Back in October 2020 I wrote a post about World Dessert Day and I included photos in this post of some of the delicious desserts that over the years accidentally landed in front of me on my table. Others chipped in and spoke about their favorite desserts. @TsekoV was one of the first to jump in and you’ve just got see the photo of Tseko in a Baklava shop in Turkey. Then there was one dessert mentioned by @SP31 (Steve) that caught my fancy and that was “the cruffin”.
Steve wrote "life was changed when I had the “cruffin” from Sweet Rustic Bakeshop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As you can probably notice in the name, it is a wonderful mix between a croissant and a muffin. Sweet Rustic usually has three flavors - guava and cheese, vanilla bean, and nutella. It is so addictive and the perfect match with a glass of coffee. The crust is flaky and buttery and it is stuffed (but not overstuffed) with the delicious flavor inside."Well I mentioned that I had not ever heard of or had tried “the cruffin”.and @SP31 went on to say “Your life will change (maybe) when you have one of these cruffins, @AdamGT !”
The story went on and I replied: “Really intrigued by your praise and recommendation for the Cruffin @SP31, I decided to do some basic research and have discovered something really interesting about this “rockstar of the pastry world”. Apparently, the first known creation was in July 2013 by Kate Reid of Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne, Australia (my home town) and then popularized and trademarked by Australian pastry chef Ry Stephen and co-owner Aaron Caddel of Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, in San Francisco. Apparently, their store was broken into and not money, not baking equipment, and not their iPad were stolen. Instead, the burglar(s) stole their recipe binders containing some 230 recipes including that for Cruffins!!!”
Well SP31 piqued my interest so much that I planned to visit the original store where the recipe for Cruffins was first created and try one and I recently did just that and can now attest, they are indeed to die for 
But who was this Kate Reid? I discovered thatReid is not only a baker, she is an aerospace engineer who once designed Formula One cars for Williams, in London! Apparently she had developed a serious passion for croissants during her many trips from London to France while working for Williams as an aerodynamicists.
After she returned home to Melbourne she started working in an inner east suburban bakery. Then one day while reading a book about Paris patisseries she opened up a double-page spread of a whole lot of delicious and perfectly looking pains au chocolat. Ridiculous as this sounds, she literally closed the book and got in the car and drove off to book a flight to Paris where she secured an apprenticeship working at Du Pain et des Idées run by baker Christophe Vasseur and apparently, the creator of the Best Croissants in Paris! When she returned home she spent days hunting for croissants like the ones she had tasted and learnt to make at Du Pain. After not having any luck what did she do? Well she decided to start making her own pastries and supply them to local coffee shops, little espresso bars and markets in Melbourne and that is how the idea for Lune Croissants started. Her pastries were a big hit and people were queueing for them from 6am.
In April 2016 the New York Times published a story headlined “Is the World’s Best Croissant Made in Australia?” in which Oliver Strand wrote that Kate Reid’s croissants “may be the finest you will find anywhere in the wold”. So it’s no wonder that the Cruffin made it all the way to @SP31 's Sweet Rustic Bakeshop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and I see that on @SilvyC 's post about Cronuts she tasted in Los Angeles, @KimberlyAnnG wrote that one of her personal favorites is Mr. Holmes Bakehouse and their Cruffin!.
Well that’s the Cruffin story!
. I’m so sad to hear that they’ve unfortunately closed down, and unfortunately my local offering, Sweet Rustic, has closed as well, so I am again on the hunt for a local cruffin. Needless to share I will share and document the find when it happens 
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