Croissant Doughnuts

When you've already started frying and have leftover oil...

and you used to live in NYC and still regret the fact that you never got to try a cronut...

you make yourself some homemade croissant doughnuts.

I'm going to warn you all right now: this recipe is a process. You're essentially making a hybrid doughnut/croissant dough and croissant dough requires a lot of folding and chilling so the whole thing takes awhile (most of it is inactive time, though, while you let it chill between rolling out and folding). And then there's the whole frying deal. And honestly....after spending all day making these and then eating them I was like "Yum. But not really any more yum than a regular freshly fried doughnut. So....not worth all that time and effort." ...and then I let Michael try them.

I was not expecting a big response from him. He and I both thought he'd be meh about these. WE WERE WRONG. He looooved them. He loved all the flaky fried layers that you can peel apart, he liked the powdered sugar coated on the outside, he was so into them. And when I mentioned that I'd made them once and now didn't need to again his eyes got all big and sad and he said, "...Never?"

*sigh* Well, what am I supposed to say to that? I guess these are not gonna be a one hit wonder after all!

Don't get me wrong-these are not insanely difficult to make. I just thought regular fried doughnuts were just as good so why waste the effort? But they are really fun and cool and definitely worth a try. They're all flaky and buttery and crunchy on the outside while fluffy in the centers. It's a true hybrid. And they're totally customizable-you can frost them or fill them however you prefer, I'm just a powdered sugar fried treats gal. You do you.