There's a new kid on the breakfast block, and his name is cronut. Half croissant, half donut. Yeah, we know. Homer Simpson can't believe it either.
The hybrid hails from the kitchen of Dominique Ansel Bakery, a quaint place in New York's Soho District. Owned by 2013 James Beard Award finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef, it specializes in sweet, savory, and more -- like the cronut.
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Serving as executive pastry chef for Restaurant Daniel under Daniel Boulud for six years and growing up in the north of Paris helped prepare Ansel for an invention that is not only taking New York's pastry world by storm, but could very well be a breakfast and pastry game changer.
"Back in France, we all eat croissants. A donut was something I didn't really know before coming here to the states," chef Ansel told Good Morning America. Putting his French twist on the American breakfast classic was not an easy task, he tells ABC News, "trying 10 different recipes and all of them being a disaster."
Made up of layers of croissant dough that are deep fried and filled with vanilla cream, the cronut has the shape of a donut with insides that are light and flaky and a shell that is toasted till it's golden brown and crisp. Once crisp, the donut-croissant hybrid's are rolled in rose sugar and finished with a rose glaze.
With flavors that can change constantly, the cronut sounds like it's here to stay. We hope to see the trend extend outside of the Big Apple and possibly into the Magic City, so we can get a bite of the action. But just how will that happen? Ansel has trademarked his creation -- a smart thing to do.
New Yorkers line up outside his bakery every morning to try the pastry. What started out at 50 a day, quickly turned into 200, and even then that doesn't seem to be enough. At $5 each, it's no wonder the bakery is selling out an hour after opening. That's crazy, or cronut.
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