Crème Brûlée Cronut's made with Quick Croissant Dough, Flaky + Fried, Filled with Vanilla Bean Cream, Rolled in Vanilla Sugar, & Torched Sugar Topping

OMG!! I MADE CRONUTS!!

It's aliveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... and it's called the Cronut, or the Doissant, or flaky fried deliciousness. Have y'all heard about it? It's all the rage in New York and it's spreading like wild fire. It's got a Contagion-like movie quality to it really, which is quite creepy. But, exciting nonetheless!! The "Cronut" was brought into the world in May and I have honestly thought about it each + every day since I read about it. The descriptions have proclaimed it the new "cupcake" and the glorious marriage between half-croissant and half-doughnuts. UM what? A croissant fried + dressed up like a doughnut... what doesn't sound amazing about that. I've heard that if you do live in NYC and want a Cronut you can expect at least a 2 hour line, a two-cronut-limit, and a hefty bill for just a tiny 'ole pastry. That's when I got to searchin' for a copy cat recipe, but the guy who dreamed of this concoction is keepin' it hush-hush (I don't blame him), so it was slim-pickins for a while until I strolled across a blog that had recreated it to perfection. Me: 1, Cronut: 0. I started last night by making a quick 20 minute croissant dough recipe. The dough is a cinch to make, but does require some primping after chilling. Like any buttery croissant, it must be rolled and folded numerous times in order to create those extra-flaky layers. After you have done the heavy lifting, wrap that sucker up in plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight. The next day, all you have to do is roll it out, cut it out, and proof it in a warm spot until they have doubled in size. Plop them into the fryer and they instantly crisp + brown up into Cronut gorgeousness. The bakery where this treat originated from fills it with pastry cream and some rose flavoring. I wanted to change it up a bit and finally landed on the idea of making one with Creme Brulee components (because I have a minor obsession with it). I filled my Cronuts with creme brulee pastry cream, rolled them in homemade vanilla bean sugar, and torched the tops until they were super crackly. Once you bite into this, you may never want to eat anything ever again. The pastry cream perfectly oozes throughout the buttery layers, yet still maintains the ultimate crispy crust. This may have been the best thing I've made all year... and I can't wait for all of the other varieties I'm going to make as well!! Enjoy :)

For the Quick Croissant Dough:

¼C Whole Milk, Room Temperature

¼C + 1t Luke Warm Water (or room temperature)

6g Instant Dry Yeast (or a heaping 2t... or one 7g packet of yeast with a little bit removed)

1t Vanilla Extract

1C AP Flour

1C + 2T Bread Flour

2T Sugar

½t Salt

½C + 3T Unsalted Butter, Diced & Chilled

Canola Oil or Vegetable Oil, For Frying

For the Vanilla Bean Cream:

1 ½C Whole Milk

½C Sugar

¼C Cake Flour

½t Sea Salt

4 Large Egg Yolks

1t Vanilla Extract

1 Vanilla Bean, Split & Scraped for Seeds

For the Vanilla Bean Infused Sugar:

1 ½C Sugar

1 Vanilla Bean, Split & Scraped for Seeds

¼t Sea Salt

Directions:

1. For the Quick Croissant Dough: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the warm milk, water, vanilla, and yeast until combined. Set it aside. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the AP flour, bread flour, sugar, and salt until mixed throughout. Add the chilled butter and pulse until the butter is in small pieces. It is very important that you do not over-process the mixture because you need to see chunks of butter, about 1cm in size. After you have processed the flour and butter mixture, add it into the bowl of the yeasted liquid. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, making sure to get the dough together without making the butter pieces any smaller. Once it is roughly combined, dump the mixture onto a floured work surface and lightly knead to form a ball of dough. Place the dough ball back into the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. After it has chilled, place the dough ball back again onto a well-floured surface. Roll the dough out into a rough 20x40cm rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, like a business letter, making sure to brush off any excess flour. This is the first turn of a total three turns. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, so that the folds are facing you. Repeat the rolling and folding process two more times. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight before using.

2. For the Crème Brulee Pastry Cream: In a medium saucepan, heat milk over medium-high heat until bubbles just start to form around the edges but milk is not yet boiling. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together sugar, flour, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and vanilla bean seeds until well combined; slowly whisk in flour mixture until thick and pasty. Remove milk from heat and slowly add to egg mixture, whisking constantly. Transfer egg mixture to saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 3 minutes. Boil, whisking, for 10 seconds, and immediately remove from heat. Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve set over a small heatproof bowl; stir in vanilla. Strain into a plastic squeeze bottle and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.

3. For the Vanilla Bean Sugar: Place the sugar, vanilla bean seeds, and salt into a food processor and pulse until all of the ingredients are combined and evenly mixed. Pour the sugar into a dish that you can dip the doughnuts into after frying.

4. The Next Day: Remove the dough from the refrigerator after it has chilled overnight and place it onto a well-floured surface. Roll it out into large rectangle that is roughly 1cm thick. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat and lightly flour it. Set it aside. Dip a doughnut cookie cutter into flour and cut out rounds from the rolled out dough, you should be able to get roughly 10-12 Cronuts from this batch of dough (not including a whole bunch of doughnut holes for snacking). Place the cut doughnuts onto the floured sheet pan and lightly cover with a kitchen towel. Let the Cronuts rest in a warm place until they have doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.

5. Frying the Cronuts: Heat the oil to 325 degrees in a deep pot or sauté pan while you’re Cronuts are almost done resting. Fry the Cronuts, two at a time, for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until they reach a deep golden brown color and are completely cooked through in the center. Remove from the oil to a baking sheet that is lined with paper towels and a wire rack. Let them cool enough to handle.

6. Assembling the Cronuts: It is now time to start filling the fried Cronuts. I did this “Twinkie-style” by using the squeeze bottle that is filled with the chilled crème brulee pastry cream. Gently poke holes into the bottom of a Cronut and fill them all the way through with cream. Repeat this process until you have about 5-6 cream filling holes in each Cronut. Scrape off any excess cream that begins to ooze out. Now that all of the Cronuts have been filled, roll them in the vanilla bean sugar until all the sides are covered. Place them back onto the cooling rack and use a spoon to sprinkle an even (but semi-thick) layer of sugar on top of the Cronut. Using a kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar until golden brown and extremely crackly. Let the sugar topping cool for a minute before eating.

7. Enjoy while the Cronuts are still warm & crunchy!!

Cronut Holes For Snackin' :)

source: pastry cream. cronuts. 20 minute croissant dough.