Morning Buns
Can’t decide between a croissant and a cinnamon roll? Meet the most delicious solution: the Morning Bun.
These breakfast pastries are light, flaky, buttery, sweet and full of sticky cinnamon goodness! Total decadence!
If your weekend is chock-full, you’re better off finding a bakery that has them, ‘cause these beauties do not bake up quickly, but if you’ve got a little time on your hands, I can’t think of a better, more delicious tasting and smelling weekend baking project! Read on and I’ll talk you through it—
One word of warning—don’t attempt to make this without an electric mixer that has a dough hook— regular beaters won’t be able to handle it and I don’t want you to destroy your machine.
Anyhoo, on Day 1 you start by mixing up the yeast, warm milk, honey, egg whites and some of the bread flour.
Next, you sprinkle the remaining bread flour and whole wheat flour atop the dough without stirring it in and let that sit in a warm spot until the dough mixture bubbles up around the flour.
Now it’s just a matter of mixing in the eggs, cold milk and vanilla extract. And the butter. All 16 tablespoons of it—1 tablespoon at a time—so be patient—it’s gonna take some time. Now while the dough rises overnight in the fridge, go do an extra hard workout so you can enjoy these tomorrow guilt-free!!
Day 2. Welcome back! Cut the chilled dough in half, roll each piece out into a fairly large rectangle—
And spread with a buttery, cinnamon-brown sugar mixture (yes, there’s more butter—why do you think these taste so good?!!)
Roll up the dough into a log.
And after a short chilling period, cut into slices and place into muffin tins, letting them rise once again.
Finally, it’s bake time and happily, that only takes about half an hour! The buns emerge golden brown and bubbly—
But you’re not done yet. Nope, now you bathe each bun in a honey butter mixture and sprinkle with sanding sugar (because we haven’t added enough butter or sweetness to these babies, yet!!)
The original recipe suggests waiting until these are fully cool to serve them—
But who are we kidding, after all this time, can we wait any longer?!! How can we resist peeling away each gorgeously delicate and cinammon-y fluffy layer?!!
Have a great weekend everybody!
Morning Buns
Makes 2 dozen (you could definitely halve the recipe but these freeze amazingly and last at least a month that way)
For this recipe you really need a stand mixer that has a paddle attachment and a dough hook.
Prep Time: This is a two-dayer—no one part takes a whole lot of time but there are multiple risings and mixings and assembly times—save this for when you have time.
Ingredients
For the dough
2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast (about 1 packet if you are using the packaged dry yeast)
1 cup whole milk, warmed to about 110ºF
¼ cup cold whole milk
1 teaspoon plus ¼ cup honey, divided
4 large eggs, separated, plus 1 egg yolk
3 ½ cups bread flour, divided (you might need a little extra)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (cut to 1 teaspoon if using Mortons)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, room temperature
For the filling and assembly
¾ cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 tablespoons cinnamon
½ cup honey, divided
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
Sanding sugar
The Recipe
1. To make the dough: Place the yeast, warm milk, and the 1 teaspoon honey in the large bowl of the electric mixer and whisk together. Let sit for about 5 minutes, until foamy. Fit the machine with the paddle attachment. Add the egg whites, 2 cups of the bread flour and the ¼ cup honey and beat on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very light and thick. Detach the paddle, scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula and sprinkle all of the whole wheat flour and another 1 ½ cups of the bread flour over the top. Do not stir. Place the bowl, uncovered, in a warm spot and let sit for about 30-40 minutes, until you see the mixture bubbling up around the flour. If your kitchen is cold, turn the oven on to 225ºF and set the bowl on top or nearby to help it warm up.
2. Add the salt, vanilla, egg yolks, and cold milk to the bowl and use a dough hook on low speed to mix the ingredients together until a shaggy dough starts to form. Scrape down the sides as needed. Then increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for another 8-10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic and climbing up the dough hook—you’ll see that the dough clears the sides but sticks to the bottom of the bowl a little. If after about 5 minutes of mixing the dough is still very sticky, add more bread flour, a tablespoonful at a time, until the dough stops being too sticky.
3. Lower the mixer to medium-low and add the butter pieces one at a time, letting the dough completely absorb the butter before you add the next piece—this will take a while, just put on some music and be patient. Once the butter is added the dough will be very smooth and still slightly tacky and be soft and and sort of spongey too. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill for at least 8 hours and up to 16 hours.
4. To make the filling and assemble the buns: Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, ¼ cup honey and 8 tablespoons butter to a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, just until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Place in fridge for 10 minutes to cool.
5. Place a piece of parchment paper onto the counter and lightly flour it. Remove the dough from the fridge, uncover and punch it down. Turn it out onto the paper and divide it in half. Place one piece back into the bowl, cover and stick it back into the fridge. Roll out the remaining piece of dough on the parchment into a 16x12'“ rectangle. Spread half of the brown sugar mixture evenly across the dough. Starting with a long side that’s closest to you, use the parchment paper to help roll the dough into a tight log. (Try to work quickly so that the dough doesn’t get too warm and sticky. If you feel that it is, stick it back into the fridge for a few minutes to firm it up.) Once you’ve rolled it into a log, place it seam-side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Chill for 30 minutes, until firm. Repeat the process with the second piece of dough.
6. While dough is chilling, spray two-12 muffin cup pans with non-stick cooking spray. Make sure rack is centered in the oven and preheat to 350ºF.
7. Trim the edges of the logs about ½ inch from the ends to neaten them up and then, on the diagonal, cut each log into 12 equal pieces. Place cut side up, into the prepared muffin cups and cover loosely with the plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature in a warm place until dough has puffed and expanded to the edges of the muffin cups, about 30-35 minutes. If you poke the dough and it springs back but still holds a slight indentation, it’s ready.
8. Bake the trays for 20-25 minutes until the buns are golden brown all over, reversing them left to right and front to back, at the halfway mark.
9. While the buns are baking, heat the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and ¼ cup honey in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring a little until smooth. Remove from the heat.
10. As soon as the buns come out of the oven, use a pastry brush to brush the tops of them with the honey butter mixture and sprinkle with the sanding sugar. Remove them from the pans now because otherwise they will stick as the sugar cools and hardens. Transfer to wire racks to cool and serve.
11. These are best on the day they are made, but still pretty yummy when warmed up. Store any leftovers in the freezer for up to 1 month in an airtight container or bag. Pull out as many as you want the night before you want to serve them, let thaw overnight in the fridge and then warm in a 350ºF oven.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine. I cut the orange zest from the dough and the ¾ teaspoon cardamom from the brown sugar filling. I also simplified some of the baking techniques. Also, this recipe halves really well.
