DailyDirt: Beyond The Cronut

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Last year, the Cronut took New York (and then the world) by storm. It was at the forefront of a renewed craze for designer confections and, more specifically, so-called "food mashups". Though we haven't reached Nuts and Gum yet, the craze is far from finished:

• Chicago's "wonut" (and now L.A.'s "wownut") subs croissants with waffles for an entirely new donut hybrid. Good thing recipes can't be copyrighted. [url]
• The original Cronut creator has unveiled his newest creation in New York. It's a shot-glass sized cup made of cookie and filled with milk, which seems a little more gimmicky (and less likely to catch on) than the Cronut. [url]
• This $1,000 sundae puts other deluxe desserts (and, arguably, modern consumer culture) to shame. Like many such desserts, it includes edible gold leaf and some inedible jewelry to help justify the prestige pricing. [url]

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Filed Under: cronut, desserts

DailyDirt: It's National Doughnut Day!

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Today is National Doughnut Day, and to celebrate, many shops -- like Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, and Tim Hortons -- are giving away free doughnuts. A "national doughnut day" just sounds like another holiday made up for businesses to make more money, but it was actually established in 1938 by the Salvation Army to raise money during the Great Depression and to honor the female volunteers who served meals (and doughnuts) to soldiers on the front lines during World War I. Here's some more doughnut-related news.

• If you're a Simpsons fan, you'll want to check out the Lard Lad Donuts at the new Springfield at Universal Orlando Resort. While you're there, you might as well grab a Duff beer at Moe's Tavern too. [url]
• A good ol' plain doughnut just doesn't cut it anymore. Enter the "cronut," a somewhat more sophisticated hybrid croissant-doughnut pastry. The cronut was just introduced at the Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo on May 10, and it has already taken New York City and the pastry world by storm. Apparently, it's not easy to make -- it takes three days from start to finish to make a cronut.[url]
• On the West Coast, Psycho Donuts in the Bay Area makes a unique treat called "The Foie Bomb." It's a doughnut hole filled with foie gras mousse, pierced with a pipetful of balsamic gastrique, fig, and honey, and topped with a salted and fried sage leaf. The store is offering the Foie Bomb for free on National Doughnut Day, which gets around the ban on selling foie gras in California.[url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: cronut, donuts, doughnut, duff beer, foie gras, food, simpsons, springfield