Introducing the ‘Cronut’, the newest snack sensation

THEY queued from before dawn for a taste of the latest baking phenomenon to hit our shores, and for once this had nothing to do with The Great British Bake Off.

Combining the buttery layers of a croissant with the deep-fried crust of a doughnut, the Cronut has already sent Japan and the USA into a tailspin.

Now it is the turn of London to taste the creation from wunderkind pastry chef Dominique Ansel.

With each Cronut costing £4, one may wonder just how popular they could really be, but there is nothing like a new food fad to draw the punters. In fact Ansel had to put a limit of two per head on sales at his newly opened bakery in Belgravia.

Such is the demand for the Cronut in New York, where the dish was first launched four years ago, a black market has sprung up with scalpers selling them for up to $100 (£77) each.

“My style is distinct to any other pastry chef,” he said, modestly explaining the personality cult that has sprung up around his creations.

“A good bakery is not just like a French patisserie, where you see gold chandeliers and everyone wearing white gloves. For me it should be fun.” This may explain why he now plans to launch his own take on the Eton Mess, packed in a lunch box, and something he calls a Welsh rarebit croissant.

Ansel says he has no fear about the reaction his creations are likely to receive in Britain, praising the people queuing outside his new bakery for their “open-minded” instincts.

Born to a working class family in the northern French city of Beauvais, Mr Ansel learnt to cook as an apprentice at a local restaurant.

He went on to the famous Fauchon restaurant in Paris – the only member out of 30 temporary staff kept on at the end of the holiday season – before becoming executive pastry chef at Daniel Boulud’s flagship French restaurant in New York.

In 2011 Ansel opened his first shop, in New York’s Soho, quickly drawing large crowds. For Christmas he is planning to put his own twist on the traditional Christmas pudding and mince pie.