It shouldn’t come as a surprise that New York City has been a place of culinary innovation for a long time – from rainbow bagels smeared with a good four inches of tangy cream cheese to long line-ups for a pint of Magnolia Bakery’s creamy banana pudding, New York is a powerhouse of a city when it comes to viral foods that have people coming from all over the world, And its bakeries are certainly no exception to that. From cronuts to croiffles to cragels, the city’s pastry scene seems to always evolve to suit different tastes, textures, and trends.
In this article, we’ll take a look at just some of the different types of viral pastries you can find while strolling along the busy streets of New York – don’t blame us if you end up craving a sweet treat by the end of our journey!
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CRUFFINS: The Croissant Muffin
By combining the flaky layers of a croissant with the texture and shape of a crumbly muffin, a cruffin is the beautiful end result of that process. This pastry first gained recognition and popularity in San Francisco, but as most food trends do, eventually made its way over to NYC – Supermoon Bakehouse (120 Rivington St, New York, NY 10002) is just one of the bakeries in the city that have made the cruffin their in-house superstar. Their flavours change monthly but according to their DoorDash page, the current roster includes the following:
- Lemon Poppyseed Cruffin: “Our signature cruffin filled with our homemade silky and tangy poppyseed curd, garnished with a white chocolate lemon poppy shard.”
- Ferrero Rocher Cruffin: “Our signature & top selling item – a handmade cruffin dual-filled with a silky smooth Hazelnut Praline & Hazelnut Créme Pâtissière and then dipped in a chocolate glaze and topped with chantilly cream and finished with a gold lead.”
Whether you go the fruity route or the chocolate route, you certainly won’t be disappointed. After all, the appeal of the cruffin isn’t just in its delicious taste – it’s also a visually beautiful pastry, a generous swirl of filling poking out of the top. It’s a perfectly Instagrammable pastry, enough to make people swipe up on your story and ask where the heck you bought such a stunning looking treat and how they can get their hands on it, too!
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BRIONUTS: The Brioche Donut
A brionut combines the rich, buttery layers of brioche with the fluffy, deep-fried nature of a donut. While it has the traditionally airy texture of a classic brioche, there’s a golden-brown shell from being deep-fried like a donut. Brionuts can be plain and dusted with sugar and cinnamon, but they can also be filled with rich creams, fruity jams, or even both!
Bear Donut (40 W 31st St, New York, NY 10001) is a donut shop that brings a colorful, creative twist to the classic donut. The menu boasts a variety of options, and you can pick from mochi donuts shaped like flowers, traditional glazed donuts, and perhaps the most exciting option: their cream-filled brionuts. Not only that, there are flavors for every taste palate as Bear Donut caters to savory and sweet lovers! Their flavors include the following:
- Scallion Cream Cheese
- Dirty Choco
- Double Milk Tea
- Matcha
- Tiramisu
- PB&J
- Crème Brûlée
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CUBE CROISSANTS: What The Name Said
While cruffins take on the shape of a muffin, cube croissants take the traditional croissant and smush it into a perfect cube with crisp edges. Because of the cube mold they’re baked in, they come out with a crispier, much more structured shape.
Bibble & Sip (253 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019) is famous for its adorable, cartoonish desserts that are (almost) too cute to eat. Most of the items on their menu are heavily inspired by Asian flavors such as matcha or black sesame, as well as cute animal designs like pandas and alpacas. However, they also offer cube croissants with a range of filling, such as:
- Ube Coconut
- Matcha Cream
- Vanilla Custard
Whether you stick with a traditional vanilla custard or branch out to ube coconut, you’ll definitely be going back for more of the bakery’s decadent, adorable goodies.
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So, why are these pastries so popular?
It’s not hard to see why these pastries are so popular and these bakeries continue to have customers ‘round the corner, everyone buzzing with excitement to get their hands and mouths on a freshly-made pastry. So, when we think about it, why are these pastries so popular?
- The visual appeal of decadent cruffins, colorful brionuts, and sleek cube croissants are meant to be eye-catching in a pastry case, which makes them perfect for social media posting. In a city like New York where having an aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed is so important, popping out with a picture of you with a bright pink flower shaped donut is perfect!
- As seen by the many flavors from the bakeries above, it’s clear that the bakeries in New York are always experimenting with creative flavors in order to cater to every type of taste bud. Customers who prefer traditional flavors are happy, but so are those who like something a little more adventurous like scallion cream cheese!
- Bakeries are constantly switching up their flavors in order to keep things fresh and exciting, and the release of limited-edition flavors or batches made in small doses – in fact, Bear Donut’s menu gently reminds you that cream-filled brionuts are released between 8:15AM to 9:15AM and make the suggestion that you place a pick-up order and reserve the flavors you want just to be safe – creates a strong sense of urgency and excitement for everyone who’s eager to try the newest flavors.
As New York’s food scene continues to grow and evolve with each passing day, more and more bakeries are popping up and playing around with flavors, shapes, and textures in an attempt to create the next viral trend. Who knows what’s going to come next? Whether you’re simply a sweet-treat lover or a foodie looking for the next viral bite to sink your teeth into, rest assured that New York City’s bakeries are quickly dishing out unique pastries waiting to be tasted!