Cronuts - The Recipe Critic (2024)

Jump to Recipe

This website may contain affiliate links and advertising so that we can provide recipes to you. Read my disclosure policy.

Get ready to discover the joy of homemade cronuts with this delicious recipe! Perfectly flakey and fried, this easy-to-make recipe is perfect for any occasion.

If you love these cronuts, then you will love these homemade donut recipes! Try out my favorite Jelly Donuts, these Boston Cream Donuts or these classic Glazed Donuts for some that your entire family will love.

Cronuts - The Recipe Critic (1)

Cronut Recipe

If you don’t know what a cronut is, then you are in for a treat! It’s a cross between a croissant and a donut. It has all of the delicious layers of a croissant but in the shape of a donut. It’s the perfect choice for breakfast on the go, and they are also delicious when you drizzle them with some chocolate sauce for dessert!

This recipe for cronuts is SO easy and delicious. Instead of making the dough from scratch, you use puff pastry dough! This makes these so simple and easy that even the most beginner of bakers can master them and look like a pro!

Ingredients for Homemade Cronuts

This recipe is so simple and only uses five ingredients. You can make these anytime, and they will be ready in less than 40 minutes! Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all of the exact ingredient measurements.

  • Puff Pastry Sheets: Puff pastry sheets are thin layers of dough made with butter that puff up when baked. This creates a flaky and buttery texture in the cronuts.
  • Egg: Eggs are used in this recipe to create an egg wash, which adds a shiny, golden-brown finish.
  • Water: Water is mixed with the egg to create the egg wash, helping it spread easily and stick to the pastry.
  • Vegetable Oil: This is used for frying the cronuts, giving them a crispy exterior while keeping the inside soft.
  • Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar is sprinkled on top of the cronuts to add a sweet touch to the cronuts.

How to Make Cronuts

These cronuts are simple to make because you use pre-made puff pastry dough. One of my favorite parts about this recipe is that you will have a decent amount of scrap dough left over. This makes it so you can fry all my scraps into tiny cronuts. They make such a fun bite-size treat!

Prepare Dough

  1. Brush Egg Wash on Pastry: Take the puff pastry sheets out of the box and lay them flat on a work surface. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and water together. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top of one sheet of puff pastry.
  2. Layer: Lay the second sheet of puff pastry on top of the egg-washed sheet and press them together.
  3. Let it Sit: If the dough is frozen, allow the sheets to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. If it’s been refrigerated, allow the sheets to sit together for at least 5 minutes.

Start Frying

  1. Heat the Oil: While the puff pastry sheets are sitting, pour the oil into a saucepan and heat over medium-high heat. Allow the oil to come up to a temperature before using.
  2. Check the Oil Temperature: Once it seems hot enough, poke a wooden skewer into the oil to test the oil. Bubbles should form around it. If no bubbles form, let it heat up further.
  3. Cut into Donut Shapes: Cut the puff pastry sheets into donut shapes. Use a round cookie cutter for the outside and a piping tip for the center hole. You should get at least six donuts from the sheets, but this will depend on the size of your cronuts.
  4. Fry the Dough: Place the cronuts into the hot oil and fry until lightly golden brown on each side, about 30-45 seconds per side.
  5. Remove Cronuts: Remove the fried cronuts from the hot oil and place them on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb any excess oil. You may need to work in batches.
  6. Add Toppings: When the cronuts have come out of the oil and have rested on the paper towels for a minute, dust them with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Cronuts - The Recipe Critic (2)

Can You Make Cronuts in the Air Fryer?

Yes! And they turn out so delicious. Using the air fryer is a great option to make these a little healthier and have less of a mess to clean up!

  1. Add dough to air fryer: Place the donut-cut puff pastry into an air fryer at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Cook: Air fry the cronuts for 10-15 minutes. Once the cronuts have reached an even golden brown color, remove them from the air fryer and brush them with melted butter. Top them with powdered sugar.
Cronuts - The Recipe Critic (3)

Different Topping Options

Top your cronuts with cinnamon, glaze, homemade jam, or even some delicious chocolate! There are so many ways that you can change these up to make your own. You won’t even need to buy these at the bakery again.

  • Cinnamon Sugar: Mix together ¼ cup white sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it on your warm cronut.
  • Donut Glaze: Whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar and 2-3 teaspoons milk until the desired consistency is reached. Then, drizzle on the cronuts.
  • Sauces: I love adding a smooth and delicious sauce to my cronuts. Try adding on some of my homemade strawberry sauce or this delicious chocolate sauce!
Cronuts - The Recipe Critic (4)

Storing Leftovers

These cronuts taste delicious the next day! Store any leftover cronuts in a paper bag at room temperature for up to 4 days.

More Delicious Donut Recipes to Try

Who doesn’t love a good donut from time to time? Homemade donuts are so delicious, and so I’ve rounded up some of my favorites that you definitely have to make!

View All Donut Recipes

Pin this now to find it later

Pin It

Cronuts - The Recipe Critic (9)

Save

PinPrint

Cronuts

By: Alyssa Rivers

Get ready to discover the joy of homemade cronuts with this delicious recipe! Perfectly flakey and fried, this easy-to-make recipe is perfect for any occasion.

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 9 Cronuts

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Take the puff pastry sheets out of the box and lay them flat on a work surface.

  • In a small bowl, whisk the egg and water together. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top of one sheet of puff pastry.

  • Lay the second sheet of puff pastry on top of the egg-washed sheet and press them together.

  • If the dough is frozen, allow the sheets to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. If it’s been refrigerated, allow the sheets to sit together for at least 5 minutes.

  • While the puff pastry sheets are sitting, pour the oil into a saucepan and heat over medium-high heat. Allow the oil to come up to a temperature before using.

  • Once it seems hot enough, poke a wooden skewer into the oil to test the oil. Bubbles should form around it. If no bubbles form, let it heat up further.

  • Cut the puff pastry sheets into donut shapes. Use a round cookie cutter for the outside and a piping tip for the center hole. You should get at least six donuts from the sheets, but this will depend on the size of your cronuts.

  • Place the cronuts into the hot oil and fry until lightly golden brown on each side, about 30-45 seconds per side.

  • Remove the fried cronuts from the hot oil and place them on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb any excess oil. You may need to work in batches.

  • When the cronuts have come out of the oil and have rested on the paper towels for a minute, dust them with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 308kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 5gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0.002gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 144mgPotassium: 41mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.4gVitamin A: 31IUCalcium: 9mgIron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!

About Alyssa Rivers

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Alyssa Rivers and the food blogger behind The Recipe Critic. The blog launched in 2012 as a place to share my passion for cooking. I love trying new things and testing them out with my family. Each recipe is tried and true, family-tested and approved.

Read More About Me

More Ideas

Desserts

Bunuelos

40 mins

Desserts

Apple Cider Donuts

1 hr 22 mins

Desserts

Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze

25 mins

Cronuts - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

Why does it take 3 days to make a Cronut? ›

The official Cronut takes three days to make, thanks in part to the laminated dough. This is rolled together with a block of chilled butter to form layers, and needs a lengthy rest in the fridge. Ansel takes things to the next level, however. Two days before you're allowed near the fryer, you must make a dough square.

Who is the owner of Cronuts? ›

Dominique Ansel (born 1978) is a French pastry chef and owner of Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City. He is best known for his invention of the Cronut, a croissant-donut hybrid.

How did Cronuts become popular? ›

Then came the masses. By chance, a reporter from New York's Grub Street food blog tried a Cronut, wrote about it, and the bakery soon saw 100 people lining up to get their hands on what was then an even more limited product. Traffic to the bakery's website increased by more than 300 percent. A star had been born.

What is another name for a Cronut? ›

In my latest column for the Boston Globe, I look at the recent craze for "cronuts," which are a croissant-doughnut hybrid created by an upscale French bakery in Manhattan. It was such a hit that imitators have created their own hybrids using names like dossant or doissant.

Do Cronuts go bad? ›

As with all of our pastries, Cronut® pastries are made fresh each morning and are best enjoyed as soon as possible, as they have a short shelf life of just 6-8 hours. If you are taking Cronut® pastries home, please do not refrigerate! The humidity from the refrigerator will make them soggy.

Does Dunkin Donuts make Cronuts? ›

Dunkin' Donuts is adding a new croissant-doughnut pastry hybrid to its menu next week — but, just to be clear, this is not a Cronut, says Dunkin'. Even though it sort of resembles one. The original Cronut, created by pastry chef Dominique Ansel and sold exclusively at his namesake N.Y.C.

How unhealthy is a Cronut? ›

The cronuts are deep-fried in grape seed oil and finished with a sugary glaze. We think it's safe to say that one cronut will exceed your daily saturated fat and sugar allowance in one go.

Are you allowed to sell cronuts? ›

Trademark for the Cronut bars other chefs from naming their rendition anything that sounds too similar to the original. Nevertheless, these chefs are not barred from making and selling their reproductions. In most instances, recipes are not eligible for copyright protection.

Are cronuts still a thing? ›

That's “Before Cronuts” – Dominique Ansel's now-iconic pastry that became an immediate viral sensation when it was officially introduced on May 10, 2013 and that remains just as popular a decade later.

What is a posh word for donut? ›

▲ Circular pastry confection with a hole. bun. cruller. scone.

What do Italians call croissants? ›

A cornetto (Italian: [korˈnetto]; meaning 'little horn') is historically the Italian name of a product similar to the Austrian kipferl, though today it is an interchangeable name for the French croissant.

What do the French call a croissant? ›

A Viennese bakery in Paris

This bakery inspired imitators and the French version of the kipferl was named after the shape given to it: a crescent – the French word being croissant.

How long does it take for croissants to proof? ›

It will take at least three hours before they are ready for the oven. If you have a proofing cabinet you can use this to proof the croissants at around 24ºC to 26.5ºC, or you can use your slightly warmed oven (check the temperature with a thermometer) to use as a make shift proofing cabinet.

Are you allowed to sell Cronuts? ›

Trademark for the Cronut bars other chefs from naming their rendition anything that sounds too similar to the original. Nevertheless, these chefs are not barred from making and selling their reproductions. In most instances, recipes are not eligible for copyright protection.

How long does it take to ferment donut dough? ›

The dough should be fermented until is it between two and three times its original bulk. The exact time may be between 1 to 1½ hours, depending on the shop routine and shop conditions.

How long do just roll croissants take? ›

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 200°C until the croissants are golden brown. The baking time may vary depending on the oven used.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Greg O'Connell

Last Updated:

Views: 6333

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (42 voted)

Reviews: 89% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Greg O'Connell

Birthday: 1992-01-10

Address: Suite 517 2436 Jefferey Pass, Shanitaside, UT 27519

Phone: +2614651609714

Job: Education Developer

Hobby: Cooking, Gambling, Pottery, Shooting, Baseball, Singing, Snowboarding

Introduction: My name is Greg O'Connell, I am a delightful, colorful, talented, kind, lively, modern, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.