Buttery and flaky croissant dough gets twisted up with a generous dose of cinnamon-sugar and baked in a muffin pan, combining two tasty treats into one: croissants + muffins = cruffins. If you’re looking for a new one-day baking challenge, this unique pastry is a fun one to try. And absolutely delicious to eat! This is an egg-free baking recipe.
What Are Cruffins?
Cruffins are a delightful hybrid of two beloved bakery treats: croissant dough baked into a beautifully spiraled muffin shape. When I decided to make a homemade version, I wanted to learn more about their origin. It turns out cruffins were first created in Melbourne, Australia, by Lune Croissanterie and later made their way to the U.S., thanks to Australian pastry chef Ry Stephen.
And we can all agree—this buttery masterpiece was a creation worth selling!
Let’s Try an Approachable Homemade Version
If you have ever taken the time to make flaky, buttery croissants from scratch, you’ll know that homemade pastry requires time, precision, and patience, but is a very rewarding baking project. I know it can seem intimidating, but I thoroughly break down the process for you, step by step, in the tutorial below.
*Bakery cruffins are usually taller than today’s homemade version because they’re baked in deeper pans, such as popover pans. Since many home bakers don’t have popover pans, this recipe is designed for a standard muffin pan.
Homemade cruffins do not require any special ingredients, but they do require 4 rounds of 20-minute refrigerations, 3 rounds of rolling-and-folding (laminations), and 2 rises. For these reasons, I categorize this as an advanced baking recipe. But I’m here to walk you through each step.
You can absolutely do this!
Start by Making the Dough
The base dough for these cruffins is the same yeasted dough we use to make this croissant bread loaf, which is a scaled-down version of my recipe for homemade croissants.
You need very basic ingredients: whole milk, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, and all-purpose flour. I recommend European-style butter here. It has a higher fat content than American-style butter, giving it a richer flavor. While the difference is subtle in many baked goods, it becomes more noticeable in recipes where the butter in the main ingredient… like cruffins!
Not only did my team and I notice better flavor, the dough was easier to roll out when laminated with European-style butter. It’s softer, which made the dough more pliable… and the process easier! 😉
If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, you can use that to make and knead the dough, but it’s not required. See my How to Knead Dough tutorial if you need any extra help with the kneading step.
When the dough is ready to rise, cover it and let it rise for around 2 hours, until it’s nearly doubled in size. Gently punch down the risen dough to deflate it:
Roll the dough into a 10×14-inch rectangle on a lightly floured silicone baking mat or piece of parchment paper. If your baking mat has a border like a Silpat (pictured below), you can use the border of the baking mat as your guide—it’s like having a cheat sheet!
Place the baking mat on a baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes. During this first refrigeration, prepare for the lamination.
In Photos: Lamination Process
Laminating dough is the process of folding butter into dough many times, which creates multiple alternating layers of butter and dough. When the laminated dough bakes, the butter melts and creates steam. This steam lifts the layers apart, leaving us with dozens of flaky airy buttery layers. We achieve something similar in rough puff pastry, pie crust, and biscuits.
The butter you use for laminating this cruffin dough should be slightly softened but still cool—about 60–64°F (15–18°C) is ideal. You want it to be about the same temperature as the refrigerated dough. If you have an instant-read thermometer, you can insert it in both the butter and the dough to check.
With a mixer, beat the butter with a Tablespoon of flour. I learned this from Zoe at Zoe Bakes. (Please go follow Zoe, she is the absolute best!) Start with softened butter and beat it with flour so it has some stability, which makes laminating easier.
1st lamination: Remove the dough from the refrigerator and spread the beaten butter down the middle third of the dough with a sturdy knife, leaving a ½-inch border at the top and bottom:
Fold the sides of the dough over the butter, like you’re folding a letter into thirds:
Pinch the top and bottom ends to seal the butter inside. Turn the dough 90 degrees, so the longer side is horizontal in front of you. Sprinkle with flour. Roll out to 9×12 inches.
Fold in thirds again:
Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2nd lamination: Turn the dough horizontally in front of you, and roll it out to 9×12 inches again. Fold in thirds. Turn 90 degrees. Roll out to 9×12 inches again. Fold in thirds. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
3rd lamination: Repeat the same steps as the 2nd lamination. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
3 Lamination Success Tips
- Do not extend the time between laminations, or it will become too stiff and difficult to roll out.
- It’s OK if there are air bubbles in the dough; your rolling pin will pop them.
- If the butter starts coming through the dough in spots, sprinkle some flour over it and continue to roll. You may need to flip the dough upside down and sprinkle more flour on the bottom to keep it from sticking to the baking mat/your work surface.
Shaping the Cruffins
Cut the chilled dough into 3 roughly equal portions. They should each weigh around 300–340g, give or take. Take one dough portion and roll it out to 8×12 inches; it will keep shrinking back and not reach these dimensions yet. Set it aside to rest while you roll out the next piece. Set that one aside. Roll out the last piece and set it aside.
Take the first piece you rolled out and roll it out again. After its short rest, it should be much easier now to roll it out to be 8×12 inches. Re-flour and flip the dough over as needed to keep it from sticking to the surface or rolling pin:
Sprinkle the surface with cinnamon-sugar.
With a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut 1-inch strips of dough.
Working with 3 strips at a time, layer them on top of one another. Roll them up together in a spiral cinnamon-roll shape:
Place in one well of a greased muffin pan. Repeat with the remaining strips to get 4 cruffins.
HAVE NO WORRIES: Keep in mind that your cruffins may look slightly different from these photos, and from each other. That’s OK! Because of the way we’re shaping them, each cruffin bakes up a little differently. Once you roll the baked cruffins in sparkly cinnamon-sugar at the end, they somehow all look uniquely beautiful, no matter how they looked in the muffin pan.
Now repeat this shaping process with the remaining 2 portions of dough—you’ll end up with 12 cruffins. Lightly cover the cruffins and let them rise for 45 minutes.
The cruffins take about 25–28 minutes to bake. If you check one with an instant-read thermometer, they’re done when the internal temperature reaches 200°F (93°C).
Let the cruffins cool slightly in the pan, just about 10 minutes. Once they are cool enough to handle but still warm, roll them in the remaining cinnamon-sugar. (Feel free to make some extra cinnamon-sugar if you want to be generous with your coating!)
Optional Filling
These cruffins are perfect as is, but if you want to take them one step further, you can fill them. These cinnamon-sugar cruffins taste utterly fabulous with Nutella, and other fillings such as jam, lemon curd, or pastry cream are equally delicious.
Like when we fill cupcakes, a long thin piping tip is great for this task. I use Wilton #230 to fill cruffins. Poke a hole in the center of a cruffin with a skewer, insert the piping tip into the hole, and squeeze the piping bag until the filling reaches the top of the cruffin.
Check out these layers:
I hope you enjoy diving into this wonderful layered, laminated world of buttery pastry!
Helpful Tools for Making Cruffins
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Description
Buttery and flaky croissant dough gets twisted up with a generous dose of cinnamon-sugar and baked in a muffin pan, combining two tasty treats into one incredible hybrid: croissants + muffins = cruffins. Bakery cruffins are usually taller than this homemade version because they’re baked in deeper pans, such as popover pans. Since many home bakers don’t have popover pans, this recipe is designed for a standard muffin pan.
Dough
Lamination
Filling & Coating
- Preliminary notes: Use the step-by-step photos as visuals before you begin. Read the recipe instructions and notes before beginning. Make room in the refrigerator for your baking sheet for steps 6–10.
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Cover and allow mixture to sit for about 5 minutes or until foamy on top. *If you do not own a mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/silicone spatula. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula is a better choice.*
- Add the butter, 2 cups (250g) of flour, and the salt. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, stopping and scraping down the bowl as needed to help the mixture combine. There may still be chunks of butter—that’s ok. Add the remaining 1 cup (125g) of flour, scrape down the bowl as needed, and beat on low speed until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dough will be soft, but not overly sticky. Beat in 2 more Tablespoons of flour if dough seems very sticky. Avoid adding more flour than you need.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- 1st rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or use nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides of the dough in the oil. Tightly cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for around 2 hours or until nearly double in size. (For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Flatten dough: Gently punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a silicone baking mat-lined, parchment paper-lined, or lightly floured baking sheet. (I highly recommend a silicone baking mat because you can roll the dough out in the next steps directly on top and it won’t slide all over the counter.) Gently flatten the dough out into a 10×14-inch (25x35cm) rectangle using lightly floured hands to carefully stretch, but not tear, the dough. Lightly cover and place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator, and allow the covered dough to rest and chill for 20 minutes. Do not extend this time.
- Meanwhile, prepare for lamination: Make sure the butter is slightly softened but still cool, between 60–64°F (15–18°C) is ideal. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and 1 Tablespoon flour together until completely combined. It’s important to note the following 3 tips before you begin laminating: (1) Have a bowl of flour at hand to continually flour your surface and rolling pin as needed. If the dough tears and butter is exposed, sprinkle the exposed butter with flour. (2) If the dough is impossible to roll, try flipping it over. If it’s still impossible to roll, cover and let it rest for 5 minutes before trying again, to let the gluten relax. And (3) Do not extend the refrigeration times, because the folded dough will begin to over-expand, and it will also become very difficult to roll out.
- 1st lamination: Remove dough from the refrigerator and set the baking sheet aside. I like to keep the dough on the silicone baking mat when I’m rolling it because the mat is nonstick. Working with the longer (14-inch) edge in front of you, spread the beaten butter down the center of the dough, covering the center third of the dough. Fold one dough edge over on top of butter, and fold other edge on top of that (like folding a business letter). Pinch/seal the two short ends to enclose butter inside. Rotate dough so the long edge is horizontally in front of you. Lightly flour the top of the folded dough and, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out to a 9×12-inch (23x30cm) rectangle. Fold dough edges over on top like folding a business letter. Cover dough, place back on baking sheet, and refrigerate 20 minutes. Do not extend this time.
- 2nd lamination: Remove dough from the refrigerator and set baking sheet aside. Rotate dough so the long edge is horizontally in front of you. Lightly flour the top of the folded dough and, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out to a 9×12-inch rectangle. Fold dough edges over on top like folding a business letter. Rotate dough horizontally and repeat rolling out to 9×12 inches and folding like a business letter. Cover dough, place back on baking sheet, and refrigerate 20 minutes.
- 3rd lamination: Remove dough from the refrigerator and set baking sheet aside. Rotate dough so the long edge is horizontally in front of you. Lightly flour the top of the folded dough and, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out to a 9×12-inch rectangle. Fold dough edges over on top like folding a business letter. Rotate dough horizontally and repeat rolling out to 9×12 inches and folding like a business letter. Cover dough, place back on baking sheet, and refrigerate 20 minutes.
- Shape & fill: Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan. In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Remove dough from the refrigerator and set baking sheet aside. Place the chilled dough on a cutting board and cut into 3 even rolls. (You can also cut the dough into thirds right on the silicone baking mat, but make sure you are not using a super sharp knife on your baking mat—I use a bench scraper.)
- (Note: this step can get messy!) Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll out to an 8×12-inch rectangle. If it keeps shrinking back as you try to roll it out, let it rest for 5 minutes and then try again. It will eventually relax enough to get to 12 inches in length. Sprinkle evenly with 2 Tablespoons of cinnamon-sugar, and use the back of a spoon or a spatula to press it down into the dough. With a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut 12 1-inch strips of dough. You can mark them out first with a ruler/measuring tape and a knife. Working with 3 strips at a time, layer them on top of one another. Roll them up together in a spiral and tuck the ends underneath. Place in one cup of the prepared muffin pan. Repeat this step with the remaining 2 portions of dough to get 12 cruffins.
- Cover cruffins lightly and allow to rise for 45 minutes, until slightly puffy.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Bake for 25–28 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 200°F (93°C). Remove from the oven and let the cruffins slightly cool in the pan set on a cooling rack.
- Coat the cruffins and fill, if desired: Once cool enough to handle, roll each cruffin in the remaining cinnamon-sugar. At this point you can enjoy the cruffins plain, or fill them with your filling of choice. Fill a piping bag (reusable or disposable) fitted with a long, skinny filling tip, such as Wilton 230, with the filling. Poke a hole 3/4 of the way down into the cruffin with a skewer (or just insert the long piping tip) and squeeze to fill the cruffin.
- Cover and store leftover cruffins covered at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Overnight Dough Instructions: After step 12, tightly cover the shaped cruffins in the pan and refrigerate for up to about 12 hours. At least 2 hours before you need the cruffins the next day, remove from the refrigerator, keep covered, and allow to rise on the counter for about 1 hour before baking. Alternatively, you can let the dough have its 1st rise (step 5) in the refrigerator overnight. Cover the dough tightly and place in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to fully rise for 2 more hours. Continue with step 6.
- Freezing Instructions: After the coated cruffins cool completely, wrap each individually in plastic wrap and place in a freezer-friendly container. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature. I do not recommend freezing this dough before lamination because it makes laminating difficult. I also do not recommend freezing the shaped unbaked cruffins, as they will simply not puff up in the oven.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer (preferred), Hand Mixer, or Glass Mixing Bowl with Wooden Spoon / Silicone Spatula | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Baking Sheet | Instant-read Thermometer | Rolling Pin | Bench Scraper | Pizza Cutter | 12-count Muffin Pan | Cooling Rack | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Long, skinny piping tip such as Wilton #230
- Milk: Whole milk is ideal, but you can swap a lower-fat or non-dairy milk. Avoid nonfat milk.
- Yeast: You can use active dry or instant yeast in this recipe. Follow all of the same instructions. If using active dry yeast, the rise times are usually *slightly* longer, but not much. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Butter: I strongly recommend European-style butter here, and you can use salted or unsalted in the dough. I strongly recommend salted butter for the lamination process. I use Kerrygold brand butter. It has a higher fat content than American-style butter, giving it a richer flavor. Not only did my team and I notice better flavor, the dough was easier to roll out when laminating with European-style butter. Additionally, it’s important to make sure your lamination butter is not too cold/hard and you don’t want it too greasy/soft either, because it needs to be about as pliable as the dough to incorporate into it. To be precise, it’s ideal both the dough and lamination are between 60–64°F (15–18°C).
- Egg Wash: Though I don’t typically apply one, you can brush the shaped cruffins after rising (after step 13) with an egg wash for a golden, glossy finish. Egg wash = 1 egg mixed with 1 Tablespoon milk.
Cruffins were first created in Melbourne, Australia, by Lune Croissanterie and made popular in the U.S., thanks to Australian pastry chef Ry Stephen. Dough recipe developed from croissant loaf.
