Bakery Review: Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York

pictured: turkey religieuse, pecan pie, maple pecan french toast, sweet potato cronut, and blooming hot chocolate

food breakdown

sweet potato cronut

fun fact: the cronut was invented at Dominique Ansel Bakery!!

The cronut was the star of the pack - decided by an unanimous vote by my family. At first I thought it was kind of weird to have sweet potato in a dessert, but it didn't have a very strong sweet potato flavor. The texture of the pastry was the real star - flaky, crisp, but soft enough that it wasn't falling apart. The concept of a cronut is similar to the cruffin, popularized by the San Francisco Bakery Mr. Holmes Bakehouse. Unlike the cruffin, whose texture was mostly croissant and little muffin, the cronut is truly the best of both worlds.

blossoming hot chocolate

Honestly this is kind of a gimmick but I'm into it anyways. The blossoming hot chocolate is just a normal hot chocolate with a flower made of marshmallow that "blossoms" when placed in the hot chocolate. 10/10 for instagrammable content & wow factor.

blossoming hot chocolate

maple pecan french toast

stolen from Dominique Ansel Bakery Facebook page: made with soft brioche filled with cinnamon almond frangipane, soaked in a maple spiced custard with a hint of rum, twice baked, and served warm with crunchy toasted pecans on top. 

It's super crunchy and a nice twist on french toast that's different than the norm -- but I'm still kind of partial to my puffed french toast with chocolate ganache. 

turkey religieuse

religieuse (n.): A French pastry made of two choux pastry cases, one larger than the other, filled with crème pâtissière.

I had never heard of a religieuse before but apparently this is a thing?? Basically it's two cream puffs stacked on top of each other. This one is filled with maple cinnamon pastry cream because it was around Thanksgiving.

overall thoughts

I was way more satisfied with my visit than I expected to be. There are SO many options of things to get, which I was super surprised by. Along with the classics, there's a large variety of really innovative creations and I feel like most bakeries usually only have a small selection of showstoppers. They also change up the flavors of their things pretty often (ex: monthly cronut flavors, seasonal flavors) which keeps things interesting.

Bonus: there's also indoor seating in the back of the bakery - rare because most New York bakeries have no seating and you have to eat outside. 

Would definitely be up to visit again next time I'm in New York. There are still lots of things on the menu that I would love to try (chocolate chip cookie shot, frozen s'mores, etc).