My experience with cronut wannabes lately is that the high-end bakeries are trying to grab a piece of the donut with this food fad. So when I see a smaller, lesser known shop come out with their version, I want to cheer them on. When a trip to Riverside brought me close to Peterson’s Donut Corner in Escondido, I was excited to see their interpretation of a cronut. I had been wanting to check them out for a while and this made the long drive even sweeter.
Peterson’s Donut Corner is majestic. There are countless varieties of donuts on display and prices start at $0.95 for cake and old fashioned. They make no intention of naming their cronut anything but “cronut.” It’s a cronut. And their version comes topped with maple, chocolate (both available during my visit), strawberry, cinnamon-sugar and glazed.
The first thing evident about Peterson’s cronut is the shape. It’s square with a slight hole in the middle as evidenced by the divot where the frosting sinks in. If cronuts are sold by weight, this one has all the other ones in San Diego beat. It’s heavy in the hand and costs a mere $2.95.
The pastry is deep fried and not at all greasy. Splitting their cronut shows their flaky layers crushed by the sheer weight of frosting. What should be a light pastry is made dense. No filling is seen inside the donut and the frosting more than makes up for it. The frosting alone makes the entire thing tooth-achingly sweet. Even with my legendary sweet tooth, it took more than two days and two people to finish this off. (The cronut stays surprisingly fresh overnight.) As a final resort I remedied the situation by taking off the frosting layer and ate the remainder. The cronut was reduced to a deep-fried croissant. I hope for better things for the cinnamon version.
It’s a nice effort on Peterson’s part and it’s refreshing to see no frenzied people other than other Saturday morning donut afficionados out to satisfy their sweet fix. The people at Peterson’s tell me that they’re perfecting the recipe so it’s still a work in progress. Peterson’s Donut Corner’s cronut is currently only available on the weekends but will soon be available every day.
Peterson’s Donut Corner
903 S. Escondido Blvd.
Escondido, CA 92025
760.745.7774
Related: San Diego’s Cronut Contender: Azucar’s Cray-Nut and Paris Baguette’s Croissant Donut
My Burning Kitchen... on the road 
It’s nice to see a local shop making an effort on the cronut! I like that they pretty much don’t care and just say “hey, it’s a cronut. deal with it”. I’m sure they will get it just right soon! The frosting on their donuts is sometimes a little overwhelming. My favorite is still the creme filled maple bar.
Yow. That creme filled maple bar sounds intense but I love the shop so much. It’s like the Tiffany of donut shops. What a gem!
Yay for Peterson’s! They have ballz! I like that! If I had one of those, I would probably scrape off some of the frosting too. Those things are huge but it’s nice to know they hold up well the next day. Great post!
When I saw it, I was ‘woohoo!’ But the frosting… too much!
We love Peterson’s! They have a raised cinnamon crumb donut that is like a cinnamon roll in a donut – there’s a thin layer of cinnamon and something like icing in the middle. One of their buttermilk bars feeds us for days.
I wonder how early I have to get there to snag a cronut… if only they would start adding a cream filling. I think that’s my favorite part of the cronut.
Oh wow. That donut sounds flippin’ amazing! I’ll look for it next time I’m in that neck of the woods.
I spotted their cronut at 11 a.m. on a Saturday. I’m sure you can snag one without having to get up early. After I spoke with the guy, I got the impression you can also order one online. In any case, even if they’re out, there are other delicious alternatives. Good luck!
I’m not sure I could stop myself from devouring this all at once!
Well, we would have but we also had five other donut we also picked up to divide between two people. Ha!
How funny…I just had my first cronut from there, too (literally today)! My sister just bought me one, and it was pretty good! You’re right, the frosting was a bit heavy, but the cronut itself was good.
xoxo
Cyrillynn
http://any2ndnow.com
It seems like their frosting is infamous. Glad you got to try it too!
Must tell my cousin who lives in Escondido about this place. She was out of the country for the past 2 years and upon her return, she drove all the way down to downtown San Diego (at 6 am., I think) to get some cronuts.
Yay! I hope she gets to try it. Peterson’s is a gem!