Best Recipe for Cruffins (Croissant Muffin)
Cruffins are a deliciously flaky and buttery breakfast treat that’s filled with a cinnamon-sugar mixture and baked until golden brown! Takes just 4 ingredients and 30 minutes to make a dozen!
For more of that cozy, sweet cinnamon-sugar flavor try my Easy Cinnamon Rolls that are made without yeast or a batch of deep-fried Apple Fritters!
You Will Love This Cruffin Recipe
Fill your favorite mug with some tea or coffee and pair it with a warm, cozy Cruffin to start your day! These buttery, flaky pastries have layers of sweet cinnamon sugar filling rolled up into a fancy spiral and then baked in a muffin tin!
What Is A Cruffin?
It’s a fun cross between a muffin and a croissant that’s usually filled with cream, jams, or other sweet fillings. The Cruffin was invented by the founder of Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, Aaron Caddel, and has spread in popularity for very delicious reasons!
Though the Cruffins you’d find in a bakery are made with homemade dough, these are made with store-bought Puff Pastry! And trust me, they’re still absolutely delicious while being quick and convenient to make!
This was a very dangerous discovery. These are crazy good and way too easy to make. I will definitely make these again but nowhere near as often as I’ll want to. I made some last night for a party we had and they were gone in minutes.
Cruffin Recipe Ingredients
This Cruffins Recipe keeps it simple by using packages of puff pastry for the doughy base! If you’ve never grabbed a package before you’ll want to head for the frozen food section of your grocery store.
They’re found right with frozen pies, cakes, and other frozen desserts. The remaining ingredients needed for these Cruffins are granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, and salted butter.
Once the pastries come out of the oven you can sprinkle on more sweetness! We enjoy topping ours with more cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, or even some cozy brown sugar!
- puff pastry
- granulated sugar
- ground cinnamon
- salted butter
How To Make Cruffins
- Open up each sheet of puff pastry. Then lay them on the counter flat and set two aside as they’ll be placed on top.
- Whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Afterward, divide this mixture.
- Spread butter onto each of the bottom two sheets. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top.
- Place the puff pastries that were set aside on top of the cinnamon sugar sheets, creating a sandwich.
- Cut equal strips from each sandwich using a pizza cutter. Next, roll up each slice and then place each in a well of the prepared muffin pan.
- Place the muffin trays of Cruffins into the oven to bake until they turn golden.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle them with the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve and enjoy warm!
Best Way To Store This Recipe For Cruffins
They’re best stored in an airtight container at room temperature. The Cruffins can then be enjoyed for up to 3 days.
If you’d like them to last longer you can also freeze them for up to 2 months.
Cruffin FAQs
Yes, you could use a 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, cardamom, star anise, or coriander. Any of those would make a tasty variation option!
I have the best luck when I work with cold puff pastry, directly out of the fridge. I don’t even take it out of the fridge until I’m ready to spread the butter on it.
Although, if it is frozen, it does need to thaw in the fridge overnight.
You can. Just keep in mind that brown sugar will give the Cruffins a heavier texture with a little more caramel flavor. Whereas the cinnamon-sugar mixture creates more of a cinnamon roll flavor!
Yes. If you don’t have salted butter, you can make your own by mixing 1/8 teaspoon of salt into unsalted butter. However, if you don’t want salt at all, then using unsalted butter would be fine too.
This recipe makes large cruffins, so you can easily cut the entire recipe in half to make smaller ones. To do so, you can follow these easy instructions:
You can use one package of pastry dough and cut the pastry into 10 1-inch strips. They’ll still be placed into a regular muffin tin; they just won’t fill the entire cup as they bake. Then bake them until golden and sprinkle them with the remaining cinnamon sugar.
You could skip the cinnamon sugar and instead sprinkle on chocolate chips before folding and baking. Melt more chocolate chips in the microwave when the Cruffins come out of the oven. Then drizzle the melted chocolate over the tops of them.
A cronut is a cross between a croissant and a donut whereas a cruffin is a cross between a croissant and a muffin. Both have deliciously flaky butter layers.
No, the Cruffin was actually invented by Kate Reid in Melbourne, Australia.
Like a denser croissant loaded with cinnamon sugar! It’s delicious!
These Cruffins are proof that breakfast should be a deliciously sweet treat! Here are more of the best breakfast recipes that can also double as a tasty treat!
- Strawberry Danish With Cream Cheese – Flaky, golden brown pastries filled with fresh juicy berries!
- Blueberry Buckle – Moist blueberry cake that goes great with your morning cup of coffee!
- Air Fryer Monkey Bread – Made with canned cinnamon rolls and 4 other easy ingredients!
- Chocolate Chip Muffins – The classic breakfast treat that kids look forward to devouring!
- Best Pecan Sticky Buns – A decadent, cozy, yet perfectly gooey breakfast option that preps in 30 minutes!
Let’s Connect!
If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!
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Cruffin Recipe (with Puff Pastry Dough)
Equipment
- Muffin pans
- Non-stick spray with flour added
- Measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 2 (17.3oz.) packages puff pastry (4 sheets) thawed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup salted butter softened
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and spray a muffin pan with a non-stick spray with flour added, or line the muffin pan with liners.
- Open up each of the four puff pastry sheets and lay them on the counter flat. Set two aside as they will be placed on top.2 (17.3oz.) packages puff pastry
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside 4 tablespoons of the cinnamon-sugar mix to be used for sprinkling on after baking.1 cup granulated sugar, 4 tablespoons ground cinnamon, ½ cup salted butter
- Using a butter knife or offset spatula, spread ¼ cup of butter onto each of the bottom two sheets. Then generously sprinkles the large portion of cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of the buttered pastry sheets, covering the whole surface.
- Place the remaining two pastry sheets on top of the cinnamon-sugar sheets.
- Use a pizza cutter or pastry wheel to cut 6 equal strips from each pastry sheet stack.
- Roll the slices up (cinnamon roll style), make sure to pinch the ends to help the rolls stay closed as they bake, and place each one into a muffin cup.
- Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes or until golden.
- Roll them around in the remaining 4 tablespoons of cinnamon-sugar mix that was set aside earlier while they are warm. Then serve immediately for best texture and flavor.
Video
Notes
- Are There Other Spices That Can Be Used In This Recipe? Yes, you could use a 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, cardamom, star anise, or coriander. Any of those would make a tasty variation option!
- How Can I Prevent The Puff Pastry From Tearing As I Work With It? I have the best luck when I work with cold puff pastry directly out of the fridge. I don’t even take it out of the fridge until I’m ready to spread the butter on it. However, if it is frozen, it needs to be thawed in the fridge overnight.
- Can I Use Brown Sugar Instead Of Granulated Sugar In This Cruffin Recipe? You can. Just keep in mind that brown sugar will give the Cruffins a heavier texture with a little more caramel flavor. Whereas the cinnamon-sugar mixture creates more of a cinnamon roll flavor!
- What’s The Best Way To Store These Cruffins? They’re best stored in an airtight container at room temperature. The Cruffins can then be enjoyed for up to 3 days. If you’d like them to last longer you can also freeze them for up to 2 months.
- Can I Use Unsalted Butter Instead Of Salted Butter? Yes. If you don’t have salted butter, you can make it yourself by mixing 1/8 teaspoon of salt into unsalted butter. However, if you don’t want salt at all, then using unsalted butter would be fine, too.
- Is There A Way To Add Chocolate To These Cruffins? You could skip the cinnamon sugar and instead sprinkle on chocolate chips before folding and baking. Melt more chocolate chips in the microwave when the Cruffins come out of the oven. Then, drizzle the melted chocolate over the tops of them.
- How Can I Make Smaller Cruffins Using This Recipe? This recipe does make large Cruffins so you can easily cut the entire recipe in half to make smaller ones. To do so, you can follow these easy instructions:
-
- Use one package of puff pastry dough and cut the pastry into 10 1-inch strips. They can still be placed into a regular muffin tin; they just won’t fill the entire cup as they bake.
- Bake them until golden, and then sprinkle them with the remaining cinnamon sugar.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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I am ready to make these cruffins but can I add apple sices between the layers with the cinnamon and sugar?
I wouldn’t, it would add a lot of additional moisture that the dough can’t accommodate.
Too soggy in the center. Even with alterations to prevent the doughy center. They would be delicious if we could get them to bake to the center.
These were so easy and delicious. My husband loved them and the fact they are baked is amazing!
Update to my previous review. Same with me. Looked done and beautiful, but when taken out of my tin, raw on the bottom. Tried a 3nd batch, made them smaller and cooked longer, now these are only good for dunking with coffee!
Wasted $15 of ingredients I doubled the baking time they were still in the middle. So then I placed them on a cookie sheet covered in foil for an extra 15 to 20 minutes. and it burned on the bottom and still raw in the middle had, to throw the whole batch in the trash.
same thing with me…I made half a batch, baked them for 40 minutes and the insides were still soggy!
This recipe is extremely flawed. First of all, there is WAY too much butter. The butter ran out and dripped all over the oven. Secondly, the puffed pastry didn’t have enough space to expand and although I left it in the oven for 15 extra minutes, the insides were still raw. Pretty disappointing.
So this is an update on my first review, I’m just going to copy it from Facebook…
Well shoot, win some ya lose some! So I baked smaller versions of this “cruffin” (they’re called) yesterday. for the teacher appreciation breakfast this morning. Realized this morning that I had baked them at too low of a temperature, 350* vs 400*. Probably why I had to keep putting them back in the oven because they just weren’t browning. They are made with the puff pastry (store bought), butter, sugar and cinnamon. This morning I decided to make up the rest that I had bought supplies for, except I followed the recipe to make them bigger, and bake at 400*. Well they looked done after 20 minutes, took em out, sprinkled with the cinnamon sugar mixture and let them cool down. Still warm after 15 minutes, I decided to try one. The center was NOT baked, 😥. I hope the ones I made yesterday, at a lower temp, and for longer were better. I hate sending inferior baked goods. I just KNEW I should have done a trial run!! 😥
A 4 only because I won’t be tasting them to make sure they got baked all the way. I used cupcake papers, made the smaller strips. In the bottom of the pan there was about an 1/8th” melted butter under the paper. I’m making these the night before for a teacher’s breakfast. I’m hoping that any of that melty butter in the pastry itself solidifies a bit. I will try and make them again as I did buy 4 boxes of pastry. I want to see for myself the end result and how it tastes
I want to make them in mini muffin pans. Do I just use the variation of cutting it into 10 strips instead of six, or should I cut the dough in half, creating smaller strips of dough?
Easy peasy and deliciously decadent
My cruffins were beautiful and tasty on the outside, however they were gummy on the insides. What happened???
Mine too!! Even cooked them a few minutes longer!
Sad to say I wanted $12 dollars in puff pastry to make these. WAY too much dough for the muffin tin. Raw in the middle. Maybe cut each strip in half to help
Hi thank you for sharing the recipe for the cruffins. They came out pretty well.
Can these be assembled ahead, stored in the refrigerator then baked the next morning?
I should have read the reviews before making. Just like other commenters, these were burnt on the outside and entirely gummy in the middle. Way too much butter. And the muffin tin did not give the muffins enough room to expand and get puffy! Could only eat the outside layer and it was tasty at least. Bummed that i wasted so much puff pastry and butter for this flop.
I tried this recipe. I used regular muffin tins for most of them and jumbo tins for two, just to see what would happen. I didn’t care for them at all. Not much flavor and although the outer parts cooked, the center few rings stayed raw. The bottom of the cups was full of butter and it all just seemed kind of greasy. I ended up tossing the batch. Puff pastry doesn’t have much flavor of its own so I had loaded them up with sugar and cinnamon but it didn’t help.
Haven’t made these yet, but before I do can you please clarify? Am I cutting 6 strips across the short side or the long side? Your picture shows 12 strips and I want to be sure I understand.
Hi Maya, The puff pastry used in the process shots is not the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry which is more widely available. The one shown is a roll that it 1 sheet per 1 pound package (the same amount as the Pepperidge Farm, but in one sheet instead of 2). So because it was bigger it was cut into 12 strips, however, with the traditional square sheets the Pepperidge Farm makes, you’ll want to make two sets and cut each into 6, I hope that make sense and I will prioritize updating the process photos to match since I see how that could be confusing.
I followed the directions exactly (I’ve worked with puff pastry before). The inside of the muffins stayed raw as they were sitting in too much butter in the muffin pans.
This was a very dangerous discovery. These are crazy good and way too easy to make. I will definitely make these again but nowhere near as often as I’ll want to. I made some last night for a party we had and they were gone in minutes. I made some more for the family this morning and tried a little variation in the method. I sealed the two puff pastry sheets at the edges and then rolled them together as one log and then I just cut each log into 6 pieces. Much less mess that way. I did still have the ends of the rolls climbing out of the cups a bit and I guess that’s because I didn’t do a go enough job of pinching the ends? But, that’s just cosmetic. These are amazing.
Great idea, John! Thanks for coming back to leave a review and let us know about that tip!
Could you make these in an air fryer?
I think if you have a muffing pan that fits in your air fryer it should work!