Nuts about Cronuts in Singapore
Singapore just got their first few batches of ‘cronuts’ and they are proving so popular their retailers have to count their cronuts before they are baked.
Part croissant, part donut, this hybrid buttery, sugary phenomenon has taken New York City by storm, drawing snaking lines outside its birthplace, The Dominique Ansel bakery. Queues begin forming at 6.30am daily, an hour and a half before the store opens. The cronuts sell out within minutes, and each customer is allowed to buy a maximum of two.
The cronut craze came to Singapore at the end of June 2013 with local bakeries making their own versions of this famed flaky pastry. However, to stay within licensing laws, Singapore’s versions of the cronuts go by other names: Da Paolo calls their’s ‘crodos’, while Patisserie G calls theirs ‘Gnuts’.
Da Paolo’s cronuts come in two variations — one type filled with créme patisserie and another type glazed with bittersweet chocolate (available at Da Paolo Gastronomia outlets island wide, $4.90 each).
Patisserie G at Millenia Walk began selling the ‘Gnut’ on 15 July. Their croissant-donuts come filled with salted caramel, lemon or chocolate and are sold at $5 a piece.
Cronut-inspired confections are also available at the Sugarloaf Cafe at Temasek Polytechnic’s Culinary Academy, but only on Thursdays and Fridays between 10.30am-2.30pm. The demand for these is so high that each customer is allowed only a maximum of three pieces.
Fuelled by the cronut craze, creator Ansel has already worked on a new dessert — the frozen s’more. This is custard-like whipped vanilla ice-cream, held together by chocolate feuilletin, covered in marshmallow and skewered on smoked applewood sticks. Ansel’s latest dessert is said to be inspired by a trip to Istanbul, where he tried dondurma, a traditional Turkish ice cream he describes as “chewy.”
On the first day the frozen s’mores went on sale at Ansel’s bakery, they sold out by 2pm.
However, we probably will not see the frozen s’more on our shores soon.
Unlike the cronut, the s’more cannot be packed away and neither does it travel well. The frozen s’more has to be torched on order and has a softened ice-cream centre that needs to be eaten immediately.
There is therefore little chance of even getting friends holidaying in New York to bring back a box of these goodies. We will just have to wait for patisseries in Singapore to get into a frozen s’more frenzy.
