Faux Cronuts

“the faux cronut that makes all the other cronuts jealous”

Do you know that THE Dominique Ansel, the creator of the original cronut, revealed his recipe? Yep, he did! I mean, why wouldn’t he? When it’s ridiculously demanding, who’s actually going to use it? According to him, it takes an astonishing three days to make the perfect cronut. So, thank you Dominique, but no thank you. If I’m in New York, I will definitely visit his bakery and try this mighty cronut, but in the meantime, my simple 30-minute faux cronut recipe will do just fine!

Actually, I have tried my fair share of cronuts and not to toot my own horn but you will thank me for this one! After Dominique’s, my recipe might just be the next best thing (okay, now I’m tooting my own horn)! What’s so special? Well, they taste like cinnamon, smell like vanilla, and are covered with a sweet and gooey chocolate glaze! What more can you ask of a cronut? Well, how to make it, obviously.

To make this recipe, you’ll need a donut cutter or any other circle pastry cutter with two dimensions, one very large pot, two mixing bowls, and some paper towels for draining the cronuts.

The first step is to heat the oil in the pan over high temperature. In order to fry the cronuts completely covered in oil, you need at least 3 inches (7 cm) of oil in the pan. This also means the pan’s walls must be high to prevent splashing. You’ll notice that you can use a variety of oils. The original cronut is cooked in grapeseed oil, while I like canola. But, feel free to use any oil that you have at your disposal – unless it’s an oil with a very intense smell, it won’t alter the taste very much.

While the oil heats, unfold the pastry sheets and use the circle cutter to cut donut-shape pastries. If you have three sheets, you’ll probably get 9 cronuts (three cronuts from each sheet). However, depending on the size you might end with 12 little cronuts or 6 very big cronuts. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that the cronuts fit into the pan comfortably.

Brush melted butter over the shaped pastry (both sides) and add one-by-one into the heated oil. Fry them separately. You’ll need around 2 minutes for each cronut (1-minute each side), which means no more than 20 minutes for the whole cooking time.

When you’re done frying a cronut, place it on a paper towel so that the oil can drain. This way, by the time you’re done frying, you can immediately begin covering them with cinnamon and chocolate.

Take two mixing bowls (one with wide-opening). In the wider bowl mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla powder. In the other bowl mix together all the ingredients for the chocolate base (powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract).

Take a cronut, dip it in the cinnamon mixture (both sides), place it on a serving plate, and spatter from the chocolate glade over it. Repeat the same process with the rest of the cronuts. The chocolate gaze is optional. If you have a preferred topping, feel free to use it, as I’m sure that it will make the recipe personalized to your taste.

Enjoy and don’t forget to share with your family and friends!

Ingredients

For the cronuts:

• 3 sheets puff pastry (frozen)
• 1l (4 ½ cups) cooking oil (sunflower, olive, canola, grapeseed)
• 120g (1 cup) sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla powder

For the chocolate glaze:

• 120g (1 cup) powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ½ tbsp milk (optional: plant-based)

Instructions

• Pour the oil in a large pot over medium to high (~200°C) temperature and let it heat.
• While the oil is heating, prepare the faux cronuts. Unfold the puff pastry sheets and brush them with melted butter. Use a donut cutter or any two different circle cutter sizes to create a donut shape (Usually, you’ll get 3 donuts from each pastry sheet).
•  Fry each cronut separately (2 minutes per cronut, 1 minute each side).
• Drain the faux cronuts on a paper towel.
• While the cronuts drain, prepare the chocolate glaze and the sugar-cinnamon mixture.
• Take a small bowl and mix all the ingredients for the chocolate glaze together and whisk until the blend is smooth. In another larger plate mix together the sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.
• Take each cronut, dip in both sides in the sugar-cinnamon mixture and place it on a serving plate. Take a spoon and spatter the chocolate glaze over the cronuts.