Hot Cake Summer begins with … things that aren’t cake.
The classic French kouign amann and the contemporary cookie dough concept consumed my fieldwork for Kouign Amann Day and National Cookie Dough Day on June 20 and 21, respectively.
Kouign Amann Day is the brainchild of the excellent B. Patisserie in San Francisco. During a 2018 visit, I dutifully investigated its kouign amann and remember it fondly.
This year, I observed both holidays in New York.
Before visiting Dominique Ansel Bakery for its signature kouign amann, I did some research and learned a good deal from Chef Ansel in this recipe and video demonstration. Anthony Bourdain also filmed an enlightening video about the chef and his kouign amann.
Fieldwork included two classic specimens and some jazzy variations.
Meet the kindred expressions.
On its website, Supermoon Bakehouse gives a colloquial definition of the kouign amann: “Think of it as a weird looking round croissant, with layers of butter and sugar folded in, then slowly baked until the sugar caramelizes, creating a candied outside and a gooey, buttery, sugary inside.”
What Supermoon offers nowadays is its kouign brûlée croissant. With sprinkles of sugar, the exterior resembles a kouign amann while the interior is filled with pastry cream.
Acquiring one was quite the labor of love. I faced an hour-long line, presumably for the croissant butter soft serve. After researching what all the fuss was about, I saw a familiar picture. I had sampled it soon after it launched in 2018. Apparently, demand surged when it returned to the menu this month and the die-hard lined up for a serving. And they nearly thwarted my mission. When I reached the counter, the gracious staff told me I got the last kouign brûlée croissant.
The most valuable part of my National Cookie Dough Day research was the in-office study of DŌ, the New York shop where the holiday is celebrated energetically, and possibly originated. I spent hours reading the Hello, Cookie Dough cookbook, authored by DŌ founder Kristen Tomlan.
The shop opened to a flurry of media coverage and celebrity visits in early 2017, drawing attention for its edible cookie dough that is safe eaten raw and also bakeable into cookies. The recipe uses pasteurized egg whites and heat-treated flour to bypass the health risks of standard cookie dough. The store is designed like an ice cream shop and serves cookie dough in cups and cones with assorted toppings. There are milkshakes and sundaes, as well as baked goods such as brownie bars.
Enter cupcakes as interpreted by DŌ.
In the book, there’s a recipe for a Coopcake, defined as half cookie, half cupcake. I didn’t see any evidence of it on the DŌ website or social media feeds.
Instead, there’s the Cookie Bomb, which Tomlan defines as “this cupcake thing” in the book. Shaped like a cupcake, it’s cookie dough baked in a cupcake tin, filled with Nutella, and frosted with cookie dough buttercream.
Tomlan collaborated with baker Sally McKenney to include a molten cookie dough cupcake in the book.
At the DŌ storefront, most of the National Cookie Dough Day action was taking place via mail order. The FedEx driver was picking up dozens of boxes. There were sidewalk samples and scratch-and-win cards. Elsewhere, select partners were giving out small jars of cookie dough to promote the celebration.
From a psychological perspective, both Dominique Ansel Bakery and DŌ have driven people to irrational behavior. Several years after the Cronut revolution, customers not only waited in long lines but stood their ground alongside a dead body. DŌ says its lines peaked at four and a half hours. In her book, Tomlan tells the story of visitors who flew almost 22 hours from Australia, bought cookie dough, and immediately got back on a plane. The human psyche, it’s complicated.
So concludes the first Hot Cake Summer entry. Next week, there will be actual cupcakes in the fieldwork.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 