Dominique Ansel is the chef and owner of Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City. Since its opening in November of 2011, the chef’s eponymous bakery was awarded Time Out New York’s “Best New Bakery of 2012” and Metromix’s “Best Bakery of 2012,” all within four months of opening its doors. Today, it is also Zagat 2013’s highest ranked bakery.

Prior to starting his own business, Dominique became well-known in New York as the executive pastry chef at Daniel, Daniel Boulud's flagship French restaurant. During his six years there (the longest tenure of any pastry chef at Daniel), Dominique was part of the team that led the restaurant to receive its first four-star New York Times rating, three Michelin stars, and James Beard's Outstanding Restaurant of the Year Award in 2010.

In 2013, Dominique was nominated a finalist for the “Outstanding Pastry Chef” award by the James Beard Foundation. He was named one of the “Top 10 Pastry Chefs in the United States” by Dessert Professional magazine in 2009. And in 2010, Dominique was subsequently chosen by Time Out New York as one of the city's "Top Ten Pastry Chefs You Need to Know." Perhaps what has most widely been reported is Chef’s creation of the Cronut™, a croissant and doughnut hybrid that has been reported on throughout the world.

Before coming to New York, Dominique spent seven years at the venerable French bakery Fauchon, where he was in charge of international expansion. He has helped Fauchon set up shops around the world, including Russia, Egypt, and Kuwait.

How do you catch lightning in a measuring cup?

Dominique Ansel is the creator of the Cronut™, the croissant-doughnut hybrid that has taken the world by storm. But he’s no one-hit wonder. Classically trained in Paris, responsible for a four-star kitchen in New York, and now the proprietor of New York’s highest rated bakery, Ansel has become a modern-day Willy Wonka: the creator of wildly creative, extraordinarily delicious, and unbelievably popular desserts.

Now, in his hotly anticipated debut cookbook, Ansel shares the secret to transforming the most humble ingredients into the most extraordinary, tempting, and satisfying pastries imaginable. Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes reveals the stories and recipes behind his most sought-after creations and teaches lovers of dessert everywhere how to make magic in their own kitchens.