You won’t believe how simple it is to make Cronuts from the comfort of your home. Thanks to a store-bought shortcut, you can have these flaky, tender, and sweet croissant-donut pastries in 35 minutes or less!
There’s nothing like a fresh cronut paired with a cup of hot chocolate or a pumpkin spice steamer.
What Is A Cronut?
These pastries are a viral sensation hybrid of a croissant and donut that was invented by a New York City pastry chef, Dominique Ansel. He created it while working in a bakery in France and the treat was later brought to NYC and sold in his bakeries there.
Cronuts are made with croissant-like dough and resembles a donut. Ansel’s original Cronuts are injected with flavored cream, rolled in sugar, and then glazed.
Ingredients
- Puff Pastry Dough: Forms the flaky, light base of the cronuts.
- Flour: Prevents sticking during dough preparation.
- Vegetable/Canola Oil: Used for deep frying, crucial for texture.
- Eggs: Create an egg wash for a crispy exterior.
- Sugar and Cinnamon: Combined for a sweet and spiced coating.
How To Make Cronuts
- Thaw and Prepare Dough: Lay puff pastry on floured surface, brush with egg wash, fold, and freeze.
- Heat Oil: Heat to 350°F for frying. We love this Deep Fryer!
- Cut Dough: Use cutters to shape cronuts and holes. Here is the biscuit cutters we use.
- Fry: Fry until golden, about 5 minutes.
- Coat: Roll hot cronuts in cinnamon sugar mix.
Quick Tip
Puff pastry dough is often in the frozen aisle of grocery stores, near frozen desserts and pies. Use a store locator app if needed. Always follow package instructions for thawing before use.
Tips For Success
- Number One tip: Use a candy thermometer for precise oil temperature.
- Fry only 3-4 cronuts at a time to avoid temperature drop.
- Roll the fried cronuts in the cinnamon-sugar mixture immediately after draining off excess oil; otherwise, the sugar won’t stick.
Storage
Storing Cronuts
- Store in an airtight container.
- Keep at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- Refrigerate up to 5 days for longer storage.
- Reheat in oven or microwave before serving.
More Dessert Recipes To Love
- Churros
- Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
- Apple Fritter Bread
- Miniature Cinnamon Roll Cheesecakes
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Cronuts
You won't believe how simple it is to make a Cronut from the comfort of your home. Thanks to a store-bought shortcut you can have these flaky, tender, and sweet croissant-donut pastries in 30 minutes or less!
Ingredients
Cronuts
- 1 package (17.3 oz.) puff pastry dough See Note 1
- Flour for work surface
- 1 gallon (3.78L) vegetable or canola oil See Note 2
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup white, granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter very soft
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- PUFF PASTRY DOUGH: Follow package directions to thaw the dough. If using the Pepperidge Farms dough, there should be 2 sheets per package. Lightly flour a flat working surface. Unfold the two sheets of dough (do not roll it out or press it down) and place them on a lightly floured surface.
- OIL: Pour oil into a deep fryer or heavy-bottomed deep pot (See Note 2). Use a candy thermometer to gauge heat or set the deep fryer to 350 degrees (it should beep or alert you with a light when it has reached temperature). It's very important to monitor the heat constantly -- too hot and the cronuts will be burned on the outside and raw/doughy inside and too cool they will end up overly chewy.
- PREPARE AND CHILL DOUGH: Crack both eggs into a small bowl. Briskly whisk the eggs with a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush both of the puff pastry dough sheets with the egg wash (just one side). Then fold up each sheet of dough in thirds (like a letter and how you removed it from the packaging). Place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- CUT OUT DONUTS: Using donut or pastry cutters, cut out large cronuts. We use a 2-1/2 cutter to get 3 cronuts per sheet of puff pastry. Use a 1-1/2-inch cutter to cut out the center of each cronut. Repeat with the other sheet of puff pastry dough for a total of 6 cronuts and 6 donut holes. You can also save scraps of the dough and fry that up to avoid wasting the dough.
- FRY: Place the doughnuts in the hot oil and fry for 5 minutes, flipping every 1 and 1/2 minutes with a fork, until each side has puffed up and is a nice golden brown, for a total of 5 minutes (make sure to monitor the heat and ensure it is constantly at 350 degrees F). Use a slotted spoon to remove the donuts from the oil and place on a plate lined with a few paper towels. Repeat until all the donut and donut holes have been fried.
- CINNAMON SUGAR: Meanwhile, with a spoon, stir together the white sugar and cinnamon until combined. Using tongs or two forks (the donuts are hot straight out of the fryer), transfer the hot donuts from the paper towel-lined plate into this bowl. Gently spoon cinnamon sugar over the donuts and rotate with a fork until generously coated. Enjoy now or add a glaze (see next step).
- GLAZE (OPTIONAL): Whisk together the glaze ingredients. If glaze is too thick, add more maple syrup (or milk) 1 teaspoon at a time. Microwave the glaze for 5-10 seconds or until thin enough for dipping. Gently dip the donuts into the glaze or drizzle over the donuts (sometimes the cinnamon sugar keeps the glaze from adhering as nicely). Let set for a minute and then enjoy! Cronuts are best enjoyed hot and fresh out of the fryer after being coated in sugar and/or glazed!
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: We love Pepperidge Farm's® puff pastry dough. Typically you can locate it in the frozen aisle of the grocery store. Check the dessert section first -- usually next to frozen baked goods and pies. Be sure to read the directions on the package for properly thawing the dough before using in this recipe. Puff pastry dough is spendy, but a package costs about what 1-2 store-bought cronuts will cost you at a bakery!
Note 2: The quantity of oil as stated in the recipe is how much oil we use to fill up our deep fryer. If using a pan, you can easily get away with less (1-2 quarts). The amount of oil you'll need depends on how big/wide/tall your pot is. You want the oil to fill about 1/3 of the pot. The original cronut recipe is fried in grapeseed oil, but we use vegetable or canola.
Note: Nutritional information does not include the oil used for frying.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 198kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 22mg | Potassium: 31mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 108IU | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was a really good recipe. The cronuts came out nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. My daughter and I made this on Christmas Eve, every year we make something sweet together for bonding. I did both cinnamon sugar and glaze and they were both really good. I enjoyed the cronut holes a little more than the round ones. In the future I may just do all cronut holes and drizzle with nutella. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I love this! What a sweet tradition! So happy these were a hit! Thanks Carlissa! 🙂
How would you change this method using refrigerated puff pastry like Jus Rol or Wewalka? Should I buy two sheets and put them together?
I made these tonight with friends and they are fantastic. We used an enamel cast iron Dutch oven
Delish! So glad you enjoyed! 🙂
I’m using this recipe tonight at the restaurant I work at. I don’t have a fryer at home so I haven’t tried it yet. I’ll let you know how it went.
Can’t wait to hear how it turns out 🙂
These are so good and easy! I can see how not having a fryer would make someone not want to try them. It was super easy at the restaurant cause they had the fryers ready. All the staff loved them. One waitress said she could eat 5 of them. Thanks for the recipe. I love the Pepperridge Farms Pastry sheets so I’m going to try another one of your recipes that uses them.
Yay! I am thrilled to hear this! Thanks Leticia! 🙂