Cronut Craze: NYC’s Hottest Food Invented in Worcester?

Saturday, June 29, 2013

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Is Central MA the originator of the wildly popular "cronut" with chef Alina Eisenhauer's creation, the "dosant"?

In case you haven't heard, New York City has been buzzing about the latest dessert craze to hit the streets -- cronuts.

The croissant-donut hybrid has been wildly popular, with throngs of New Yorkers flocking to to SoHo baker Dominique Ansel’s eatery for the flaky fried concoction.

However, what many New Yorkers might not know -- but many Worcesterites already do -- is that Chef Alina Eisenhauer of Sweet has been making them for years as "dosants," stemming from a fateful night when she decided to toss leftover croissant dough into a deep fryer.

With Ansel currently embroiled in controversy trying to trademark the cronut creationn, GoLocal talked with Eisenhauer about how she came up with the idea, what she thinks of the NYC phenomenon, and how it's not even the favorite thing she makes.

Dosants: A Way to Solve a Problem

"They way I came up with them was a way to solve a problem. When I was with Sturbridge Baking Company, we made croissants, sticky buns from the same dough," Eisenhauer told GoLocal. "We would have leftover pieces of croissant dough, which you can't reuse, you lose the layers."

Then came the fateful evening. "It was around 2 AM one night, you know, when you get your best ideas. I think I was with an intern," continued Eisenhauer. "We thought we should try throwing [the croissant dough] in the deep-fryer."

"So we did, it was awesome. Then we stuffed it with dark chocolate, and well, that worked too."

Eisenhauer offered them at the Sturbridge Baking Company, which she sold in 2008 -- but the late-night invention began to pick up steam. "We started doing a dessert thing at night. It wasn't as big there as it was here [at Sweet], but what we created got a bit of a cult following there. When I opened Sweet in 2008, and I put them on the menu naturally. We call them dosants (a play on donut and croissant)...and they're pretty popular."

Following the NYC Craze

Was Worcester a step ahead of Soho in the recent culinary craze category? Image: Andreas Praefcke

With all of the attention being focused currently on cronuts in NYC, Eisenhauer is relatively unfazed. "I thought it was funny when the cronut craze blew up down there."

While Eisenhauer realizes she's probably been making them longer in Central Massachusetts, she's not quick to claim credit for the invention -- if at all. "When I created it, I'd never seen anyone fry croissant dough, but I was quite sure someone had done it somewhere. I figured there was a pastry chef in France that probably did it."

"So I think it's sort of silly what [Dominique Ansel's] doing, trying to trademark an item," said Eisenhauer "It's kind of ticked off pastry chefs. Everyone gets ideas from each other, we riff off of each other. It's not like he's invented the wheel."

"I think it's funny that he's already filed for the trademark. I'm not sure why he would, unless he's trying to mass market them. And that wouldn't work, they're labor intensive, and need to be fresh. So again, I'm just not sure the reason for doing it."

Eisenhauer pointed out that while dosants have been getting a lot of attention -- "it's one of the favorite things I make," she told GoLocal -- there are a lot of other culinary weapons in her aresenal. "For me, it really changes with the season. Right now, we've got a cracker jack sundae, with salted butter popcorn infused ice cream, Jack Daniel's caramel, and peanuts. It's a big seller.

"With strawberry season, I'll be doing a lot there," said Eisenhauer, pointed out that Sweet sources almost everything from near by. "Everything we use is locally sourced....local cream, local eggs."

Cronut craze reaching fever pitch in NYC -- and in courts?

Avery Stone, a former GoLocal intern who is currently interning at Self Magazine in New York City, says the current cronut fever in Big Apple is at a "fevered pitch."

"When I got to the bakery at 6 AM in the morning, people were lined up around the block for it to open," said Stone. "They apparently only make 250 a day, and there's a max of 2 per buyer. And they do one flavor a month -- last month it was lemon maple."

On Friday, Dominique Ansel Bakery took to its Facebook page to defend its decision to trademark the sugary sweet. "Chef has never claimed he invented all fried-laminated dough recipes nor stated he was the first to ever fry laminated dough The term Cronut™ is a name associated with a specific product offered at the bakery and undeniably linked to the Chef’s reputation as well as the bakery’s name."

"Our desire to protect the name is not an attempt to claim or take credit for all cooking methods associated with the recipe or all croissant and doughnut products in general. Instead, it offers the bakery and Chef protection against un-granted affiliations with the bakery or confusion from customers."