Where to Find Cronuts in Orange County
What is a Cronut?
Cronut –a hybrid of a croissant and a doughnut that takes laminated croissant dough that is laid out and stamped and deep fried just like a doughnut, resulting in a crispy, flakey pastry that eats like a doughnut. They are easy to love and even easier to make you hate yourself after eating three of them. The term Cronut and recipe are actually trademarked by the owner, Dominique Ansel, owner of the Ansel Bakery. Chef Ansel spent three months perfecting his recipe. After cronuts become a household name, variations of the croisant/doughnut hybrid spread across the globe using the name cronut or variations.
Cronut and the Human Condition
The public’s carnal desire to experience something of scarce is an innate part of the human condition.A little over a 6 months ago I was watching a CNN news segment about a small bakery in New York, called Ansel Bakery, serving a hybrid of a croissant and a doughnut. I was intrigued. The camera panned out to show a line over a 1000+ people, waiting for the chance to experience a cronut of their own.

Lines during the early times of the cronut craze at Ansels bakery. Image compliments of www.dominiqueansel.com.
There were reports of fights in line, hiring of homeless people to hold their place At the time Ansel Bakery only made 200 cronuts a day, the act of eating a cronut became the initiation right to a exclusive club. Essentially, the Cronut 1% ers who were eating their cronuts in front of people still in line, were telling everyone else that they are part of an unique cultural experience, and you are not! After the New York cronut craze made it to National television, the trend spread west to Los Angeles and now Orange County. I can proudly say that as of this morning my cronut cherry was popped and I am part of the CroNut 1%. This trend is already dying because every other Mom and Pop will be making it by Thanksgiving. My new found status is not that special, I am more like the Cronut 10% at this point.

As you can see I was very excited to loose my cronut virginity
If you are in Orange County, there are places where you can find the Cronut and I will be honest it is not too hard to find them. A simple search of Yelp turned up over 20 locations! With that said, not all imitation cronuts are created equally. Based on a recommendation from Anne Marie of the OC Weekly, I visited Janny’s Doughnuts in Irvine. See my pictures below.

Janny’s is considered by some to make one of the better cronuts in Orange County
The Plain Cronut

Janny’s plain cronut. What is lacking in the plain is not rolling it in sugar or a glaze. Great for the purist.

The cronut has flaky layers and crisp exterior
Cinnamon Apple Cronut

This cronut tastes like an apple pie with the sweet filling, cinnamon and flaky crust
Creme Cronut

The creme cronut is very sweet and I liked the contrasting flavors of creme and crunchy
Maple Bacon Cronut

Sweet, Salty and savory – Watch out OC Fair!

A little foodporn
I pulled up this list of shops making cronuts based on doing a “Cronut” search on Yelp and searching through references to “Cronut” in yelper reviews. I did not include shops which had bad review of their cronuts.
- DK’s Donuts – 3744 E Chapman Ave, Orange, CA 92869 And 1082 Irvine Blvd Tustin, CA 92780
- Kelly’s Donuts & Burgers – 9475 Heil Ave Fountain Valley, CA 92708
- Pandor Artisan Boulangerie & Café – 1126 Irvine Ave Newport Beach, CA 92660
- The Donuttery – 17420 Beach Blvd ,Huntington Beach, CA 92647
- Crust Bakery – 28251 Marguerite Pkwy Mission Viejo, CA 92692
- Au Coeur De Paris – Au Coeur De Paris 9441 Edinger Ave Westminster, CA 92683
- Knotts Farm Bakery – 8039 Beach Blvd, Buena Park, CA 90620
- Cafe 109 – 109 N Harbor, Fullerton, CA 92832
- Dough Boy’s – 4535 W Coast Hwy, Newport Beach, CA 92663
- Paris Baguette 8899 Garden Grove Blvd Garden Grove, CA 92844 and 4800 Irvine Blvd Irvine, CA 92620
- Friendly Donuts 4442 E Chapman Ave Orange, CA 92869
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Wow… this reminded me of the frenzy surrounding the ‘hot now’ sign at Crispy Creme Donuts several years ago! There were lines surrounding the building to get them! We even bought stock in the company, and made a great return. We sold it just in time
I remember the buzz around Krispy Kreme, like any fad that one fell hard
I have never heard of a cronut before! I like the maple bacon one…thinking I can justify it with the protein in the bacon!
Jim, if you havnt seen it yet, just wait until it hits your neighborhood. It will make it to the news.
Can you ship me the Apple Cinnamon Cronut please? It’s probably a good think we don’t have these hear, but I would sure like to try one. Your pics are very inviting!
They are very tastey Stephanie! They will make it your way soon
That is hilarious. Hiring the homeless to stand in line. I know when Krispy Kreme came to our location, this kind of thing happened too. I think the apple cinammon cronut sounds fabulous.
The same thing happens when apple releases a new iPhone, but cronuts….I laughed as well
Wow! What a phenomenon! Can’t say I’m craving this, maybe it’s my healthy vegan lifestyle, but looks like you enjoyed it!
Yes this one would definitely not make it on a healthy vegan lifestyle. But you guys have plenty of great options, my friends at SeaBirds, a vegan restaurant, did a great job with a salted caramel brownie a la mode.
So this is the latest… looks like it’s a hit. If I wasn’t gluten free… bet they come out with a gluten free variety very soon!!
There just might be a gluten free version comming soon. The gourmet doughnut shops in my area are starting to do vegan and gluten free doughnuts
Dolce Bistro in Upland makes a GF “cronut” I think
I think that same TV spot about these things a while back! Oh my goodness, not sure I could handle the sugar rush! Hopefully people eat these in moderation!
The sugar rush was intense I admit. The coffee didnt help matter out much.
I’m so craving the Apple Cinnamon one. They look amazing and this would be such a hit here.
I love the picture of you ready to lose your cronut virginity!! I want it framed! I liked the creme one you brought home from me..Honestly out of your listing above it looked like it would be my favorite!
Wow I had never ever had one of those!.. looks so delicious and so much variety.. I would go nutz! Lol
A hybrid of the two looks so good.
Who would think about that
I just had breakfast… but I want one anyway! This is going on my to do list when I go to OC. Thanks for the reviews.
We heard allot of buzz on here in NY about this, but i have yet to get my hands on one!