Cheat’s Cronuts
A cross between a croissant and a doughnut, a cronut is a buttery, layered, yeasted dough that’s very time-consuming to make! We’ve made our cheat’s version with shop-bought puff pastry, for a spectacular yet easy treat.
Hands-on time 15min, plus resting and freezing. Cooking time about 20min. Makes 6
2 x 320g sheets butter puff pastry 1 egg, beaten
125g caster sugar
2tsp ground cinnamon
Plain flour, to dust Vegetable oil, to deep-fry FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE 100g milk chocolate, we used Tony’s Chocolonely 42% cocoa, chopped 100ml double cream
1 Remove pastry from the fridge and leave to rest at room temperature for 10min (this will stop it cracking when unrolling). Unroll pastry sheets and lightly brush 1 sheet (still on its paper) with beaten egg.
2 On a large plate, mix the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle 1tbsp cinnamon sugar over the egg-brushed pastry sheet, then lay the second sheet on top. Brush the top with more egg and sprinkle over 1tbsp cinnamon sugar. Fold the stacked pastry sheets in ½, short edge to short edge, and press gently with a rolling pin to stick.
3 Using a lightly floured large round cutter, stamp out 6 discs of pastry (as big as your pastry will allow). Next use a floured 2-3cm round cutter (or piping nozzle) to remove a small circle from the centre of each disc. Discard trimmings (or deep-fry with the cronuts for extra mis-shaped treats). Transfer pastry rings to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and freeze for 10min to firm up.
4 Meanwhile, fill a large, heavy-based pan with oil so that it’s 5cm deep. Heat oil to 160°C. For the sauce, melt chocolate and cream in a small pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until combined and glossy; set aside somewhere warm.
5 Add 3 cronuts to the hot oil (return the rest to the freezer) and cook for 3-4min per side, until golden and puffed. Lift on to kitchen paper using a slotted spoon, then carefully toss in remaining cinnamon sugar. Repeat with the remaining pastry rings, monitoring the oil temperature as you go. Serve with the chocolate sauce drizzled over, or in small bowls for dipping. PER CRONUT (with 1tbsp chocolate sauce) 475cals, 6g protein, 32g fat (17g saturates), 41g carbs (14g total sugars), 1g fibre