5 Mind-Blowing Creations from Pastry Chef Dominique Ansel

Pastry Chef Dominique Ansel is perhaps best known for the Cronut®, but the culinary creator continues to amaze with his amazing desert designs. This week Ansel judged the cheftestants on Top Chef for the creativity they infused in their dishes. Let's check out this pastry chef's most creative confections. 

Ansel calls this creation the "My Life Would Succ(ulent) Without You," and just in time for Valentine's Day. Your sweetheart will love this decadent design, modeled off a cactus, all with the perks of being low maintenance. Go ahead, forget to water this one! This cacti has a pineapple filling and realistic biscuit-based soil.

This next creation won't give you a hangover, but maybe a sugar high. Ansel has created cookie shots! Skip the bar and head over to his bakery in New York City's SoHo neighborhood to try these! Bottoms up.

Not everything that comes out of Ansel's kitchen has to look like a desert. He is shaking up perceptions with his Apple Pie Corn Dog, a sweet treat still served on a stick. It's a creation which combines apples and potato chips, and fries them until golden brown. 

Ansel takes pride in not only making sure the dish is delicious, but that it's also a feast for the eyes. This creation is absolutely stunning and almost resembles a holiday ornament. The subtle reds and greens infused into the white chocolate tell a story before the first bite, that this sweet treat will be a pistachio and raspberry flavor explosion. 

Ansel is perhaps famous for another treat, the frozen s’more. Usually the word 's’more' brings up imaginings of roasting them around a campfire. But Ansel has managed to turn the dial way down on this childhood creation. Instead, the pastry chef freezes the graham crackers and some honey marshmallows around a block of ice cream. Served right on a stick for easy eats!