These easy cinnamon sugar cruffins are a hybrid of croissants and muffins! They have a flakey, buttery exterior that’s coated in cinnamon sugar and are incredibly easy to make from the comfort of your kitchen!
Why you’ll love this recipe:
Did you know you can make cruffins out of crescent roll dough? If not, you’re in for a real treat! Layers of pastry swirls get baked in a muffin tin, then rolled in a hefty amount of cinnamon sugar to result in something reminiscent of a flakey cinnamon roll! They can take a while to make from scratch, but luckily for you, I have a shortcut that allows you to make cruffins at home in a fraction of the time!
Store-bought crescent roll dough is what makes this recipe so quick and easy! It’s as simple as unrolling the dough, filling with butter, and covering in cinnamon sugar, rolling, cutting, and baking in a muffin tin! I’ll have all the step-by-step instructions included in this post.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- Crescent roll dough
- Softened butter
- Granulated sugar
- Cinnamon
I love how there’s no special skills or equipment needed for this recipe. Turning something that’s typically time consuming and complicated to make into a super approachable, fun recipe is what this site is all about. I promise, if you have a standard muffin tin, you can make these easy cruffins!
To me, cruffins have the taste and texture that’s most like churros from the cinnamon sugar coating. And the best part? They’re perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert with a scoop of ice cream! 4 ingredients and 30 minutes is all you need to make a dozen of these shortcut cruffins.
How to make the best cinnamon sugar cruffins:
- PREP: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick spray or melted butter. Set aside. Unroll your tube of crescent roll dough and pinch together the seams to create one sheet. Lightly roll over the dough with a rolling pin to make sure the seams stick together.
- ADD THE FILLING: Evenly spread 2 tbsp of softened butter on the dough, then sprinkle 2 tbsp of cinnamon sugar on top of the butter, making sure to gently press it into the dough.
- ROLL AND CUT: Starting with the long end of the dough, tightly roll into a log. Using a sharp knife, cut the log in half, creating two shorter logs. Cut each of the shorter logs in half lengthwise to reveal the inside of the layers. Now you’ll have 4 sections of dough. Repeat with remaining two tubes of crescent dough, until you have 12 sections.
- SHAPE AND BAKE: Working one by one, roll each section into a spiral shape (like a cinnamon roll) and place in your prepared muffin tin. Repeat with the 11 remaining sections. Bake for 20-22 minutes, then let cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
- COAT: While still warm, roll each cruffin in the remaining cinnamon sugar and enjoy!
If you were to ask me what I wanted from the bakery, I‘d most likely say anything with cinnamon. Because of that, cruffins have become a go-to order! I’m so excited to now be able to make them at home, so I wanted to include some extra tips for success below!
My top tips:
- Puff pastry vs crescent dough: You could use puff pastry instead of crescent roll dough here, but you’ll want to be sure you give your puff pastry enough time to thaw properly and keep in mind the bake time may be a little longer for puff pastry as well. I’ll admit, I prefer the crescent rolls for a softer interior compared to puff pastry which is crisper and more flakey.
- The sugar tends to caramelize on the bottoms of these cruffins (which is delicious) but can result in sticking. To avoid this, be sure to HEAVILY grease your muffin tin before adding the cruffins and baking.
- If you’re using the crescent rolls with perforations like I did, no problem! Just be sure to pinch the seams together to create one sheet. It can also help to reinforce this by making a quick pass with a rolling pin. If you can find them, they do make crescent roll sheets without the perforations that would allow you to skip this extra step.
- To prevent having a huge mess on your hands when shaping the cruffins, I highly recommend two things: rolling tightly and using a sharp knife to cut! The tighter to you roll your log, the less likely it is to fall apart when you cut your log into sections. I find using a sharp knife to cut the dough really helps as well.
- Rolling the cruffins in cinnamon sugar while they’re still warm helps the cinnamon sugar stick to the exterior of the cruffins. If you don’t want to cover the entire exterior in cinnamon sugar, feel free to just sprinkle the tops!
- Cruffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days, I like reheating any leftovers in the air fryer for 2-3 minutes or until warmed though. This keeps the exterior nice and crispy too!
Looking for more muffin tin recipes? Try these out!
- Buckeye Brownie Bites
- Key Lime Cookie Cups
- Loaded Tater Tot Cups
- Mini Banana Pudding Cheesecakes
- Hawaiian Roll Sticky Buns
Cinnamon Sugar Cruffins
Ingredients
- 3 (8 oz) tubes crescent rolls
- 6 tbsp softened butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick spray or melted butter. Set aside.
- Unroll your tube of crescent roll dough and pinch together the seams to create one sheet. Lightly roll over the dough with a rolling pin to make sure the seams stick together.
- Evenly spread 2 tbsp of softened butter on the dough, then sprinkle 2 tbsp of cinnamon sugar on top of the butter, making sure to gently press it into the dough.
- Starting with the long end of the dough, tightly roll into a log. Using a sharp knife, cut the log in half, creating two shorter logs.
- Cut each of the shorter logs in half lengthwise to reveal the inside of the layers. Now you’ll have 4 sections of dough.
- Repeat with remaining two tubes of crescent dough, until you have 12 sections.
- Working one by one, roll each section into a spiral shape (like a cinnamon roll) and place in your prepared muffin tin. Repeat with the 11 remaining sections.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes, then let cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
- While still warm, roll each cruffin in the remaining cinnamon sugar and enjoy!
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these look delish!! any helpful hints for making them into mini muffins?
Hi Mary! Thank you! To make these into mini cruffins, you will make 8 cruffins (instead of 4) per can of crescent roll dough. This will give you a total of 24 cruffins if using all three cans of dough. You’ll cut each log in half (like the original), and then cut in half again, to make 4 small logs of dough. You’ll then cut each small log in half lengthwise for a total of 8. Roll as directed and place into the prepared mini muffin tin before baking! Hope this helps!