Cronigiri (croissant + onigiri)

 
     
Wikipedia: Croissant
A croissant(UK: /ˈkrwʌsɒ̃, ˈkrwæsɒ̃/, US: /krəˈsɒnt, krwɑːˈsɒ̃/; French: [kʁwasɑ̃]) is a French pastry made from puff pastry in a crescent shape.
 
Wikipedia: Onigiri
Onigiri (お握り or 御握り), also known as omusubi (お結び), nigirimeshi (握り飯), or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or cylindrical shapes and often wrapped in nori. Onigiri traditionally have sour or salty fillings such as umeboshi (pickled Chinese plum), salted salmon, katsuobushi (smoked and fermented bonito), kombu, tarako or mentaiko (pollock roe), or takanazuke (pickled Japanese giant red mustard greens). Because it is easily portable and eaten by hand, onigiri has been used as portable food or bento from ancient times to the present day. Originally, it was used as a way to use and store left-over rice, but it later became a regular meal. Many Japanese convenience stores and supermarkets stock their onigiri with various fillings and flavors.
 
ater—New York
Cronigiri? Yes, and It’s a Stunt Pastry That Actually Works.
It took two months to turn a croissant into a Japanese rice ball
by Luke Fortney@lucasfortney Jun 6, 2024, 1:57pm EDT
Earlier this year, John Lee, the owner of Cafe W, asked his employees to make a new kind of croissant — an “onioissant,” as he would later call it — just as bakers had done in Singapore, South Korea, and Australia. Easier said than done. To be an onioissant — or cronigiri, as some bakers call them — it had to have three curved points, like onigiri, and the flaky texture of French pastry.
 
It took them over eight weeks to get right. Of course, there were issues with the shape. But the bigger problem was the dough: “We spent lots of time to determine the precise number of layers and the optimal thickness of the dough,” says Sara Kim, Cafe W’s manager. It had to be pliable (to shape into a triangle) but also quite sturdy (to hold fillings that might be used in actual onigiri, like mayonnaise and roe).

In May, they cracked the code and added the onioissant to the menu. It has a crisp, buttery crust and an ornamental piece of seaweed wrapped around the bottom. The pastry inside is soft and denser than your average croissant (35-29 154th Street, off Northern Boulevard).