NYC's Newest Food Craze: Cronuts (Half Croissant, Half Doughnut) from Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo

Image from Dominique Ansel Bakery

Early this morning, a long line of customers waited outside the Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo hoping to buy the newest pastry sensation in the city, the "cronut." A croissant-and-doughnut hybrid, the vanilla cream-filled, rose glazed, fried cronut is the brainchild of pastry chef Dominique Ansel, one of the “Top 10 Pastry Chefs in the United States” according to Dessert Professional Magazine. The $5 Cronuts, which are limited to six per person, have become a sensation to the point where they are now being scalped on the internet for a high price. The bakery has reportedly trademarked "Cronut'' with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and internationally. The Dominique Ansel Bakery is located at 189 Spring Street between Thompson and Sullivan Streets.  The bakery has been awarded Time Out New York’s “Best New Bakery of 2012” and Metromix’s “Best Bakery of 2012”, all within four months of opening its doors. It is also Zagat 2013’s highest ranked bakery with 27 points awarded for food, and has made SeriousEat’s list of Top 5 destination bakeries.

Pip's Place - the Gluten-Free Cakery on the Upper East Side

Pip's Place Cakery, the new gluten-free bakeshop on the Upper Eastside has opened last month. The shop is owned by Denise Cumming who became a gluten-free baker to satisfy a daughter with celiac disease, an autoimmune digestive disorder  triggered by the consumption of the gluten which is found in foods containing wheat, barley or rye. Ms. Cumming named her bakery Pip’s Place after her daughter, who is nicknamed Pippi. The Upper East Side shop has few seats and an open kitchen, where Ms. Cumming bakes cakes, muffins, cookies and squares. Instead of wheat flour, she uses white and brown rice flour and teff, a type of grain, as well as potato and corn starches. The blueberry muffin that I tried was delicious. Pip’s Place is located on First Avenue (westside between 89th and 90th Streets). Shipping is available and baked goods are shipped frozen. Contact information: Telephone (212) 380-6400, pipsplacenyc.com.