The Cronut Craze Goes Global

It was bound to happen. In these days of goat cheese-and-honey ice cream and bibb lettuce cocktails, palates are primed for the unexpected. People are obsessed with the new. And if it happens to be delicious, the world pretty much goes mad.

Case in point: the cronut. Bearing the looks of a doughnut and the inner workings of a croissant, this confectionary hybrid has become a near-global sensation since its creator, Dominique Ansel, debuted it at his New York City pastry shop in May.

"It's very much like a doughnut and croissant and yet completely different from both," says Ansel, who grew up in Beauvais, France, just north of Paris. "You have the crispy sugary outside of a doughnut and the flaky tender layers of a croissant on the inside."

And it's not simply fried croissant dough, Ansel adds—his dough is a specialized mix developed specifically for the cronut.

Customers line up in the early morning hoping to score an order of Ansel's cronuts (ten bucks for two). And those growling stomachs aren't just from around town. "We've had people come from Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Berlin, the Philippines, and even Kenya," says Ansel.

Chef Dominique Ansel packages cronuts at his bakery in New York City.

Photograph by Andrew Burton/Getty Images

How the Two Met

Fans may believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but the cronut owes its existence to the two treats that came before it.

The culinary encyclopedia Larousse Gastronomique defines the croissant as "a crescent-shaped roll generally made with a leavened dough," and offers this story of its birth:

"This delicious pastry originated in Budapest in 1686, when the Turks were besieging the city. To reach the centre of the town, they dug underground passages. Bakers, working during the night, heard the noise made by the Turks and gave the alarm. The assailants were repulsed and the bakers who had saved the city were granted the privilege of making a special pastry in the form of a crescent in memory of the emblem on the Ottoman flag."

The American-born, Paris-based pastry chef and author David Lebovitz—who has written about croissants on his popular blog—cites a similar history: "Most believe that it was probably invented by the Viennese when they were sparring with the Turks, and someone invented a 'crescent' (the symbol of Turkey) to bite into."

Doughnuts are a different story. According to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, the deep-fried cakes have roots in Europe and the Middle East. One of the earliest incarnations was the Dutch oliekoecken (oil cake), which was made with yeast dough, eggs, butter, spices, fruit, and sugar and served during the Christmas season. By the mid-19th century, doughnuts had made their way into American cookbooks and kitchens.

Could the cronut—a name Ansel has trademarked—become the next pastry classic? It has gained worldwide fame via social media in the months since its debut, but not everyone is convinced.

"I think it's a fad that will pass," says Lebovitz.

Cronut Copycats

What's a far-flung cronut craver to do if a trip to New York is impossible? Not to worry, imitations abound!

At Emporio Santa Maria, a high-end specialty foods store in Sao Paolo, Brazil, cronut-like pastries are now available every day at 4:30 in the afternoon. At a café in Taiwan they're served with fruit and whipped cream. Some Netherlands bakeries are riding the cronut wave too. In South Korea, the "New York Pie donut" is now on the menu at some Dunkin' Donuts stores. In London, chef Dan Doherty at Duck & Waffle has recently introduced the "dosant" on his brunch menu. Then there's the KLonut, Malaysia's answer to Ansel's invention.

Whether or not the cronut will make it into any food dictionaries or historic registers remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure: the world is sweet on it now.

What are your favorite food mashups? Could the inchezonya be next? Share your stories in the comments.