Dunkin’s brand new croissant donut.

“Do you have the new croissant donut?” I asked the gent at my local Dunkin’ Donuts this past Saturday. “New doughnut,” he said gesturing to a few orange frosted Halloween numbers. I left with just a coffee. I have yet to have one of Dominique Ansel’s wildly popular Cronuts, though I have had the Paris Baguette knockoff, which was quite nice. So I was eager to try to Dunkin’s croissant doughnut, particularly since it did not entail waking at an ungodly hour to wait in line with hordes of food faddists.

Those layers are more donut than croissant.

So a couple of days later I returned to find the new croissant doughnut proudly displayed. After forking over $2.49, roughly 2.5 times the cost of Dunkin’s regular doughnuts I sat down to try it. It tastes like a doughnut, a hexagonal doughnut. It certainly did not taste 2.5 times more delicious than the shop’s regular glazed donut. The most notable thing about it was the sweet slightly crunchy glaze and the shape. Sure there were layers inside, but they tasted more like a doughnut than a croissant.

Two days later I found a commercial online that characterized the new treat as “impossibly delicious,” and crowed about how only a limited quantity were made a daily. This prompted me to return to my nearest Dunkin’—there are three within walking distance—the closest is around the corner from my house. At 9 p.m. there were still four of the hex nut shaped treats on the shelf. I purchased one and a cup of coffee.

When I got home I was somewhat surprised to note that this croissant doughnut was better than the first I one I had. The glaze was slightly crunchier, but at the end of the day it remains simply an overpriced hexagonal shaped doughnut. There is one French pastry at DD that I like though, that’s the prosaic French cruller. It is by no means “impossibly delicious,” and that’s just fine by me.