{recipe} Easy Homemade Cruffins with Vanilla Custard Filling
You’ve probably heard of cronuts by now, but are you hip to cruffins? Yes, hot on the heels of the hybrid croissant-donut that became the notorious cronut, we now have a custard-filled croissant-muffin mashup called a cruffin. If you’re like me, and don’t fancy standing in a long line to get one, I have good news for you: you can make these beauties at home pretty easily by using frozen croissant dough.
I filled these with homemade vanilla custard, but you could also leave them unfilled and serve them with jam, or fill these with whipped cream or store-bought pudding. It’s not very difficult or time-consuming to make a delicious vanilla custard at home, should you choose that route.
Trader Joe’s sells frozen croissants in plain, almond, and chocolate. For this batch I used Boulangerie Solignac chocolate croissants from Whole Foods. You can buy fancy frozen croissants from Williams-Sonoma or L’Epicerie, too.
Of course, if you wanted to drizzle them with chocolate or caramel sauce before serving, who am I to stop you?
P.S. If you want to learn my super easy cheater way to make cronuts, here you go.
RECIPE: Easy Homemade Cruffins
makes 8
INGREDIENTS:
- 8 frozen croissants
- about 1 cup white sugar
METHOD:
- 8-12 hours before baking, spray a muffin tin lightly with non-stick spray. Remove frozen croissants from package and roll liberally in sugar. Place one on top of each opening of the muffin tin. (They will be frozen so not yet malleable.)
- About an hour later, the croissants should be soft enough to fold and place into the muffin tin.
- When soft enough to completely manipulate, twist each croissant and fold in half to create a bulbous top. (This will be a highly imperfect process so don’t worry if it is not exact.) Place the folded part into the muffin tin, fold side down, with the smoothest bulb part facing up.
- Cover lightly and allow to rise fully before baking – usually 8-12 hours total, depending on package directions.
- When ready to bake, heat oven according to package directions. Sprinkle each cruffin with about a teaspoon of sugar. Bake until golden brown on the outside and fully cooked through. Let cool about 10 minutes before removing from muffin tin.
- If serving as is, move to serving plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve within a few hours.
- If serving with custard, let cool to room temperature. Use a paring knife and your fingers to make a hole in the center of each and spoon or pipe custard filling inside. Fill with custard just before serving so they don’t get soggy.
RECIPE: Vanilla Custard Filling
makes just enough to fill 8 cruffins and eat a few spoonfuls
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tblsp flour
- pinch salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
METHOD:
- Put half of the sugar in a small bowl. Add flour and salt and mix together. Add egg yolks and whisk vigorously until it starts to get a little thicker and lighter in color. Set aside.
- Place milk and half the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until milk just starts to bubble around the edges. Turn off the heat.
- Temper the eggs and hot milk: Pour a bit of the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk well. Repeat this step a few times. Add the egg and milk mixture back into the milk saucepan.
- Place back on the stove over medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens into the desired texture. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- If there are any egg lumps, push through a fine strainer. Otherwise, remove to a bowl and put a piece of plastic wrap directly over the top and pressing into the custard to prevent a skin from forming.
- Chill to room temperature before filling cruffins as noted above.
I love that kind of muffins, I can eat them everyday 😀