morning buns

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A five star recipe. These were deemed by my family the best thing I have ever baked. I had heard so many things about the legendary morning buns from Tartine Bakery in San Francisco -- and was curious to taste these illustrious cinnamon buns for myself.

Let me start off by saying these are not your average cinnamon rolls. What's the difference between a morning bun and a cinnamon roll? Morning buns are made with my perfect croissant dough that's buttery, flaky, and shatters when you bite it, rather than a chewy, denser, more bread-like dough. They are sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar, and orange zest, and peel apart in delicate, fluffy layers.

I baked these for my dad's Father's Day Brunch, and my entire family raved about them. My dad's old favorite were my cinnamon sugar croissants, and these are basically the same thing rolled to a new, crazy, cinnamon bun level.
What's the best thing you've ever baked?
With love,
Erica


Ingredients
1 batch croissant dough (my simple recipe here)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
Finely grated zest of 2 medium oranges
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
pinch salt

Follow all of the steps from here until the last one indicating form croissants. You will prepare your rolls the day before, to be cooked the following day.  Mix together the sugars with the zest, cinnamon, and salt. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it into a rectangle, about 12 x 20″. Mist it with water from the spray bottle. Cover with the sugar mixture and roll it into a log. Cut into 12 equal rolls and place them into oiled muffin pans. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof in a warm room for 1 hour (min 70 F) before placing them in the fridge for 8 hours min, or overnight.  The next morning, take the rolls out of the fridge and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour. Then preheat your oven at 385 F and cook the rolls for about 20 min. Pop the rolls out of the pan when you take them out of the oven, or else they will stick to the pan when they cool.

Adapted from La Tartine Gourmande