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morning buns

Give us a morning bun and hot cup of coffee and it’s a good morning! Who doesn’t love warm buttery dough coated in cinnamon sugar?! A flakey croissant dough swirled with cinnamon sugar and rolled in cinnamon sugar coating, makes a delicious treat for breakfast!

If you have a slow morning with some time on your hands or are wanting to try something new, why not stay in and make some morning buns? We have to admit, the process does take some time but is WELL worth the wait.

Check out some of our favorite bakery-style pastries!

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Bakery-Style Pecan Pie Cream Cheese Danishes

Spiced Butternut Squash Bread

Strawberry Glazed Donuts

Funfetti Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Filling

Cinnamon Sugar Morning Buns

cinnamon sugar morning bun

What You’ll Need

  • Milk 
  • Sugar
  • Quick rise yeast
  • Salt
  • Flour
  • Butter
  • Light brown sugar
  • Cinnamon
  • Orange zest

What is a morning bun?

If you’ve never had a bite of a morning bun, let me tell you, you are missing out! If you’re a fan of croissants and cinnamon rolls, it is like they had a baby and created the most delicious flakey pastry.

The dough of a morning bun is a croissant dough rolled in cinnamon sugar, baked in a muffin tin until crispy and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Although it’s sweet, the buttery dough and warm taste of cinnamon make a perfect pairing. 

cinnamon sugar morning bun

Morning bun vs cinnamon roll

Both have similar flavor profiles but are different in texture and presentation. A morning bun uses a flakey croissant dough and is filled with a lighter dusting of cinnamon sugar. Morning buns are buttery, crispier and flakey in texture and some are rolled in cinnamon sugar. 

A cinnamon roll, which is just as delicious, uses soft, fluffy yeast dough. The filling is often a thick, gooey layer of cinnamon and brown sugar. And a majority of the time, cinnamon rolls are topped with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting or glaze. 

cinnamon sugar morning bun

How to make morning bun dough…

The morning bun dough is not extremely difficult to make, but it does take some patience to make. 

Make the dough.

First step in making the dough is activating the yeast. To do this, you need to create a warm environment. You will add yeast and warm milk to a bowl and let it sit to activate for about 5 minutes. 

Once the yeast is activated, you can mix together the rest of your dough. 

We recommend to use a stand mixer with a hook attachment because it will save you a lot of time and hand power. Add yeast, flour, sugar and salt to the bowl and mix until it is incorporated. 

Lastly, add in the milk and yeast mixture and mix on low for a minute or two. Then increase to a medium speed for a bout 5 minutes until you have a smooth dough. 

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a kitchen towel to rise for at least an hour but no more than about 18 hours. 

Make butter disk.

The butter disk is what makes the croissant dough super flakey. The main thing to remember is to always keep your butter cold. 

Start by cutting butter sticks in half lengthways. Place them on a floured piece of parchment paper and sprinkle the top with some flour and let them soften for 10 minutes. 

Place another piece of parchment on top of the butter and roll out the butter out into an 8×8-inch disk. After you create your disk, you’ll let it chill to keep it cool. The cold butter is going to create those distinct layers between the dough.

cinnamon sugar morning bun

Laminate dough and chill.

Laminating is the process of folding the butter into the dough to make the croissant layers. To laminate the dough, roll out your dough and place your butter disk in the center of the dough rectangle. You will fold the dough over the butter disk, like an envelope before rolling out again. 

You will repeat this step 2-3 times, refrigerating in-between to keep the butter cold. 

Roll, fill, cut and roll.

Once your dough is laminated, you will roll out the dough into a large 8×15” rectangle. New you’ll layer on the filling. Brush the dough with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. 

To form each morning bun, you’ll slice the dough into strips and roll into a spiral before placing into a greased muffin tin.

Bake and coat in sugar.

Bake the morning buns on 400ºF for 15 minutes. Pull them out and press them down to flatten the tops, before returning them to the oven for 15 more minutes. 

Once they are golden and crispy, remove them from the oven to cool for 5-10 minutes before rolling the warm buns in cinnamon sugar coating.

cinnamon sugar morning bun

Tips for making morning buns

  • Generously grease your muffin tin. Make sure the edges and corners of each muffin tin are greased well so your morning buns don’t stick to the sides. The sugar and butter will caramelize and will make a crispy crunchy bottom.
  • Use cold butter!! This is important for making those defined crispy, airy layers of the morning bun.
  • Press the buns down mid-baking. This will help the dough bake more evenly and give them their signature flatter, crispier appearance.
  • Place a baking sheet under the pan to catch butter. As the morning buns bake, and they pop over the edge, the melting butter may drip off the sides. The baking sheet will catch any butter drippings. 
cinnamon sugar morning bun

What does it mean to laminate the dough?

Laminating is just a series of folding and rolling the dough to make the croissant layers. It is the key to making the buttery, super flakey layers in the morning bun dough.

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cinnamon sugar morning bun

Morning Buns


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  • Author: Mozie Team
  • Total Time: 2 hours 55 minutes
  • Yield: 12 morning buns 1x

Description

A flakey croissant dough swirled with cinnamon sugar and rolled in cinnamon sugar coating, makes a delicious treat for breakfast.


Ingredients

Scale

Morning Bun Dough

  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp +1 tsp quick rise yeast
  • 2 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 cup +6 tbsp butter

Cinnamon Sugar Filling

  • 3 tbs butter melted
  • 1/4 cup cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp orange zest


Instructions

  1. Make dough. In a small mixing bowl, add yeast and warm milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
  2. While the yeast milk mixture sits, attach dough hook to stand mixer. Combine flour, sugar and salt until mix until incorporated.
  3. Then add the yeast milk mixture on low speed. Mix on slow until the flour is combined, then increase the speed to medium speed for 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth.
  4. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 1 hour. Or if you have time, place in fridge for least 2-3 hours or overnight.
  5. Make butter disk. Cut the butter sticks in half, lengthways. Sprinkle flour on a piece of parchment paper and lay butter on the floured surface. Let the butter soften for 10 minutes. Sprinkle more flour on the top of the butter and place the other piece of parchment paper on top. Use a rolling pin to press the butter into a 8×8 inch square. Set the butter in the fridge while you roll out your dough.
  6. Flour a flat surface or countertop. Roll dough into a 10”x10” square. Place the cold butter disk at an angle on top of the dough square. It should look like a diamond in the middle of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter.
  7. Laminate the dough. This is just a series of folding and rolling the dough to make the croissant layers. Gently roll the dough into an 18”x15” rectangle. Fold the dough like a letter – fold one end into the center of the dough and the other end over the top of the previous fold. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
  8. Roll, fold and refrigerate the dough 2 more times. This creates the butter layers for the croissant. The key is keeping the butter in the dough cold to make those layers.
  9. Preheat the oven to 400°F and make cinnamon sugar filling. Melt 3 tbsp of butter. Whisk together cinnamon and sugar in a separate bowl.
  10. Roll chilled dough out into an 8”x15” rectangle for a final time. Brush melted butter over the top of the dough and sprinkle with half of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
  11. Using a pizza cutter, cut 8 15-inch long dough strips. Roll each strip into a spiral and wrap the end over the top and tuck under the bottom.
  12. Place the rolls into the greased muffin tin. Cover the muffin tin with plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.
  13. Remove plastic wrap and bake on 400°F for 15 minutes minutes. Remove the buns from the pan and press the tops down lightly with a greased rubber spatula or spoon. Bake the buns for another 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
  14. Remove from oven and allow them to cool for about 5-10 minutes before rolling in more cinnamon sugar. (If you choose to roll in cinnamon sugar, add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tbsp cinnamon to a bowl.)
  • Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes

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