Get ready to fall in love with cruffins! These easy-to-make pastries are a bakery-style treat that’s surprisingly easy to make at home.
If you’re a fan of flaky, buttery pastries, then you’re in for a treat with these homemade cruffins! Combining the delicate layers of a croissant with the convenient shape of a muffin, cruffins are a delicious hybrid that brings together the best of both worlds. With just a few simple ingredients and a bit of rolling, you can create these impressive pastries right in your own kitchen. Whether you enjoy them as a breakfast treat, an afternoon snack, or a sweet indulgence anytime, these cinnamon sugar cruffins are sure to become a new favorite. Plus, they’re incredibly versatile—perfect as is or with your own creative twist!
Why You’ll Love This Cruffins Recipe
- Simple ingredients. This recipe uses just a few baking staples plus frozen puff pastry, making it easy and accessible.
- Perfectly flaky. Thanks to the puff pastry, these cruffins are incredibly flaky and crisp on the outside, with a soft, tender interior.
- Versatile treat. Ideal for breakfast, brunch, or a sweet snack, these cruffins are perfect for any time of day.
- Impressively elegant. Despite their simplicity, cruffins look and taste like they came from a fancy bakery, making them great for entertaining or gifting.
- Customizable. Go with the cinnamon-sugar filling, or tweak the filling to suit your tastes.
What is a Cruffin?
A cruffin is a delightful pastry hybrid that combines the best of a croissant and a muffin. Made with flaky, buttery layers of puff pastry, cruffins are rolled and shaped like muffins, then baked to golden perfection. The result is a pastry that has the delicate, crisp texture of a croissant with the satisfying shape and convenience of a muffin. The cruffins you see here are made with a cinnamon-sugar filling, but they can simply be dusted with sugar or filled with other sweet fillings.
What You’ll Need
See the recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Granulated sugar – Just regular white sugar is all you need.
- Ground cinnamon – Use a good quality cinnamon for the best flavor. If your cinnamon has been in the pantry for a while, give it a sniff to see if it still has a strong smell. If not, it’s time to replace it. Learn more: Types of Cinnamon
- Puff pastry – I most often use Pepperidge Farm—you’ll need two sheets of puff pastry for this recipe. Let them thaw but keep them cool while rolling and assembling.
- Unsalted butter – Make sure this is very soft for easy spreading.
How to Make Cruffins
- Prepare for baking. Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease 8 standard muffin cups.
- Make the cinnamon-sugar. Mix the cinnamon and sugar, and set aside a few tablespoons in a small bowl for topping the cruffins after baking.
- Roll and assemble. Roll out one puff pastry sheet to a 1/4-inch thick rectangle 10″ x 12″. Spread half of the softened butter on the pastry and sprinkle with half of the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture. (It’s fine if you don’t quite use all of the butter—you just want to cover the pastry evenly.)
- Cut and shape. Roll up the pastry from the long end. Cut equally into two shorter logs, and cut each of those in half lengthwise. Coil each piece around your finger and pinch the ends to seal. Repeat with the other sheet of pastry.
- Bake. Place the shaped pastries in the prepared pan, and bake 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-sugar when you take them out of the oven.
Tips for Success
- Keep the pastry cool. If at any time your puff pastry becomes to warm and soft to handle, simply place it in the refrigerator for a few minutes. I recommend working with one sheet at a time and keeping the other pastry refrigerated while you’re assembling. Keeping it cool means you’ll get wonderfully flaky layers. If your kitchen is warm or it takes you a while to prep and assemble, place the assembled pastries back in the oven for a few minutes before baking.
- Use very soft butter. Unlike softening butter for creaming, where you want the butter to still be cool and somewhat sturdy, you’ll want your butter to be at room temperature and very soft so it will spread easily without tearing the pastry.
- Use a sharp knife. When cutting the rolled pastry, use a sharp knife or a pastry scraper to get clean cuts, which helps the layers bake evenly and maintain their shape.
- Don’t fret over shaping the cruffins. I have the most success coiling the pastry around my finger to shape it, but feel free to do what works best for you to get a muffin-like shape. Just be sure to have that height so the inside of the cruffins will bake thoroughly.
Variations and Serving Suggestions
- Add a fruity filling. Spread a thin layer of your favorite fruit jam or preserves on the puff pastry before sprinkling with cinnamon-sugar for a fruity twist.
- Make them nutty. Sprinkle finely chopped nuts like almonds, pecans, or hazelnuts over the butter before adding the cinnamon-sugar. The nuts add a delightful crunch and extra flavor.
- Top with a glaze. Drizzle a simple glaze made from confectioners’ sugar and milk over the cooled cruffins for a sweet finish. The glaze on my apple strudel would work well.
- Add more spice. Mix in some additional spices like nutmeg, cardamom, or ginger with the cinnamon-sugar for a more complex flavor profile. Or try a spice blend to simplify.
- Skip the cinnamon-sugar. Keep things simple with just the butter filling. Top with a sprinkle of confectioners’ sugar, a glaze like described above, or serve with your favorite jam and preserves.
How to Store
Cruffins are best enjoyed when they’re freshly baked, but you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days or in the refrigerator up to 5 days. You can reheat them in a warm oven (about 300°F) for a few minutes before serving.
Can Cruffins Be Frozen?
Cruffins can be frozen successfully for up to 2 months. To freeze, allow them to cool completely after baking. (For best results, freezing should be done as soon as the cruffins have cooled completely to lock in their texture as much as possible.) Wrap each cruffin individually in plastic wrap, then place them in a freezer-safe bag or airtight container. When you’re ready to enjoy them, remove the cruffins from the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature. To reheat, place them in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes, or until they are warmed through.
More Puff Pastry Treats
Cinnamon-Sugar Cruffins
These flaky, buttery cruffins are a delightful mix of croissant and muffin, made with puff pastry and a touch of cinnamon-sugar. Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or a sweet treat anytime!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, very soft
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease or line 8 cups of a 12-cavity muffin pan.
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon. Place 3 to 4 tablespoons of the mixture in a separate bowl to top the cruffins after they’ve baked. Set both aside.
- Roll out one of the puff pastry sheets to a rectangle about 10” x 12” and 1/8-inch thick. (Keep the other sheet refrigerated.)
- Spread half of the butter over one of the sheets. (It's okay if you don't quite use all of the butter; just make sure the pastry is evenly covered.) Sprinkle half of the larger portion of cinnamon-sugar over the buttered pastry sheets.
- Starting from the long end, roll the pastry tightly. Cut in half to make two equal size logs, and then cut each of those in half lengthwise.
- Shape each portion into a coil around your finger.
- Place in the prepared pan and refrigerate while you repeat with the remaining puff pastry.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack. Sprinkle the tops of the cruffins with the reserved cinnamon-sugar.
- Cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and then remove the cruffins from the pan and place on a wire rack to continue cooling.
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