Is the viral cookie-croissant hybrid ‘Crookie’ the next big food trend?

It appears that croissants are the Uniqlo T-shirt of the dessert world – people just keep creating different looks with it. Like Cruffin, a croissant baked in a muffin mould that was first popularised by famed Melburnian bakery Lune Croissanterie.

Then came the croissant-doughnut hybrid Cronut created by celeb pastry chef Dominique Ansel, which was so hyped that he immediately trademarked its name.

In 2022, Singaporeans went wild for Croons, circular croissants that resemble a flaky disc that were introduced by New York City bakery Lafayette Grand Cafe & Bakery and first offered here by homegrown bakery Swish Rolls.

If you are thinking, what else can I do with a croissant? Well, it has officially entered its cookie era. Say hi to Crookie, the now-viral lovechild of a croissant and chocolate chip cookie. This is a classic croissant that has never heard of the word ‘diet’, cut in half and stuffed with raw cookie dough, baked, topped with more dough and sent back to the oven to glow up into a Crookie.

Don’t confuse it for the smashed croissant, another burgeoning micro-trend here which has laminated dough pressed down before baking so that it comes out flat like a palmier instead of puffy (you can try this at cafes like Keong Saik Bakery and La Levain).

VIRAL IN PARIS

The Crookie is now rapidly making its rounds on TikTok, and was reportedly born in a small Parisian bakery called Boulangerie Louvard, which combined its two flagship bakes into one to fabulous results.

Even viral Swiss-French chocolatier Amaury Guichon came up with his own Crookie, combining it with the circular croissant trend. Talk about a crossover episode.

LOCAL CROOKIES

Local patisseries are starting to hop onto the Crookie craze too, and you can now get it from La Levain, The French American Bakery, Swish Rolls, Nasty Cookie and Sweedy Patisserie.

“It’s got the comforting crunch and gooey centre, seamlessly woven with the delicate crispiness and buttery richness of a traditional croissant,” explained La Levain’s chef-owner Wythe Ng, 36, who launched a Chocolate Chip Crookie Croissant (S$6.80) at his Hamilton Road cafe.

MATCHA CROOKIE

While the Crookie originally comes with choc chip cookies, which melt to a delicious chocolatey goo after baking, Swish Rolls is offering a unique tea-based Matcha Pistachio Crookie (S$3.50) instead.

The halved croissant, about the size of a palm, is loaded with uji matcha-and-pistachio cookie dough and a wedge of chewy mochi before a stint in the oven. After that, it is covered with more scoops of the same cookie dough, baked again, and sprinkled with chopped roasted pistachios, matcha powder and a dash of pistachio sauce.

Swish Rolls head chef Jamie Lee, 30, shared: “We wanted something that’s not too sweet and milky to give a better contrast to the buttery croissant. The earthiness of the uji matcha complements the nuttiness of pistachio very well.”

The croissant was also deliberately served in a petite size, as she pointed out: “We want to avoid the overwhelming rich feeling of this super indulgent dessert so it’s not too jelak (sick of eating a rich-tasting food)."

QUEUES FOR CROOKIES

Popular Muslim-owned The French American Bakery has already seen long queues at its Haji Lane shop for its Le Crookie. The neat little croissants are blanketed with cookie dough studded with large chocolate chips. It’s not hard to see why people are rushing for these pastries – why decide between a pastry or a cookie when you can have both?

This story was originally published in 8Days.