Category: Reviews | Post by: Andrea Wong
The cronut craze has hit New Zealand! But what are cronuts? Launched in May this year in New York City by Dominique Ansel Bakery, this hybrid of croissant and doughnut quickly caused a bit of a stir in New York and around the world online. If you hang out on Twitter or Instagram you probably have seen photos of these over the past few months.
Dominique's original cronut (complete with trademarked-protected name) is the epitome, with queues at his bakery five hours long and a limit of two cronuts per person (US$10 for 2). Wow, now that is crazy. I don't even think I would queue for that long for pastries.
But why the hype? For me, it was the seductive promise of a marriage between a buttery croissant and chewy, crispy-shelled doughnut that perked my little pastry-loving ears up. Even though I have been somewhat distracted this year with the birth of my son Little L three months ago, but I couldn't fail to notice photos of d'lish looking flaky, deep-fried pastries floating past in my Instagram stream.
Normally new things like this take a while to come to New Zealand: cake
pops and salted-caramel-this-and-that took at least a year to make an
appearance here so it seems. But a mere few months later, cronuts have
appeared in a couple of places around the country - such is the power of deep-fried pastries!
Kiwi cronut sightings
Bordeaux Bakery in Wellington claim to be the first in New Zealand to have cronuts and a few weeks ago the Takapuna Beach Cafe & Store started selling them and just the other week Loaf launched their version. Ok yes, the name cronut is trademarked... or should I say Cronut™ so our counterparts have named theirs croinuts; cro-nots; and cro-nuts respectively. All of these different names are going to confuse me. I'm just going to call them cronuts (sorry Dominique)...
It just so happened that I had to go to Takapuna recently and I thought it was the perfect excuse to try my first cronut, especially since it also coincided with Loaf's cronut launch! Walking up to the Takapuna Beach Cafe & Store early in the morning, I couldn't help notice all of the fit and healthy looking people going for runs in their fitting dry-fit sports gear. Perhaps I should have felt guilty knowing I was only there to buy deep-fried pastries... but I didn't ;)
I heard that Takapuna Beach Cafe & Store sells out of cronuts early by thankfully the stock was still plentiful - flavours included honeycomb and chocolate, lemon and coconut, and chocolate and pecan.
Loaf's creation is available from many of their usual outlets - I got mine from my local Nosh store.
Comparisons
I had read descriptions of cronuts before - crispy doughnut-like outside and buttery croissant-like layers inside - but I was still a little surprised by its texture. Perhaps I thought it would be more croissant-like in texture but the outside did indeed have that crispy-slash-chewy texture of a doughnut. I just thought it would be softer.
The Takapuna Beach Cafe & Store's cronuts are $5.50 each and they have a few flavours to choose from. But being their own creation, you need to head to Takapuna Beach to try them out. On the other hand, Loaf's cronuts are $3 and are available from a variety of places around Auckland and beyond.
Looks
The Takapuna Beach Cafe & Store's cronuts are higher with tantalising-looking toppings where as Loaf's are not as high and drizzled simply with chocolate. Once cut in half - I recommend using a serrated knife - you can see the difference between the two versions. Takapuna's version has a lot of distinct layers and Loaf's still has discernable layers but they aren't quite so separated.
Texture
Like a doughnut, cronuts are crisp and chewy on the outside and softer in the middle. Takapuna Beach Cafe & Store's cronuts are rather crisp and chewy, any more and it would be too chewy. Loaf's is slightly softer which was easier to eat.
Taste
I prefer Takapuna's version better because of their d'lish toppings and lotsa-butter flavour. More butter will always win in my books :) But I give it to Loaf to include a sneaky layer of cream in the middle which was a nice surprise which was also a bit
lighter in taste so felt more similar to a croissant.
Verdict
Out of the two versions, I prefer Takapuna Beach Cafe & Store's - they are bigger, with good flavours and with a d'lish butter flavour. But when I ask myself, would I buy either version again? The answer is 'yes' to both. I hope cronuts are here to stay!