Cronut recipe – a doughnut and croissant crossover

Flaky, crispy and delicious.

Updated on25 03 2021

You may be asking, what is a cronut anyway? Essentially it is a hybrid of a doughnut and a croissant. It was invented by Chef Dominique Ansel in his famous New York bakery in 2013. After the pastry chef started selling the croissant-doughnut in May 2013, people started queueing at the doors from 6 am, and news crews camped outside the bakery. This trademark pastry has started to crop up around the world.

However, this recipe is not for the fainthearted. If you are a fan of baking and deserts then making a cronut is an exciting challenge.

Cronuts are flaky like a croissant and pillowy like a doughnut. Instead of jetting off to New York to get your hands on one, you can make a version at home with this recipe from Spruce Eats. It does take some preparation, but it will be a guaranteed showstopper. If you would like to make homemade pastry cream then you can read the full recipe on their website.

Homemade cronut recipe

Prep: 60 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Rest and Chill: 5 hrs 15 mins

Total: 6 hrs 35 mins

Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients

For the Cronut Dough:

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 tablespoon dry active yeast

• 4 cups (480 g) all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

• 17 1/2 tablespoons (8 3/4 ounces) room temperature unsalted butter, divided

• 5 cups of vegetable oil

For Assembly:

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

• 1 tablespoon water

©Spruce Eats

Method

Mix the Dough

Gather the ingredients.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the water and milk and heat just until lukewarm. Whisk in the yeast and let stand for 5 minutes until it starts to bubble.

Set a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and add the flour, sugar, salt, and 1 1/2 tablespoons softened butter to its bowl. Add the yeast mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, or about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for another minute.

Form a ball with the dough and place it in a greased bowl. Cover it loosely with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and place it in a warm spot. Let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Once doubled, punch down the dough. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

While the dough chills, place the remaining butter between 2 pieces of parchment or wax paper. Use a rolling pin to flatten and shape into an 8 x 8-inch square. Place in the refrigerator.

Shape the Cronuts

Once your butter block is ready and the dough is chilled, roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12 x 12-inch square.

Place the butter square on top of the dough square so that the corners of the butter block are pointing to the sides of the dough square.

Fold the corners of the dough over the butter block to meet in the centre like an envelope. Use your fingers to pinch together the dough at the seams so the butter block is completely sealed.

Roll the dough out into a 20 x 8-inch rectangle. If the dough is too stiff, smack it a few times with the rolling pin to soften.

Brush off any excess flour and fold the dough into thirds from the top and bottom, like a letter. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. Repeat the folding and chilling process 2 more times—this will give your dough the characteristic layers seen in puff pastry.

Once the dough is chilled after its final fold, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a 6 x 18-inch rectangle.

Use a very sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut the doughnut into three 6 x 6-inch squares, and stack the squares on top of each other.

Roll out the stack into a 6 x 18-inch rectangle.

Using doughnut ring cutters, cut 12 doughnut shapes out of the dough and place them on a parchment-lined surface. Cover the doughnuts loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Fry the Cronuts

Add the oil to a large pot and heat to 350 F. Fry the cronuts for about 1 1/2 minutes, flipping them in the oil halfway through until they are golden brown all over. Don't crowd the pan. Fry in batches, if needed, allowing the oil to come back up to temperature in between batches.

Place the cronuts on a paper towel-lined plate to cool.

Assemble and Dust the Cronuts

Gather the ingredients.

In a bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a long narrow tip with the chilled vanilla pastry cream. (optional)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and water. Add more water if necessary, but make sure the glaze is not too watery.

Inject the cronut at 4 different points with the vanilla cream, roll in cinnamon sugar, and drizzle the glaze over the top and enjoy.

Tip: You can use a pre-made puff pastry to make these cronuts if you want a quicker method. This shortcut method won’t be exactly the same, but it'll still be really tasty. You simply need a package of frozen puff pastry:

Roll out the puff pastry and brush it with a beaten egg.

Fold it back again as it came from the package.

Cut out the cronuts with a doughnut cutter.

Fry in 350 F oil until brown on all sides.

Place on paper towels when ready to soak up excess oil.

Dust with cinnamon sugar.

Or buy your own

M&S has a range of cronuts called [Yumnuts](https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/food-to-order/not-just-any-food/food-news/yumnuts/yumnuts) which can be found in select locations or you can order cronuts online. Rinkoff Bakery in London also has many types of cronuts available for delivery.