Cronuts conquer Chicago

BLOOMINGDALE – The latest pastry craze, known as the cronut, is a hybrid between a donut and a croissant.

Croissantlike dough is fried to perfection, rolled in sugar, filled with cream and topped with a glaze or frosting. This creation first was engineered by Chef Dominique Ansel of Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York in May, according to the bakery’s website.

But Chicago residents don’t have to go to New York to get on the cronut bandwagon.

Chicago Pastry in Bloomingdale, known for its cannolis, was the first bakery in the Chicago area to bring the fad to the Midwest. The bakery’s owners have nicknamed their cronut-inspired pastries “dossants.”

Chicago Pastry serves three original flavors: The Raspberry, with raspberry filling topped with pink frosting, cannoli and their most popular, French cream, stuffed with French cream and topped with orange frosting.

Three new flavors hit shelves June 17: Chicago banana is filled with banana cream and sprinkled with nuts, Wannabe Eclair is stuffed with cream and topped with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, and The Luau is filled with pineapple chunks and French cream and sprinkled with shaved coconut.

The bakery hopes to introduce a trio of new flavors each week.

“People are really curious at first,” said Jenna Turano, manager at Chicago Pastry. “We have an ‘Introducing Dossants’ sign, and samples are offered every day.”

Carmen Turano brought his brothers, Mariano, Attillio and Eugenio, to America from Italy after World War II. In 1981, the family founded Turano Bakery. Owners Remo and Egidio adopted the names Chicago Pastry and Casa die Dolci, meaning the house of sweets, in 2008.

The bakery also offers cookies, cakes and other pastries. The cookie menu includes traditional Italian cookies like mezzaluna cookies, egg taralli, lemon knots and chocolate amaretti cookies. The cake menu features a unique canoli cake and traditional Italian crostata cake that comes in different flavors.

“The recipes have stayed the same,” Turano said. “Just the name has changed.”

Customers seeking Chicago Pastry’s dossants can visit the shop or buy an order online or by phone for pickup.

“Come on in and try them,” Turano said. “They are just as good if not better than New York’s cronuts.”