Cronut: 21 things you didn’t know about the pastry! (List)

1. Cronut is a croissant-doughnut pastry invented by Chef Dominique Ansel and trademarked by his Bakery in New York City.

2. The pastry is made by frying a laminated dough in grape seed oil. The fried pastry is then sugared, filled, and glazed.

3. The Boston Globe described the Cronut as a “food portmanteau”.

4.  In December 2013, Time magazine named the cronut as one of the “25 Best Inventions” of 2013.

5. In 2013, Dominique Ansel considered adding a new product in his bakery, and it was pointed out that he didn’t have any kind of donut on the menu. As Ansel did not have a donut recipe, he decided to make his own, starting from the croissant he was familiar with. After two months of experimentation, he came up with a dough that is different from croissant dough, and produces a pastry that has flaky layers inside that fries easily and holds the cream, with a crunch on the outside.

6. The product he named cronut was introduced just before Mother’s Day in May 2013.

7. By chance, a blogger from Grub Street, the online restaurant blog from New York magazine entered the shop, tried the cronut, and reported it in his blog. The blog post resulted in much interest in cronut, and by the third day, a queue of over 100 people had formed outside the shop to buy the new product.

8. Realizing that he has a success on his hand, Ansel trademarked the Cronut name within nine days.

9. Chef Alina Eisenhauer of Sweet Kitchen & Bar in Worcester, Massachusetts, claimed that she was the first to fry croissant dough and has been serving her “dosants” since 2008.

10. Baker Roy Auddino says he has been making “doughssants” since 1991.

11. Imitations and other takes on the cronut recipe have sprung up all over the United States and has also spread to many other countries including Australia, China, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

12. Make-at-home recipes have also been developed.

13. The Cronut was brought to London in 2013 by Rinkoff Bakery – a 100 year old bakery in the East End – in the form of a Crodough. It was named the must eat breakfast of the year by Timeout in 2013 and the 5th best thing to eat in London in 2015.

14. Writing for the Village Voice in May 2013, Tejal Rao proclaimed the cronut Ansel’s “masterpiece.”

15. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon featured the dessert when guest Emma Roberts enjoyed a cronut during an August 2013 episode.

16. In July 2013, Dominique Ansel Bakery launched a series of charitable campaigns with their Cronut product to benefit the Food Bank for New York City. The Cronut Project campaign, sponsored by Dominique Ansel and three interns at BBH, benefited the Food Bank for New York City by raising over US$6,000 in six days with only twelve Cronuts.

17. In September 2013, Dominique Ansel Bakery partnered with Shake Shack to offer Cronut Hole Concretes, featuring Cronut Holes and brown butter caramel custard. Hundreds lined up as early as 4 a.m. for a chance to purchase one of these 1000 concretes. All proceeds, over $5,300, went to the NYPD Widows and Children Fund and Madison Square Park Conservancy.

18. At a live auction in October 2013 benefiting City Harvest (a New York City food rescue organization) Dominique Ansel, with auctioneer Nicholas Lowry and Questlove, auctioned a dozen freshly baked Cronuts for $14,000 in less than twenty minutes.

19. Due to its limited production and exclusivity, the Cronut spawned a black market in New York City with scalpers buying them for $5 and reselling them for up to $100 each.

20. At the 2013 Canadian National Exhibition, bacteria from “cronuts” sold at Epic Burgers, a Toronto-based eatery, caused food poisoning in over 200 patrons. Toronto bakery Le Dolci supplied the “cronuts” and bacon jam topping responsible for the contamination.

21. The Swiss retailer Migros started selling “cronuts” in August 2013. Ansel had previously announced that he intended to register “cronut” as a Swiss trademark. In October 2013, Migros announced they will no longer be using the name, now a registered trademark of Ansel’s bakery. Migros renamed their item the “Big O”.