Flaky and buttery and covered with scrumptious cinnamon sugar, these Easy Cruffins take store bought crescent roll dough and turn it into breakfast magic.
Croissant, Meet Muffin
What do you get when you cross a croissant and a muffin? They’re not the punchline of a joke, friends. They’re delicious, delicious breakfast treats. These Easy Cruffins are like the love child of my two favorite breakfast pastries. Croissant meets muffin in one beautiful pastry. I always order the cruffin when we go to bakeries that have them. Over the years, they have become one of my favorite pastries.
Watch Me Make Easy Cruffins
Join me in the kitchen to make a batch of these scrumptious cinnamon sugar cruffins.
What is a Cruffin?
What’s a cruffin? A cruffin is a cross between a croissant and a muffin. Not to be mistaken for a puffin, a puff pastry muffin combo (also an adorable sea bird), or a biffin, a muffin made with biscuit dough. Though, both of those sound delicious! A cruffin takes crescent roll dough and bakes it up in a muffin pan.
What’s the difference between crescent roll and puff pastry? That’s a great question. They’re both laminated doughs, but croissant dough contains yeast that makes them bake up puffy and light. Which is the texture we’re going for!
Why are you using store-bought dough? We actually made cruffins years ago with homemade dough (to replicate the famous ones at Dominique Ansel Bakery in NYC), but that was way too much work for every day baking. So, I created a quick recipe using canned crescent roll dough and here we are! My cruffin recipes include:
These beauties came about one day when I decided to play around with canned crescent roll dough. I mean, I feel like I’ve tapped out my creativity with canned cinnamon rolls (if you know, you know 😂). And this Easy Cruffins recipe turned out GREAT. I was so thrilled with how amazing these turned out with so little effort and ingredients!
What is in a Cinnamon Cruffin?
Four ingredients. That’s all there is to it. Just some canned crescent roll dough, cinnamon, sugar, and of course, butter. And they come out flaky, buttery, and covered with delicious cinnamon sugar (with sugar and cinnamon throughout!). Delicious! I can’t wait to show you how to make them!
How to Make Easy Cruffins
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. Then use a pastry roller to roll out each sheet of the crescent roll dough until you have 3 larger rectangles that are slightly larger than what you started with and the perforated lines are blended back together.
- Spread the softened butter onto the sheets.
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and whisk with a fork to combine. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the buttered sheets.
- Starting on the long end of the rectangle, roll up the dough into a log. Cut the dough in half, giving you shorter logs. Then cut each of those logs in half, lengthwise. Repeat with the other two sheets. When you’re finished, you should have 12 pieces.
- Take each piece and wrap it around your finger to form the shape of a muffin, with the layered side facing out.
- Place each rolled piece in the greased muffin pan.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and immediately remove the cruffins from the pan. Sprinkle each cruffin generously with the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place them on a cooling rack.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!!
If you make these Easy Cruffins, be sure to snap a picture and share it with me or tag me on Instagram @thebakermama so I can see. 
I love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the recipes I share. Enjoy!
xoxo,
Easy Cruffins
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 cruffins 1x
Description
Flaky and buttery and covered with scrumptious cinnamon sugar, these Easy Cruffins take store bought crescent roll dough and turn it into breakfast magic.
Ingredients
- 3 (8 ounce) tubes of crescent roll dough
- 1/2 cup butter, completely softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Roll out each sheet of the crescent roll dough until you have 3 larger rectangles that are slightly larger than what you started with and the perforated lines are blended back together.
- Spread the softened butter onto the sheets.
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and whisk with a fork to combine.
- Sprinkle half of the cinnamon/sugar mixture on top of the buttered sheets.
- Starting on the long end of the rectangle, roll up the dough into a log.
- Cut the dough in half, giving you shorter logs.
- Then cut each of those logs in half, lengthwise.
- Repeat with the other two sheets. When you’re finished, you should have 12 pieces.
- Take each piece and wrap it around your finger to form the shape of a muffin, with the layered side facing out.
- Place each rolled piece in the greased muffin pan.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time.
- Remove from the oven and immediately remove the cruffins from the pan.
- Sprinkle each cruffin generously with the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place them on a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
I can’t wait to make these for Easter brunch! Per the previous comments I’m going to add in some finely chopped pecans and a light drizzle of icing. I was toying with the idea of adding some finely chopped apples in 1/2 the kruffins- do you think this will alter the recipe too much?
Hi Gaye! I think that all sounds amazing! Just make sure the pecans and apples are finely chopped or they will be hard to roll-up, cut and shape into the muffin pan. Otherwise, it’s certainly worth a try as I think they will bake up beautifully. Let us know how they turn out. Enjoy!
Can you use margarine instead of butter?
Hi Jj! Yes, margarine will work great as well. Enjoy!
Can these be frozen and defrosted?
Hi Michelle! Yes, they can be frozen. I would recommend letting them cool completely, wrapping them individually in plastic wrap and then placing them in a freezer-safe resealable plastic bag to protect them from freezer burn. They will keep best in the freezer for up to 1 month. To enjoy from frozen, I would recommend letting them defrost in the sealed bag at room temperature. Place the thawed cruffin on a baking sheet and reheat in a 350°F for 2-3 minutes until crisp again on top and warmed through. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
Made these with my grandchildren this morning! So easy and delicious! Make more than one batch as you’ll want more than one! I mixed milk and icing sugar to a syrupy consistency and drizzled over slightly warm cruffins! 😋
★★★★★
Wow Linda! That icing sounds like an amazing addition. So happy to hear you’re enjoying them!
Could you prep this the night before, refrigerate over night and bake in the morning? Thanks!
Hi Stacey! Yes, you certainly can, but I find that they rise best when baked right after shaping. They still taste great if prepped in advance. If you do prep them the night before, place them in the muffin pan and then seal with plastic wrap so no air can get in. Store in the refrigerator overnight, remove plastic wrap and bake as directed. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
Do you just butter the top sheet or each sheet of dough?
Hi Lisa! You’ll butter each rolled out sheet separately and roll them up separately. There’s no need to layer the crescent roll dough. Each can is rolled out, cut and formed into the cruffin shape separately. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
Hi! canned crescent roll dough is not laminated. it is a simple bread dough that you roll into a crescent shape. these look delicious but they aren’t really cruffins if they aren’t made with a laminated dough. https://theydiffer.com/difference-between-crescent-rolls-and-croissants/#:~:text=Lamination%20is%20the%20technique%20of,roll%20dough%20is%20not%20laminated.
Looks so good . Will be making them today. I’m going to add chopped pecans to my sugar cinnamon mixture. Hope it works.
These were easy and delicious. I cut them into a third of the size per the recipe and baked in mini muffin pans to make them easier for little kids. I couldn’t twist them but just bent them in half and it worked out well. They were tasty and not too sweet. A hit for sure. Would make again n
★★★★★