Croissant Dough Monkey Muffins

What says Sunday morning better than a little Jazz music playing in the background while baby LB naps, hubby has a lie-in, and I smirk at the croissant dough in the fridge knowing its destiny is about to be fulfilled in the form of Monkey Muffins?

I’ll rewind a bit to tell you how this all started. My sister-in-law made a batch of Monkey Bread last spring when I visited the fam in the States and when I had thirds she knew I needed the recipe so she sent me the link to The Pioneer Woman Cooks’ Monkey Bread. Fast forward to last month when my friend Tim asked me if Monkey Bread could be made like muffins with croissant dough. Yes, Tim always asks great food questions. He even knows how to sundry tomatoes in the oven and make his own ice cream. No wonder we’re friends! So, I told him, “Sure, why not?!” and then the idea took root in my brain and this morning it came together when I saw the container of pre-made croissant dough in the fridge. Yes, I said ‘pre-made’. I have a four-month-old baby. I probably have the time and skill to make my own croissant dough, but I choose to spend my time on cuddles instead. That’s something last week taught me (more on that in another post). So, back to this morning in front of the fridge.

Turns out The Pioneer Woman also has a Monkey Muffin recipe for leftover dough. Pre-made is like leftover so I went with that one. And croissant dough is like regular dough in the ways that it matters for this recipe so, I dove in. I read the original recipe from The Pioneer Woman (PW) for the detailed ingredients and method then adapted it to work with pre-made rolled-out croissant dough. PW has a great post detailing the process. Here’s how I made mine:

Croissant Dough Monkey Muffins

pre-made croissant dough (the roll-out kind), refrigerated
blend of half brown sugar, half white granulated sugar
butter, softened
ground cinnamon
vanilla essence/extract
condensed milk

1. I read through the recipe on The Pioneer Woman Cooks and collected my ingredients on the counter. Then I created a blend of the two sugars and the ground cinnamon, which I kept in an air-tight container to make cinnamon toast, milk toast, or another batch of these muffins easier next time. Preheat the oven to 375F or 190C so it’s hot and ready for the yumminess about to be baked up in it.

2. Into each silicon muffin holder, I put a little pat of butter and a 1/2 teaspoon of my sugar-cinnamon blend, then came time for the dough.

3. Instead of dough balls, for using pre-made croissant dough I spread the dough out flat and onto that I spread softened butter (like buttering toast) and sprinkled the sugar-cinnamon blend.

4. Then I rolled bits of the buttered and sprinkled dough into mini croissants (like you are rolling a sleeping bag) and placed three in each muffin holder on top of the butter/sugar-cinnamon that was put in before.

5. Once each muffin container was filled with the trio of dough rolls atop the first round of butter/sugar-cinnamon, I topped them with more sugar-cinnamon and an extra pat of buttery goodness.

6. A couple drops of vanilla essence on top of each.

7. Then into the oven they go according to the instructions on the dough package. Don’t they look lovely in the oven?

8. Fresh from the oven, they looked like this. You can serve them right-side up or up-side down. Upside-down they look more gooey. For added goo-dness, drizzle with condensed milk. This is lovely when serving them as a dessert alongside a scoop of vanilla bean or cinnamon ice cream. Alternatively, instead of condensed milk, you could drizzle a 1/2 teaspoon of a blend of butter and the sugar-cinnamon together on top of each Croissant Monkey Muffin. Either way, it’ll be tasty and you don’t need to tell your friends you made them in the time it took to watch a sit-com on TV.

It turns out, they reheat nicely too! The batch cooled before my husband came into the kitchen so I just microwaved each for 20 seconds on medium heat and they were LOVELY. By some chance, our neighbor happened to stop by when they were just out of the oven so he was sent home with two.

And you know what happens when I am alone with one dozen Croissant Monkey Muffins? I take LOTS of photos of them. Here are a few lovely ones:

Yummy, right?

Kitchen Craft Colourworks Silicone Cupcake Cases, Pack of 12

Ciroa Miniamo Pastels Set of 12 Assorted Coloured Silicone Cup Cake Cases in a Acetate Pack

Wilton Baking Cups – Silicone – Standard – 12 pcs – Pastel

Wilton 415-9400 Easy Flex Silicone 3-Inch Reusable Baking Cups, 12 Count

Wilton Silicone Pastel Standard Baking Cups, 12 Count