Tag Archives: Cronut

Croffles (Croissant-Waffles)

Leave a reply

We all view the world through our own unique lens. My husband, for example, walks through life looking for ways to make the world a better place. From a macro perspective, by chairing a $400 million fundraising campaign to replace our city’s 100 year old hospital, right down to a micro perspective. The other day, I came into the kitchen found him on the floor, sorting and organizing the Tupperware lids so it would be easier to find a match for the containers.

I, on the other hand, walk through my day looking for ways to make life more beautiful. As my sister says, “We are cursed blessed with a strong sense of aesthetic.” We have text chats about the prettiest way to label storage baskets, and the optimal font choices for them. It matters to me that my spice drawer has identical bottles for all the spices, and that my pantry is organized with uniform glass jars, rather than the packages that the food is sold in. I think that’s why I love food photography so much. With each shoot, I get to create a beautiful scene. I feel so creatively fulfilled.

A unique way of viewing the world has led to some wonderful culinary creations. Remember the Cronut from 2013? Recently, some genius, came up with the Croffle, a croissant-waffle hybrid . Not sure who to credit with the idea, but it was clearly someone viewing the world through a lens of “Can you Waffle it?” The internet is filled with strange and wonderful things people have waffled.

I felt compelled to try my hand at the Croffle. There is an excellent French Bakery down the street from me, so I bought a bag of their frozen croissant dough. Instructions on the bag said to lay the frozen croissants on a baking sheet with a small bowl of water. Place the baking sheet in a cold oven and leave it there overnight to thaw and proof.

Check out how it all came together.

So, in answer to the cosmic question, “Can you waffle it?” , the answer is a resounding hell yes! Croissant dough in the waffle iron is awesome! I mean, what could be bad? Crispy AF on the outside and tender flaky layers within. A simple drizzle of maple syrup or dusting of icing sugar and all is right with the world, for a few minutes at least.

Dilled Green Bean Salad

4 Replies

serving beans 2Last Monday morning I woke up with a killer Cronut hangover. For the uninitiated, a Cronut is an amazing pastry from Dominique Ansel Bakery on Spring St. in SoHo. Imagine if you will a cream filled donut hooking up with a croissant, falling in love and mating.  (Hey, it could happen, ever watch those eHarmony commercials?) The Cronut would be the love child of that union.Cronut 1They take a croissant type dough and form it into a donut shape. Then they deep fry it and pump it full of a Tahitian Vanilla pastry cream. They enrobe it in a rose flavoured glaze, tint it the palest, prettiest pink imaginable, and then, bedazzle it with candied rose petals.

This creation is based on the traditional Breton butter pastry, known in Brittany as Kouign Amann. People are lining up for them as early as 6:00 a.m., because they sell out so quickly. There are even rumours that Cronuts are being scalped on Craigslist. They just launched a lemon maple variety for the month of June and a Dulce de Leche variety is in the works for July!cronut2 lemon maplehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vswiimBEvCk

I first heard about Cronuts on Serious Eats. I knew that in the wrong hands, (MINE), a Cronut could be a dangerous thing. But I needed to find out if they were really all that and a bag of chips. So, I figured I’d do the next best thing to actually eating it myself. I would get my friend to try them, and give me the lowdown.

My girlfriend Paula and her husband were heading to NYC, so I forwarded the Cronut link to her and asked her to go check them out and report back to me. She e-mailed me back that she would do one better; she would bring me back some to try myself. Apparently they sell out very quickly, so she went online, ordered them and on Sunday afternoon, schlepped her husband down to SoHo to pick them up. He stopped complaining once she shoved a Cronut in his mouth. She managed to get them through Newark Security and even through Customs unscathed, although I suspect a Cronut or two were sacrificed as bribes to ease their entry into Canada. We take Cronut importation seriously in this nation.

Now you may be thinking, “What a great friend Paula is, to bring these all the way back from NYC”. Or you may be wondering if she isn’t just a sneaky closet enabler, trying to fatten up her friend.

Sunday night, around 8:30 p.m., our doorbell rang. It was Paula, on her way home from the airport with the box of Cronuts. She said that we had to eat them right away. I didn’t want to be rude, so I took a small bite. Crispy flaky light layers of buttery croissant gave way to a silky pastry cream filling flecked with vanilla bean seeds.Cronut 2I am sure I moaned as I thanked her profusely. I really was planning to have just a little bite, so I could say I had tried them. However, once she left, an evil voice from somewhere deep inside my head commanded me to finish the entire thing. So I did. And then, once my husband and daughter went upstairs, I scarfed down a second Cronut; hence the Cronut hangover on Monday morning.

I felt vaguely nauseous from all that sugar and butter I had ingested, so I figured that the perfect antidote was something green and acidic. I remember reading somewhere that apple cider vinegar is a great digestive aid. I had some fresh green beans, so I got to creating with what was in my fridge.trimming green beanspepperscelerydill and shallotsmaking dressingin bowl square 625Cookbook author and griller extraordinaire, Chris Schlessinger, once said, “Green bean recipes are like movies:  You always think there are lots of good ones around until you’re ready for one, then you can’t find any you really like.” Here’s a fantastic one for whenever over-indulging makes you feel the need to be virtuous. (At least until the next binge!)

Click here to print the recipe for Dilled Green Bean, Celery and Pepper Salad.