From the cronut to the croissant-pretzel, it seems that every self-respecting patisserie must offer a hybrid dessert. Now a new variation has arrived: the “cruffin” — a cross between a croissant and a muffin, filled with custard, jam or chocolate.
As with the fried cronut — a combination of croissant and doughnut created by the New York baker Dominique Ansel — the latest invention appears to have achieved its fame in San Francisco.
However, at the end of last month, the pastry chef Ry Stephen, the cruffin’s creator, was burgled and his prized recipe was stolen.
The cruffin has now appeared in London at Foxcroft and Ginger in Soho and Whitechapel, run by Georgiana and Quintin Dawson. Mr Dawson insisted that he found the pastry at the Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne, Australia, last October.
“I have an alibi,” he joked, in response to the San Francisco theft. He said his did not ask for the recipe from the Melbourne café: “We only finally mastered it after four or five goes.”
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Mr Stephen said the London café was not a suspect over the theft. Grace Gatpandan, a spokeswoman for San Francisco’s police department, told The New York Times: “We don’t have a particular demographic, except it’s someone who wants to make a really delicious pastry.”