Vanilla Bean Morning Buns – Puff pastry rolled into a bun with vanilla bean sugar, a hint of cinnamon, and baked until puffed and golden brown.
There are so many things I unexpectedly learned from my college job at Starbucks – (1) what to drink when I need the most caffeine possibly, (2) there is not enough fat in half and half to make whipped cream, and (3) there are sooo many pastries that I had never even heard of.
By far, my favorite thing was learning about all the pastries. Sometimes that meant tasting a few – how else am I really going to know how I feel about these new foods?! Some pastries that I learned about while working at Starbucks include: old fashioned doughnuts, seven layer bars, cake pops, pumpkin scones, and today’s recipe…morning buns! Actually, today’s recipe is for Vanilla Bean Morning Buns because I just had to make them extra special. Without further ado, let’s take a look at these babies:
What are morning buns?
When I first had a morning bun, I remember it being a mix between a cinnamon roll and a croissants – flaky, chewy, cinnamony, sugary, delicious. And that’s exactly what it is! They’re basically cinnamon rolls made from croissant dough.
Now, I love making croissants, but that dough is a lot of work and sometimes I just don’t feel like doing all that. So I took a little shortcut with this recipe – I used frozen puff pastry dough. There are a couple other things I did to make these buns unique. Let’s discuss.
How are these vanilla bean morning buns made?
The most distinguishing ingredient in this recipe for mornings buns is the vanilla bean sugar. You can certainly buy vanilla sugar but it’s so so so easy to make so you can just do it yourself.
Vanilla bean sugar is made by scraping out the vanilla bean flecks out of a vanilla bean pod and stirring into white granulated sugar. The longer the vanilla bean sits with the sugar, the deeper the flavor becomes. And the shelf life is a few weeks so you can make the recipe here, use it for the morning buns and then keep the leftovers to use however you like – in your coffee, in your cereal, on your grapefruit, the possibilities are endless!
My favorite part about using the vanilla bean sugar is how gorgeous the vanilla bean flecks look in the dough. How beautiful is that?!
Tips and tricks
To make sure you get these morning buns done right, here are a few tips:
- Pastry dough is very sensitive to temperature. The colder the dough is, the flakier the pastry will be. Therefore, if the dough gets too warm when you’re forming the buns, stick them in the freezer for a few minutes to firm it back up.
- If you are planning ahead, make the vanilla bean sugar as soon as possible. The longer the vanilla and sugar spend together in the jar, the deeper the vanilla flavor gets.
- Do not pull the buns out of the oven until the tops are completely golden brown. The center will still be a little doughy – which is what you want! But if you pull them out too soon, the center will be too raw.
Vanilla Bean Morning Buns
Ingredients
For the morning buns:
- 6 tablespoons vanilla bean sugar divided, see recipe below
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry thawed
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted, softened
For the vanilla bean sugar (makes 1.5 cups):
- 1/2 vanilla bean
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
For the morning buns:
- Prepare vanilla bean sugar. See recipe below. Then, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 12 cup muffin pan with non-stick spray and dust with a little vanilla bean sugar in each cup. Tap out the excess. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons vanilla bean sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Remove 1 tablespoons of mixture and place in a separate shallow bowl. Add 2 more tablespoons of vanilla bean sugar to shallow bowl. Set both bowls aside.
- Dust 1 tablespoon of vanilla bean sugar on clean surface. Place one sheet of puff pastry on top of sugar and open it so it's flat. Spread 2 tablespoons of butter on the pastry. Dust evenly with 1/2 of brown sugar mixture. Using a rolling pin, gently roll over the sugar and press it into the dough. Starting on the long end, tightly roll the pastry to make one long log. Cut log in half and then cut each half into 3 pieces to make for 6 pieces. Repeat with other sheet of pastry.
- Place each rolled piece of dough into each cup of the prepared muffin pan, cut side up. Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, or until tops are deep golden brown. Remove from oven. Remove each bun from the pan and roll in shallow bowl with sugar mixture. Set on wire rack to cool for a couple minutes before serving. Serve warm or room temperature. Best enjoyed same day.
For the vanilla bean sugar:
- Add 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar to a glass jar. Split vanilla bean and scrape beans out and add to jar. Place bean shell in jar, as well. Close jar and shake to distribute bean flecks throughout sugar. The longer you let the sugar sit, the deeper the vanilla bean flavor will become.
Pin for later:
More treats you’ll love:
Strawberries & Cream Danish
Classic Butter Croissants
Almond Croissants
Like almost every comment here, I haven’t made this yet but intend to! One thing though – vanilla bean sugar has a shelf life of years, not weeks. Those beans are expensive! People: throw out the sugar after a few weeks 🙂
I mean DON’T throw it out!
What a delicious way to wake up to. This would be perfect for weekend brunches.
I am so glad I ran into this recipe! My mouth is watering!! My daughter would love to make these! I’m printing this out as we speak so I can make them this week!!
Even though I don’t eat a lot of sweets, these are calling to me!
Well these morning buns are just lovely!! And I love your stories about what you learned working at Starbucks – I was a barista oh so briefly in college and feel much the same way, haha! It was a good experience, to be honest, even if I don’t miss it, per se!
Oh my goodness, these are making my mouth water! This is definitely getting made this weekend to get us out of our boring breakfast rut.
I am NOT a morning person, but these vanilla buns would definitely get me out of bed in the morning. YUM – pinning for later!
Ooh. I would like the scoop on the drink that will give me the most caffeine possible please!!
And I thank Starbucks daily for my baking inspo. I need to try making morning buns!!
This is my kind of breakfast for sure! I will happily have these buns every morning with my cuppa! Using ready puff pastry is such a great hack, so convenient and time-saving!
Yummmmm these look sooo delicious! The perfect naughty breakfast for when company is over or it’s a special day. Can’t wait to make these beauties!
I bet it was fun tasting all those yummy pastries at Starbucks! I used to work at an ice cream shop and of course, had to taste all the flavors so I could explain them properly to the customers. 😉 Anyway, these morning buns are absolutely heavenly. I’m totally drooling over here! 🙂
Real vanilla bean is amazing! Such a good addition to this recipe. These puffy little clouds of deliciousness are winners!
These buns look so delicious!! My hubby is a cinnamon bun fiend and I’m always looking for great recipes so I’m not making the same thing over and over! I can’t wait to try these.
These buns look so delicious and perfect for brunch! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
These are definitely my weakness! A must with my morning coffee.
OMG these look so good! I want one right now.
These look delicious!! Great tip to keep the pastry cold for a nice flaky dessert!
this looks like the perfect treat!
This is such a good treat, perfect to start the day with
These look delicious! Such a yummy breakfast treat
It sounds like you learned some great things while working at Starbucks. 🙂 These vanilla bean morning buns look so yummy and I love how you used the puff pastry – what a treat!