Heart shaped cronut holes – made with three simple ingredients and a LOT of love (for cronuts) – the perfect Valentine’s Day breakfast!
Everyone’s lookin’ for some love in New England after a certain sporting event that happened this past weekend that didn’t quite go according to plan. It’s ok though. When you can’t add a 6th superbowl ring to your collection, you put on your sweatpants and stuff your face with heart shaped cronut holes. And that, my friends, is all the love that anyone really needs.
Back in 2015, I thought it would be a good idea to fold up some crescent dough, take the cap from a spice jar, cut some circles out and send them into a bath of sizzling hot oil. Oh and some glaze too. High five to my 2015 self! My 2018 self wanted to relive this magic that is three ingredients – unfairly easy – and better than any GD breakfast treat you could buy at the finest bakery in the land. And, you never even have to leave the house to get them on the table!
The size of your heart shaped cookie cutter will play a factor in this. I used a fairly small one – about 2.5″ across at the widest section (the top of the two heart humps – heart humps? Well, that’s what we’ll call them). I made these twice actually. The first time, I folded the crescent dough so that there was 5 stacked layers of crescent dough, forgetting how much these beauties really puff up when they’re frying. The second time, I only made 3 layers stacked, and that was more than enough. They still puffed up and yielded a fairly thick cronut hole.
The glaze too. 1 layer of this glaze will stay pretty transparent. The darker you want the color of your cronut hole to be, the more layers of glaze. I used 3 layers total, letting the glaze sit for a minute in between each.
Wear your heart {shaped cronut hole} on your sleeve this Valentines Day!
- *Vegetable oil for frying
- 1 package of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (I used the one-sheet version, but the individual rolls with the rolls already pre-cut are fine too)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
- Food coloring of your choice
- Heat your vegetable oil on medium-high heat in a large skillet. You want the oil to be about 2” thick.
- In the meantime, lay out your crescent roll dough on a piece of parchment paper, sprinkled lightly with flour. If you can’t find the one sheet of crescent roll dough, simply pinch the seams of the pre-cut roll version together.
- Fold the crescent dough (horizontally, so the wide side is at the top) twice so that you have three layers of crescent dough. Make sure that the fold is wide enough to accommodate the length and width of your cookie cutter, trimming any excess off at the top. Then, take your heart shaped cookie cutter, pressing lightly into the dough, and place the heart shaped crescent rolls to the side.
- When the oil is hot (test by flicking some water at it – if it sizzles, the oil is ready), place the hearts into the oil and let them cook for 2-3 minutes, flipping frequently with metal tongs so that the dough doesn’t burn. You’ll know they’re done when they start to turn golden brown and have doubled in thickness. Place them on a paper towel to absorb the excess grease.
- Whisk together your powdered sugar and milk until a thick glaze forms. Then, divide the glaze into small bowls (depending on how many different colors you’re planning to make), leaving a small amount of white glaze for the drizzle. Add a drop or two of food coloring to each bowl of glaze.
- Glaze your donuts 1 layer at a time. The first layer will be very light – let it sit for a minute or two and then add another. The more layers of glaze you add, the thicker/richer the color will be. I used 3 layers of glaze on these.
- Serve immediately or within 2 days. As with any donut/cronut, the fresher the better!