While you are here, don’t miss to check out flaky homemade croissants and brown butter cinnamon rolls.
What is the meaning of morning buns?
Morning buns are similar to croissant pastries that are light, flaky, and buttery but a little chewier with a unique flavor.
What is the difference between a morning bun, a cinnamon roll, and a sticky bun?
All three pastries use yeast and are sweet enriched dough but differ in their flavor, texture, and filling.
Ingredients
For the croissant or Danish dough, You will need basic ingredients like flour, sugar, yeast, salt, egg, and milk with ice-cold butter cubed, and for flavor, add orange zest and vanilla extract. For the cinnamon sugar filling, Use softened butter, cinnamon, and sugar with a pinch of salt. See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to make the best morning buns?
Making of the dough
Add flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and mix in a bowl. Add the cubed butter and rub it into the flour mixture using your hands or, fork or pastry blender. In another bowl, add milk, egg, and vanilla extract and whisk. Add these wet ingredients along with orange zest to the dry ingredients and mix quickly to form the dough. Do not overwork, as we do not want the butter to melt. Shape this into a rough rectangle, cover it in plastic wrap, and chill the dough anywhere between 4 hours and three days.
Creating layers
Transfer the chilled dough to a well-floured surface. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Cover and keep one half back in the refrigerator while we work with the other half. Roll this into a rectangle roughly 8 * 15 inches. Fold the dough into thirds. Roll this again into a rectangle of approximately 8 * 15 inches and again refold it into thirds. Use flour as needed if you find it difficult to handle the dough. Repeat this for the third time, that is, rolling into a rectangle and then folding and wrapping it in plastic wrap and letting the dough chill for about 2 hours or upto two days. (This is similar to making croissants.) Repeat the same procedure for another half of the dough.
Cinnamon sugar filling and assembling the breakfast buns
In a pan, mix together sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Grease 2 12 tin muffin pan or rectangular baking pan with butter and keep this aside. (I have baked 12 buns in a muffin tin and 12 in a baking pan.) Roll each chilled dough into a rectangle of approximately 12 * 18 inches on a well-floured surface. Spread the rectangle dough with butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture, leaving one inch of the small end. Just like cinnamon rolls, start with a wide side and roll to form a log. Now cut into 12 pieces and place the cut side up on your muffin pan or rectangular pan. Cover this and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
Bake the morning buns.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the morning buns for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. You will see melted butter all over the rolls in the pan, but that is completely ok. Let this cool for 10 minutes, and then place them in a wire wrack. You can brush the warm buns with melted butter and sprinkle sanding sugar only if desired. Serve and enjoy.
Tips
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight conatiner in a room temperature for a day or refrigerator for three days. Reheat in the microwave or in the oven before serving. Make sure your working surface is well-floured to prevent the dough from sticking during the rolling. Both the dough and the butter should be cold. If you feel the dough is warm make sure you wrap it in plastic wrap and reeze for 10 to 15 minutes before you continue to work. I have done it only three times, but you can repeat the roll and fold three more times if needed and then chill the dough before filling and assembling. You will get more flaky layers like croissants in that case. Is this for the holiday season? You can add any nuts like toasted pecans, walnuts, or almonds with a cinnamon sugar mixture. Want it ready for Christmas morning breakfast? You can make the cinnamon bun dough, fill it, roll it, and keep it in the refrigerator. In the morning, let it rest at room temperature 30 minutes before baking. For best results, use frozen butter to make the dough.
Morning buns with puff pastry
Shortcut method to make flaky, buttery cinnamon sugar morning buns recipe. Instead of making the Danish dough, just use the puff pastry sheets.
Unfold the puff pastry sheet. Gently roll if needed and add the filling, and starting from the wide side, roll it to form a log. Using a knife, cut them into 12 pieces with the cut side placed up on a greased muffin tin. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until it becomes golden brown.
More Breakfast Recipes
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Recipe card
