REVIEW - Harrods Croconut (Coconut Cronut)

It's a very good thing I don't live in London. If I did, I think I would be spending far too much of my money in the foodhall - that place is addictive. I thoroughly recommend paying it a visit if you've never been, but I must warn you: it will be full of people and will smell so incredible that you inadvertently start drooling. But that's fine, because the place is always so packed that I'm sure no one will notice.

On a prior trip to the foodhall I remember buying a delicious doughnut that was filled with a caramel sauce and provided me with a sugar hit that lasted for about a week. Feeling in a doughnutty mood during my recent foray into Harrods, I was pretty disappointed to discover that there was not a single doughnut to be found. Doughnuts are, apparently, out for the time being - and have been replaced by cronuts, those strange hybrids of doughnuts and croissants. My doughnut disappointment evaporated pretty quickly after realising this, as I've always wanted to try a cronut and think they sound amazing.

Dining in style

I took an embarrassingly long time to choose my cronut - my friends wandered off and then wandered back to find me still dithering over the counter. The flavours sounded incredible - apple and cinnamon, rich chocolate, peanut butter, raspberry, dulce du leche... but I eventually settled on the 'croconut'. This was a cronut filled with a coconut cream, topped with dark chocolate and dessicated coconut.

This thing was huge, and good thing too because it cost me £3.95 and I like to feel like I'm getting my money's worth. It had a good coating of sugar - not as much as a doughnut, but a perfect amount to provide sweetness. The pastry/dough (?) was amazing - so light and flaky but still doughy enough to feel really satisfying. Even though cronuts are deep-fried, this wasn't greasy in the slightest.
The amount of filling was generous and evenly distributed throughout and had a lovely texture - almost like a cross between buttercream and whipped cream. My only disappointment was that it didn't taste strongly of coconut at all - I know it's a tricky flavour to get right as it can be quite overpowering, but this needed more flavour! The chocolate on top was lovely and thick but still didn't make up for the lack of overall coconut taste.

It's a 7 out of 10 for this - perfect in every way with the exception that it lacked specific coconut flavour. However, the overall combination of flavours and textures worked really well and the pastry was beautiful. Good job Harrods! (and thank you for the bag).