Is this the new Cronut? NYC bakeries selling out of ‘Crookies’ say it’s a boon for business

Later, cronuts — there’s a new must-have French pastry mash-up in town.

Meet the “crookie,” the ooey, gooey croissant-cookie hybrid that might at first sound uniquely American, but actually only recently hopped across the pond straight from France.

But for those with a sweet tooth, it’s no longer necessary to book a trip to Paris to get in on the latest pastry craze —  the dessert has made its way to bakeries in Singapore, Amsterdam and, of course, New York City.

At Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods, owned by Janie Cureau, New Yorkers can snag a crookie for $7.50 — if they’re fast enough.

At any of the bakery’s three locations, the infamous crookie sells out in a matter of hours. At the Upper West Side storefront, the stockpile of 250 saccharine pastries — made with Janie’s best-selling half-baked cookie dough recipe and buttery croissants from local bakery Pabade — sold out in under two hours over the weekend, Cureau told The Post.

There was no way to know how big of a hit the crookie would be on this side of the Atlantic, as Cureau and her team experiment by way of trial and error, introducing their pre-order system so that New Yorkers don’t miss out on the pastry, which is only offered Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

When Bilena Settepani, a pastry chef at her family’s namesake bakery, announced they would be serving crookies, her coworkers doubted it would make a splash.

But, before the bakery even opened at 9 a.m. the first weekend of offering them, eager patrons new and old were already waiting around the corner, describing it “like Christmas Day.” Then, the Italian cafe, known for its decadent desserts, made 19 dozen crookies last Saturday — and sold out.

It did, however, take a bit of convincing to get Bilena’s dad, Nino, on board.

“My dad is very old school,” Bilena told the Post of her dad, who opened up the bakery with his parents more than 40 years ago.

“So when I have a fun idea, he’ll immediately knock it down and I just make them regardless.”

The success of the crookie, however, won over both him and the rest of New York, selling out the first weekend.

Fresh offerings

In Paris, the monstrously delicious fusion first caught on at Boulangerie Louvard, where baker Stéphane Louvard’s decided to combine his two “flagship products” into one pastry.

Creating the crookie is actually relatively simple — chocolate chip cookie dough is baked inside of a flaky, pure butter croissant — Louvard’s just happens to have been named the seventh best in the Île-de-France region in 2022.

And while the crookie has been a favorite at the 9th arr. bakery since last year, it is only recently that the internet has caught wind of the mouthwatering treat, inspiring a slew of foreign foodies to recreate the recipe elsewhere.

For Bilena, introducing new menu items helps “get our regulars excited,” the crookie craze has introduced their family-owned cafe to a new customer base.

“It was really nice to have foot traffic in here and even just people to know about us because, yes, they came in for a croissant, and maybe they’ll come back another time for one of our cakes,” said Bilena, whose $8 crookies were inspired by the drool-worthy French creation she saw online.

Likewise, Cureau told the Post that crookies has given her small business a ton of exposure, bringing in people who “wouldn’t have known we existed unless it had been for this trend.”

In fact, nearly all of the bakery’s new customers the last two weeks have paid them a visit because of the infamous crookie.

“It’s just fun to be able to be in the middle of a trend, and get to interact with people, and just see how Instagram and TikTok have helped food businesses like mine explode in such an unconventional way,” Cureau said.

Bake it yours

And there’s good news for those unwilling to wait in line — or take their chances at missing the day’s supply.

Unlike some pastries to hit the big time in recent years, the crookie is remarkably easy to make at home.

First, grab some croissants from your local bakery — or Costco, or Sam’s, no judgments — and take a serrated knife to cut the croissant length-wise.

Then, stuff the French breakfast fave with an abundance of raw cookie dough (Bilena uses three scoops), close up your creation and put some more dough on top, before firing it in the oven, being careful that the croissant doesn’t burn while the cookie dough is still baking.

“If you the jelly texture, if you like the ooey-gooiness of cookie dough, don’t bake them as long,” Bilena advised.

But if you like a firmer cookie, bake them a bit longer, she sad, “then take them out and enjoy them with a nice cup of milk.”