Sweet of the Week: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Doughssant at West Town Bakery

I held out as long as I could, but it was inevitable that eventually I would give in to the cronut craze. As an ardent pastry-lover, I was too weak for the sugary Transformer that is the croissant-doughnut hybrid. Damn you, Dominique Ansel. I've spent the past several months deriding the hype, mostly because I hate hype when it reaches that capacity. But just like Helga in Hey Arnold! pretending to hate the lead character when she secretly loves him, deep down I really just wanted a cronut. Or shall I say, doughssant, considering the cronut name is trademarked and I just don't have the energy to tolerate lines outside Dominique Ansel Bakery. I finally got my doughssant fix at West Town Bakery in River North. Now that I've had my first, I can already feel that I'm on a slippery slope to all-out doughssant gluttony in the months to come.


Doughssant at West Town Bakery
(Cross section of your next obsession)


Deep-fried croissant dough is so decadent that it seems almost sacrilegious. Like deep-fried halos or something. But of course we humans are lustful creatures, and such intense gluttony is not something we can resist. Unless you're Kate Moss and you're not in fact of this race. West Town Bakery's version of the much ballyhooed pastry portmanteau is shaped like an eclair, stuffed with different fillings, and flecked with various glazes and accessories. It's October, so I'm inclined to eat pumpkin-flavored anything. West Town has a pumpkin cream cheese doughssant. Done and done. Roughly the size of my forearm, the doughssant is sprinkled with sugar and pumpkin seeds, filled to the gills with sweet pumpkin cream cheese, which I would happily eat in cheesecake form. All of it. Although messy to eat, etiquette is not something that comes into play here. Simply give in to your wanton desires and tear into the salacious doughssant. We're at our most primal when confronted with such dessert extremes.

Top