Have you been following this Cronut story? The one about the New Yorkers lining up first thing in the morning and waiting for hours? Then, sometimes after waiting away the morning, they may not even get their score? Have you heard of folks paying upwards of $20 delivery fees for these $5 treats? Did you know that clever New Yorkers are flipping these on the street for 400% profits? WTF?

What is a Cronut anyway and what is causing these wiley New Yorkers to go so nutty?

It’s a pastry, a really fancy croissant-doughnut hybrid pastry. It’s a simply concept, but apparently very difficult to create. Turns out pastry dough does not like to be fried and it can take up to 3 days to create one of these beauties. So the now famous baker only makes 200-250 per day and patient patrons can only buy 2 at a time. Hence the law of supply and demand and the cause for this fascinating craze! For the full low-down, check out this fairly recent article with your key “need to knows” from theweek.com

Is the Cronut worth the hoopla?

I’m in no position to speak on the matter because I’m San Diego based, and not sure I’d stand still for 2+ hours to consume likely 600+ calories, but from what I read, it’s debatable. But as Shire mentions in her article, these types of international phenomena does not break out  over a subpar pastry But what I am an expert on, is SkinnyTinis! I can take any concept, butter it up and turn it into and eye pleasing, tasty and of course, low calorie SkinnyTini!

So when my friend Mike Newton at Hacking Photography suggested I take a stab at the Cronut Craze and use it as inspiration for my SkinnyTini Cocktail of the week — I didn’t hesitate! Now what flavors and ingredients? I don’t know what screams croissant more than BUTTER and what shouts donut louder than SUGAR? Here is the ingredient profile I went with, I was wondering when I was going to get to use that Imitation Butter Flavor!

Here’s what the mixy-matchy testing looked like this afternoon:

So here you have it — make it tonight! Should be easy to find these ingredients and will far easier than waiting in line for several hours before the sunrises tomorrow morning and far less expensive than paying a cronut scalper upwards of $40!

Cronut Inspired SkinnyTini

• 2 oz Vanilla Vodka
• 1/4 tsp Imitation Butter Flavor
• 3 oz Diet Ginger Ale
• 1 T Powder Sugar
• Tiny bit of water

Calories: 142 per 5 oz SkinnyTini

Directions: Add vodka and imitation butter flavor to a cocktail shaker with ice for 5-10 seconds to chill the ingredients. Prepare the glass by adding the powdered sugar to a shallow dish. Add a tiny bit of water to turn it into a paste. Rim just a portion of the glass, this is not low calorie sugar, but it adds such great dimension and aesthetics to the SkinnyTini that I think allows it to be associated with the official cronut!

And the final Cronut inspired SkinnyTini product!

The post Cronut Inspired SkinnyTini Cocktail! appeared first on Eat, Drink, and Be Skinny!.