Cronut #1: Croughnuts by Dolcelatte

As soon as the cronut craze hit Manila, I got so curious to find out what the hype in New York was all about that I began listing all the places that offer their own version of this popular pastry, and it eventually led to my post on where you can buy cronuts here in the Metro which now has over 10 places listed (I think I’ve updated that post 4 times this week). I planned on how we’ll finally try most of them (we’re skipping a few) and concluded that the easiest local cronuts one can get hold of are Dolcelatte‘s.

Dolcelatte Raspberry Creamcheese croughnut

So, over 2 weeks ago, I texted Dolcelatte. It was a Wednesday night and no one was answering their hotline. I think I was calling past 7pm. 😀 My friends Badeth and Joanne (my new food trip buddies!) wanted to have a taste too, so I listed all the flavors we all wanted and sent our orders through text. Early morning of Thursday, they called me up to confirm my orders and the time of the pickup – 5pm, Saturday, at their South Triangle branch along Quezon Avenue.

It was hassle-free. No need to wait in line for hours just to be disappointed when the store or restaurant runs out of stock. No need to prepay either. The thing is, if you’re pre-ordering, you have to order a box of 6 of Dolcelatte’s version of cronuts – they call them croughnuts. They do have stock they reserve for walk-in customers at Php 110 each. Pricey, I know. We suggest you split a box with a couple of your friends since you can all pick your own flavors anyway. 😉

Fast forward to Saturday, we hurriedly left our prior meetup to head on over to Dolcelatte. We thought people would be lined up, ready to take our croughnut orders if we’re not there on time. Silly me. 😀

Dolcelatte Cafe Gourmet Bakeshop

We arrived exactly at 5pm and there was no line. When I inquired about our orders, someone had me check my name on a list and I thought the lady who took my orders forgot to note mine. I quickly found out the list was for the 12 noon orders. There were like 4 people on that list, so it probably means you really don’t have to be there exactly on time for your orders. Well, just to be safe, be there on time. 😀 Plus, they make their croughnuts by batches.

Dolcelatte Cafe at Quezon Avenue in Quezon City

How to order Dolcelatte’s Croughnuts:

  1. Call their croughnut hotline – 332-3407 – or text them – 0906-552-6297.
  2. Take note of the flavors you want (see below) and tell them. Be prepared with your list to avoid any hassle.
  3. Tell them the day and time you’re picking them up. You can pre-order at least a day ahead, or you can call them days in advance.
    Schedule for pickups: Monday to Saturday, 12 noon AND 5pm.
    Walk-ins: Monday to Saturday, 3pm only.
    No croughnuts on Sundays, but you can ask.
  4. Be there on the day and time you said you’ll be there. 🙂

Dolcelatte offers the widest range of cronut flavors among all the stores on our list. I had a hard time picking which one I’d order, but I ended up with the non-chocolate flavors. I was supposed to get 9, splitting one box with Joanne, but Badeth decided to buy my 2 cronuts. So, I only took home 6. 🙁 Man, they were gone in less than 24 hours! 😀 But, hey! It was all for this blog post (yeah, right). 😛

Here are their croughnut flavors and we’ll tell you what we think about those that we got to taste in a bit:

  • Dolcelatte Cafe and Gourmet BakeshopCustard Creamcheese
  • Almond Caramel
  • Valrhona Crunch
  • Blueberry Creamcheese
  • Nutty Nutella
  • Peanut Butter Crisp
  • Chocolate Caramel
  • Chocolate Macaroon
  • Lemon Meringue
  • Raspberry Creamcheese
  • Apple Cinnamon

First off, I’d like to say I love the box they use for their croughnuts. So posh, so befitting of their restaurant’s ambiance. 🙂

Dolcelatte's box of croughnuts - so posh!

By the way, they were so nice to even give us a glass of cold water while we wait and offered their menu. We were planning on going somewhere else for dinner, so we had to skip and just waited for our croughnuts.

Dolcelatte’s croughnuts were of a darker brown compared to the original cronuts, but their presentation was simply mouth-watering. Dolcelatte claims that their cronut recipe requires less oil when frying. And from what we’ve seen and tasted, their croughnuts didn’t feel greasy at all.

Dolcelatte offers croughnuts in various flavors

Following the instructions on Chef Dominique Ansel’s website (who ‘created’ the cronut), we used a serrated knife (bread knife) to carefully slice into the croughnut. Just check out the photos below. 😉

Now let’s go through the flavors we tried, starting with my favorite: the Raspberry Creamcheese. It had this nice tartness to it, and I love the tangy raspberry bits. The raspberry cream cheese filling was so yummy – not too sweet. Actually, none of the flavors we had were overwhelmingly sweet.

Inspecting Dolcelatte's Raspberry Creamcheese croughnut

Ken’s favorite was the Almond Caramel, with drizzles of caramel and generous slivers of almonds on top.

Dolcelatte Almond Caramel croughnut

He also loved the Peanut Butter Crisp, with Dolcelatte’s signature peanut butter filling, topped with white chocolate and peanut butter sauce and orange crispies (Butterfinger).

Dolcelatte Peanut Butter Crisp croughnut

My next favorite was the Lemon Meringue. I love, love, love its citrusy filling that complemented the sweet meringue on top. Yum!!!

Dolcelatte Lemon Meringue croughnut

I expected the Custard Cream croughnut to be the sweetest out of the 6, but it wasn’t. The filling was rich, sweet and was delightfully creamy!

The Apple Cinnamon was also yummy, though it was a little sweet for me. I should’ve picked the Blueberry Creamcheese since my friend Badeth loved it.

Dolcelatte Apple Cinnamon Croughnut

When I checked Dominique Ansel’s website, they said cronuts are best eaten fresh and shouldn’t be heated in the oven. Well, we kept Dolcelatte’s in the fridge (Sure, they’re not the original cronut, but it just applies to all). I ate one without heating and my last one, I quickly warmed in the microwave. The cold and the heat didn’t really make a lot of difference with its texture. There’s still that flaky goodness, and softness inside.

There’s no doubt we enjoyed Dolcelatte’s croughnuts so much and I can’t wait to taste the other flavors that we didn’t get to try, especially the Valrhona Crunch, which runs out like crazy, and the Blueberry Creamcheese.

That answers the question if we’d come back for Dolcelatte’s croughnuts. We’re still looking into trying the other local cronut versions, but we’ll definitely return for another croughnut fix from Dolcelatte.

Dolcelatte croughnuts multitude of flavors

And if you’re already addicted, don’t miss Dolcelatte’s Croughnuts Reward Card. For every box of 6, you get one stamp. The perks they’re offering are discounts and gourmet treats. I wish they were more specific. Maybe a free box of croughnuts would be more enticing. 😉

Dolcelatte's Croughnuts Rewards Card

Have you had a taste of Dolcelatte’s croughnuts yet? Let us know what you think! 🙂

 

DOLCELATTE

Published by

Michelle Ignacio

Michelle (aka Mhel / blankPixels) is a social media nerd and works as a Digital Marketing Lead for one of the top online companies in the Philippines. On her free time, she travels, goes on food trip and loves to take photos. She's the main editor of this food blog.

9 thoughts on “Cronut #1: Croughnuts by Dolcelatte”

  1. I love your blog! I have been trying to find the best tasting cronut version locally here in Manila… so far the ones I have tasted in the Malls fall short! Based on your pictures, Dolcelatte’s version looks almost like the NY version. Thanks again!

      1. GMA News just aired a feature not too long ago on fusion foods. Now we have brookies, crotaps and even ramen burgers… Lots of food for you to try. More food… more temptations… Hahaha!

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