Pastry

Living in the L.A. area makes me fortunate enough to have access to some really special and impressive food stops. But even so, there are times that I find myself missing my New York City food adventures, especially when it comes to the cronut.

Cronut Recipe

New York City is even more diverse than L.A., which means there are a lot more unique foods and recipes to choose and taste from.

One of those unique foods includes a relatively recent creation by French pastry chef Dominique Ansel called the “cronut.”

Ansel’s famous bakery resides in the Soho neighborhood of New York City and his invention of the cronut has had hundreds of people waiting in line from 4:30 a.m. for hours for the chance to enjoy this decadent treat.

What’s a Cronut?

Simply described, the cronut is a cross between a croissant and a doughnut. More than that, it’s composed of layers of flaky, buttery dough dipped in sugar, glazed with various toppings, and/or filled with pastry cream. 

I’m not surprised that Ansel claims the cronuts take 3 days to prepare.

Let me tell you that some things in baking are a true labor of love, and croissants? Well, you better have a lot of patience, energy, and love when you decide to make them.

It’s not that croissants are necessarily difficult to make. In fact, they’re made with few ingredients (flour, butter, water), but to create that perfect, flaky croissant dough, you have to go through a process of massaging, layering, and refrigerating the dough at several different points in the day(s).

But I’m here to tell you that I’ve got a cronut recipe that is as close as us everyday, non-famous pastry chefs can follow without all the hassle and time it takes to make the original.

How can we do this? It’s easy…puff pastry! Watch the video below to see just how easy it is to whip up a cronut at home. 

Cronuts

Yield: 9

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 22 minutes

A hybrid of a donut and a croissant, fried and coated in sugar. 

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Ingredients

for the dough

• 1 box of Pepperidge Farms puff pastry, 2 sheets
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 cups of grapeseed oil

for the topping

• 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
• crème anglaise, (see note) to pour on top

Instructions

1. Unfold your puff pastry sheets (they come folded into thirds) and leave them out at room temperature to defrost - about 15 to 20 minutes. Brush the top of each sheet with your beaten egg. Fold the sheets back into thirds and set in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Once oil starts to bubble, it’s ready. Take puff pastry out of the freezer, and without unraveling, cut out 3 donut shapes out of each sheet. If you don’t have a donut cutter, then use a small glass. Use a pastry tip (or other small round object) to cut out small holes from the center. 
3. Fry each donut ring in the oil for about a minute each side. The first one may take more than 1 minute since the oil may not be at optimal heat, but the goal is to get a deep, golden color. Once done, move the cronut to a paper towel to slightly cool on.
4. While you continue to fry the rest of the cronuts, dip and roll the already made, slightly warm cronuts into your sugar-cinnamon mixture. If desired, pour crème anglaise over the top. 

Notes

Find the crème anglaise recipe here: https://monpetitfour.com/creme-anglaise

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 9 Serving Size: 9 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 260

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