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This easy Swirled Cinnamon Sugar Croissant Loaf is kind of like a croissant, kind of like a cinnamon roll, but most importantly…it’s kind of INCREDIBLE! This light, buttery, super soft, and extra flaky croissant loaf is swirled with sweet cinnamon sugar. It makes for the most delicious, extra fancy, and super cozy addition to your autumn weekend. This loaf is great on its own, warm with butter, or equally delicious smeared with homemade apple butter. It’s best enjoyed with my favorite pumpkin latte for the coziest fall treat…any time of the day. Or use this bread to make your favorite french toast – the options are endless with this amazing texture. Bonus? Making this pretty loaf is easier than you might think.
It’s the first Friday of October and I am in full-on autumn baking GO mode. Anyone else?
I know it’s not just me because my Instagram feed is flooded with photos of pumpkin bread, jack-o-lantern cookies, and apple cake. I think it’s safe to say everyone is slowly settling into these cozy autumn days. Am I right?
I sure hope so, because I have the very best recipe to share with you all today. It’s one you’re going to find yourself making over and over again.
Watch Me Make This:
Say hello to the croissant loaf…with cinnamon sugar and more butter than you’d think a loaf of bread could ever need. It’s perfection and your weekend NEEDS this bread.
Here’s the story, this started out as a scone recipe, but the scones turned out a bit crumbly. Somehow my scones mixture then morphed into a croissant loaf. Cinnamon sugar was added, and the loaf turned out so good.
And that’s the story. It’s not that the scones weren’t good, because they were. But when my thoughts turned to a croissant loaf the scones just seemed to fade away.
Let’s be real, if you have the choice between a scone and a croissant, you’re going to choose the croissant. Always the croissant.
I debated adding things like chocolate and pumpkin butter, but in the end, I just wanted cinnamon sugar. Because sometimes you just want the classics. And even though there’s no pumpkin or apple in this recipe, this loaf still screams fall to me. It’s sweet, buttery, has warming cinnamon, and is all-around one of the best fall treats you can make.
Here are the details:
As the title suggests, this loaf is EASY.
BUT, looking at the recipe steps may just scare you off. There are a lot of them. But only because I wanted to provide you guys with good detailed directions on exactly how to make this loaf. There is a lot of butter, layering, and rolling. But unlike traditional croissants, this loaf takes 3-4 hours total, not 3 days. Most of the time is spent rising, and honestly, you can’t mess this loaf up. As long as you have the dough made, and some cinnamon sugar, all will be good.
A step-by-step breakdown for you…
1st, make the dough. It’s simple: milk, instant yeast, honey, flour, and salt. Nothing fancy.
2nd, roll the dough out.
3rd, add very thin slices of COLD butter to the center of the dough. This is your “butter packet” (see all my photos for visuals).
4th, roll it out. Again. Freeze 20 minutes.
5th, roll it out. Again. Add cinnamon sugar and roll the dough into a log.
6th, cut the log into rolls and arrange the rolls in a loaf pan.
7th, let the dough rise.
8th, bake until golden brown. Smell the wonderful, warming, cozy, and delicious smells coming from your oven.
9th, eat and enjoy.
The key steps?
Folding the dough and freezing the dough. The multiple folds evenly spread the butter throughout the dough. And the freezing quickly chills the butter and creates all the buttery air packets throughout each loaf.
Do not skip either step.
Fall additions you could make…
Along with the cinnamon sugar, you could also add pumpkin butter, apple butter, or even chopped chocolate.
If you do decide to add pumpkin or apple butter, spread it over the dough in place of the butter, then add the cinnamon sugar.
If using chocolate, use finely chopped chocolate and sprinkle over top the cinnamon sugar.
YUM.
I know, this kind of seems like a lot, but I promise you guys, this is easy. You can make this.
And like I side, you can’t mess it up. Because nothing could ever be bad about a buttery loaf of bread with cinnamon sugar. And yes, this recipe uses close to three sticks of butter. It’s a lot, but it sure is good.
And it’s fall, it’s the weekend, and you should enjoy it.
Best part? This recipe makes 2 loaves. One for this weekend and one for your sweet friends, neighbor, or to freeze and enjoy mid-week.
And with that, I’ll leave you with the recipe. Please make this soon, this weekend would be ideal. And do enjoy with my favorite pumpkin latte for a truly delectable autumn treat any time of the day. ENJOY and see you guys tomorrow for the first “spooky” cocktail Saturday…finally!
If you make this easy swirled cinnamon sugar croissant loaf be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Easy Swirled Cinnamon Sugar Croissant Loaf.
Servings: 18 makes 2 (9x5 inch) loaves
Calories Per Serving: 300 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups warm whole milk
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 1/2 - 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
- 2 sticks (1 cup) cold salted butter, sliced into thin pieces
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg, beaten, for brushing
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the milk, honey, 4 1/2 cups flour, yeast, and salt. Using the dough hook, mix until the flour is completely incorporated, about 4-5 minutes. Add 4 tablespoons room temp butter and mix until combined, about 2-3 minutes more, adding the additional 1/2 cup flour as needed, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until doubled in size.3. Punch the dough down and roll out onto a lightly floured surface, creating a large rectangle that’s about 12x18 inches. Layer the thin slices of cold butter down the middle 1/3 the dough, pressing gently to adhere and layering the slices together to create a rectangle of butter. Gently push the butter together with your hands (see above photo). 4. First fold: Fold 1/3 of the dough over the butter, then fold the other 1/3 over top of the first layer so you have 3 dough layers (like an envelope, see above photo). Roll the dough out again into a large rectangle, fold into thirds. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes..5. Second Fold: Remove the dough from the freezer. Roll the dough into a rectangle (about 12x18 inches) and fold into envelope. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes.6. Meanwhile, butter two (9x5 inch) bread pans. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. 7. Remove the dough from the freezer. Roll the dough into a rectangle. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons softened butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the butter. Starting with the edge of dough closest to you, roll the dough into a log, keeping it tight as you go. When you reach the edge, pinch along the edges to seal.8. Cut the dough log in half. Cut each half into 10-11 rolls. Arrange each roll into the prepared bread pans. You can place them seam side down, or alternate each roll to show more of the filling (see above photo). Cover and let rise 15 minutes. 9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the bread pans on a rimmed baking sheet and brush each loaf with the beaten egg. Transfer to the oven and bake 35-40 minutes or until dark brown on top. Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a cooling rack. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
To Use Active Dry Yeast: Mix 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast with the warm milk and honey. Let sit 5-10 minutes, until bubbly and foamy on top. Add the flour and follow the directions as listed for the remainder of the recipe.
To Make Ahead: prepare the bread through step 8. Do not let the bread rise at room temp. Cover the loaves of bread and place in the fridge for up to overnight. When ready to bake, remove the bread from the fridge 30 minutes prior to baking, then bake as directed.
To Freeze The Dough Before Baking: prepare the bread through step 8. Do not let the bread rise at room temp. Cover the loaves of dough tightly and freeze in the bread pans for up to 3 month. When ready to bake, remove the bread from the freeze and thaw for 2-3 hours on the counter, then bake as directed.
To Freeze The Bread After Baking: bake the bread as directed and allow to cool completely. Once cool, wrap the bread tightly with plastic wrap, then transfer to a freezer safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter and warm or toast before serving.
Leftovers: the bread is best served warm after baking, but the leftover bread is delicious when lightly toasted or served at room temperature.
This post was originally published on October 4, 2019
Is there any substitutes for yeast?
Hi Leigh,
So sorry you need the yeast for this recipe! I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hi Leigh,
So sorry but you will need the yeast for this recipe. I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hi! How long do we let the dough sit after freezing it each round? I feel like it will be tough to roll out frozen dough! (Just don’t want to mess anything up!)
Hi Hannah,
You are going to work with the dough directly out of the freezer, just put a little muscle into it? I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hi Hannah,
You are going to work with the dough directly out of the freezer, just put a little muscle into it:) I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Looks delicious! Have you had any success with vegan butters and croissants? I can’t have dairy but I’d love to make this recipe! 🙂
Hi Cachae! Unfortunately, I have not tired this with vegan butter. If you do, please let me know! xTieghan
Hi, I want to make this recipe tomorrow but was wondering if there was any danger in halving the recipe? I don’t want to mess up the laminating process or anything. Thanks!
Fantastic!!! Had to bake an additional 20 min. Switched to convection for those last 20. This is the easiest laminated dough I have ever made. Thank you so much!!!!
Thank you Christina! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! xTieghan
As the auto-generator of metric measurements is off by quite a bit, I’ve manually calculated them, if you (like me) bake by weight than volume.
420ml whole milk
1.5 tbsp instant yeast
2 tbsp honey
585-650g AP flour
2 tsp salt
85g room temp salted butter (30g reserved)
225g cold salted butter
100g granulated sugar (caster sugar in Europe)
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
Excellent recipe, worked so well and tasted amazing!
Hi Holly! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Also, thank you so much for sharing the metric ingredients! xTieghan
Thank you!!! I vastly prefer to bake by weight and was ready to use the King Arthur conversions.
Hi! I don’t have bread pans… can I use something else? If so, does it change the cooking instructions?
Thank you! Can’t wait to try it
Hi Amberley,
You can bake these in a 9×13 inch baking dish and they will be more like mini cinnamon rolls. Leave everything the same!
Am I able to use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast? I don’t have any instant yeast but I still want to make this as a fun quarantine activity!!
HI! Yes, that works perfectly. below are directions. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
To Use Active Dry Yeast: Mix 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast with the warm milk. Let sit 5-10 minutes, until bubbly and foamy on top. Add the flour and follow the directions as listed for the remainder of the recipe.
Can you substitute whole milk for non dairy milk?
Hi Elizabeth! I have not tried it with this recipe, so I would not feel comfortable recommending it! If you do try, please let me know! xTieghan
I’m confused. It states the recipe uses four sticks of butter but only uses two sticks and six tablespoons. Don’t get me wrong- butter is my best friend! I must be missing something.
Hi there! You need 6 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature and then 2 sticks (1 cup) cold salted butter, sliced into thin pieces. Does this make sense?
Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
We just ate this for breakfast and it was phenomenal. I added chopped 70% chocolate on top of the sugar and cinnamon. Great recipe and really not hard, just a bunch of steps!
Hi Connie! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! Thank you for trying it! xTieghan
Hello there,what a delicious recipe. This bread looks so yummy! I can’t wait to make it this weekend.
I wanted to clarify a couple of things. The recipe calls for 6 TBSP of salted butter ( step 1- 4 TBSP, step 7-2 TBSP.) However, I noticed in some of the comments provided for other readers there is mention on 8 TBPS of butter. So I wanted to clarify which amount to use? I am also wondering about making this bread overnight. The suggestion is to not let bread rise at room temperature. So if I am reading this correctly, I would skip the rising in Step 2, but still follow all the freezing steps 4 & 5, is that right? Thank you 🙂
Hi Olya! I amounts of butter listed within the recipe are the amounts you should use 🙂
You should do the rising in step 2 and then also the freezing steps. Then, finish rising in the fridge overnight. Does that make sense?
Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Good morning,
The measurements are different for US customary and metric. Can you please confirm which is correct? Thank you!
Hi Carolyn, we use US measurements. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Really good! This was my first time making something this complex. Made a couple of adjustments to lessen the amount of fat and sugar, I also mixed the dough by hand and kneaded it for about 5 minutes because I didn’t have a mixer. First, I halved the amount of cold butter. Second, I halved the amount of cinnamon sugar filling. This resulted in a slightly denser bread than shown in the pictures, but it was still amazing with some banana foster butter! I think next time, I’ll increase the amount of butter and sugar a little more for a richer flavor 🙂
I am so glad you enjoyed this Ginny! Thank you for trying it! xTieghan
I’ve been looking for a recipe like this but for rolls. Do you think I could make cinnamon rolls with this?
HI! Yes, cinnamon rolls will be delicious when using this recipe. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you and Merry Christmas! xTieghan