Do you have three days to spend in the kitchen preparing a pastry? Probably not, but if you do, the recipe for the world-famous cronut has been released in the new cookbook, Dominique Ansel: the Secret Recipes. Considering that this croissant-donut hybrid had foodies, trend-followers, and tourists alike camping out overnight in New York to get in line to try one of 300 produced per day at Dominique Ansel Bakery, and was sold on the black market (where it went for over $100!), it might be worth it to carve out some time to attempt to recreate this delicacy in your own kitchen.

I will admit to being one of the crazies who awoke at an ungodly hour to stand in line for the cronut—an experience I do not regret! There was a great camaraderie standing in line at 6 a.m. in Soho, lots of cameramen were there filming the craze, and they gave us free mini Madeleine cookies ~ 7 a.m. I would love to enjoy another cronut in my lifetime, however, after examining the cronut recipe, I get the sense that my baking skills might not quite be up to scratch. I applaud anyone with the courage to take this on. 

Initial thoughts reading the recipe:

- Difficulty: extreme… seems a bit more challenging than my usual go-to dessert recipe (brownies). Doubtful that 7th grade cooking class will have prepared me for this.

- Ingredients: fairly boring—I was expecting something top secret? Really, all you need is a flour, a massive amount of butter, and a few different kinds of sugar. Seriously, grapeseed oil (used to fry the butter block, see below) is as exotic as it gets.

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- Most concerning: contains 26 tablespoons of butter per batch.

- Equipment / supplies: Requires much more than I have in my dorm kitchen (1 pot, 1 pan).

- Strangest direction: "Make butter block" ... what is this? What does it look like? Would be helpful if photos were attached to each step.

- Most interesting: "Leftover flavored sugar can keep in a closed airtight container for weeks and can be used to macerate fruit or sweeten drinks" ... this actually sounds pretty good. Still not convinced, however.

- Who has the mental capacity to read the entire recipe (2,288 words / 12,766 characters), much less actually make it? I'm not sure anyone besides Dominique Ansel.