I am so, so, super excited to be sharing this recipe with you today!
I first made these delicious, DELICIOUS pastries about three years ago, long before the blog had been started.
I fell instantly in love, and for three long years, I’ve been meaning to make them again to share with you here.
All I can say is, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that it took me so long.
But here you finally have them – morning buns.
Said to have originated at Tartine (and apparently now baked at many bakeries in San Francisco), morning buns are what happens when croissants, cinnamon buns and kougin amman get together and have babies.
Gorgeous, flaky, caramelised, buttery, cinnamon-y, orange scented babies.
Yeah.
Now, the Tartine croissant recipe that I used to make these was a long and laborious one. I’ve never made a croissant recipe like that before (it took me three days, people) and I probably would’t recommend that you use it (particularly if it’s your first time making croissants).
You could use the croissant recipe that’s already on the blog which has step-by-step photos.
However if you do want to use Tartine’s recipe, you can buy their book or check out Brown Eyed Baker’s post, which includes the full recipe.
Whichever option you choose, you will need to seal in the butter and then give the dough three turns (folds) before proceeding with the recipe below. And make sure to check out my new favourite way to get butter into a perfect rectangle for laminating croissants – it’s so easy!
Enjoy these! X
- 1 recipe (2 pounds) of croissant dough
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- Zest of 2 oranges, finely grated
- Pinch of salt
- 110g unsalted butter, melted (1/2 cup)
- Caster (superfine) sugar, for coating muffin tins and buns
- In a medium bowl, combine both sugars, the cinnamon and orange zest. Set aside.
- Prepare two muffin pans by brushing the holes with a little of the melted butter and dusting them with sugar (tap out any excess). You will need about 18 muffin holes.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the croissant dough into a rectangle ¼ inch thick with the long side facing you.
- Brush the dough generously with the melted butter. Top with the cinnamon sugar mixture, using your hands to evenly spread it over the dough.
- Starting at the long edge opposite you, roll the dough up into a tight cylinder.
- Cut the cylinder into 1.5 inch (4cm) pieces and fit each round into a muffin hole.
- Set the morning buns aside in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
- Once the buns have risen nicely, bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until golden brown and caramelised.
- Remove them from the oven and flip them out onto a clean tray immediately.
- Allow them to cool for about 5 minutes before coating them in more sugar and devouring them.
- Makes 12 - 18 morning buns.
- Happy baking!
Recipe adapted from Tartine Bakery.