Caramelized Orange Cinnamon Morning Buns

One baked morning bun coated in granulated sugar with the coils toward the camera. It is on a reflective black surface so the mirror image appears below it.

Caramelized Orange Cinnamon Morning Buns

Crisp, buttery, and deeply caramelized, these orange cinnamon morning buns are filled with spiced brown sugar and baked until golden and gorgeous. Roll them in fragrant orange-cinnamon sugar for a sweet, sparkly finish. Bakery-worthy, right from your own oven!

Course Breakfast/Brunch

Cuisine American

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 40

Rise Time 1 15

Total Time 2 35

Servings

Calories 685kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Filling

150 grams dark brown sugar 5.3 ounces or 3/4 cup, packed
pinch salt For more even distribution, fine salt works better here.
8 grams cinnamon 1 Tbsp
½ teaspoon pumpkin spice or similar warm baking spice or spice blend
3 grams orange zest zest of about 1/2 large orange
2 Tbsp melted butter 30 grams or about 1 ounce

For the Sugar Toss

150 grams granulated sugar 5.3 oz or 3/4 cup
pinch salt Fine salt works best.
8 grams cinnamon 1 Tbsp
½ teaspoon pumpkin spice or your favorite baking spice
3 grams orange zest zest of about 1/2 large orange

To Shape and Bake

1 recipe Danish dough recipe here
4 Tbsp flour For dusting the counter, use bread flour, cake flour, or all-purpose. Any will work.
1 Tbsp softened butter for buttering the tin
3 Tbsp granulated sugar for coating the tins

Instructions

Mise en Place

Remove your Danish pastry from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before shaping so it is at a good working consistency.
Rub about 1/2 teaspoon of softened butter into each muffin cavity. Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of sugar in the bottom of each cavity, and then rotate and tilt the pan to coat the bottoms and mostly up the sides of each cavity. Gently tap the excess sugar out and set the pan aside.

For the Filling and Sugar Toss

In each of two medium bowls, add the sugar (granulated in one, dark brown in the other), the salt, and orange zest.
Rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar looks and feels like slightly damp sand. This helps to release all the flavor of the orange zest into the sugars. NOTE: The color and consistency is easier to see in the granulated sugar, so just make sure the dark brown sugar mixture feels damp and smells beautifully orangey.
Add the cinnamon and pumpkin spice, and mix with your hands or whisk well.
Set the dark brown sugar mixture aside for later. Strain the bits of zest from the granulated sugar mixture only and then return the sugar to the bowl. Set that aside for later as well.

To Shape and Bake

Lightly dust your clean working surface with flour and spread it out well. Dust the top of your Danish dough, and roll it out into a long rectangle 18-20" / 45-50 cm long and 13" / 32 cm wide and about 1/8" / 2-3mm thick.
Use a pizza cutter to trim the edges, leaving you with a final size of about 19" x 12" / 48 cm x 30 cm.
Brush the two tablespoons of melted butter evenly over the surface of the dough, going from edge to edge and top to bottom.
Sprinkle on the brown sugar mixture. It will be slightly generous. Go ahead and use all of it. Again, go edge to edge and top to bottom. Press the sugar mixture down a bit so it adheres to the butter.
Starting at the short side nearest to you, roll the dough up fairly snugly. Try to keep the tension even as you go. When finished rolling, place the roll seam-side down.
Using a sharp knife or a 4" pizza wheel, slice the buns into 6 even slices about 2" / 5 cm apiece.
Place each cut bun into the center of each buttered-and-sugared muffin cavity and cover with plastic wrap.
Let rest at warm room temperature for about 1:15 until the bottoms of the rolls fill the bottoms of the cavities and they look slightly puffed and relaxed.
While the buns are resting, set a rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 350° F / 177° C.
Once nice and puffy, bake for about 40 minutes, rotating the pan 180° after 20 minutes. The buns should fill the cavities and may well rise over the tops. They should be deeply golden brown and almost burnished in color. Look for an internal temperature of between 195-200° F / 91-93° C. If you don't want them quite as browned as mine, feel free to loosely tent the pan with foil once you are happy with the color.
Let the buns rest in the pan for just a minute or two. Use a small offset spatula to remove each bun, one at a time, and toss each thoroughly in the strained granulated spiced sugar mixture. Set aside on a cooling rack and continue until you have sugared all the morning buns. Allow to cool to warm before eating. Or let cool to room temperature and reheat to serve.
Store well-covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. Heat them up for a few minutes in the toaster oven (preferred to maintain crispy exterior) or for a few seconds in the microwave.

Notes

Danish dough: You'll need one batch of my laminated Danish pastry dough. Make it at least a day ahead, and let it temper until the butter and dough are equally workable before rolling.
Regular muffin tin: For 12 smaller buns, cut the dough into twelve 1" / 2.5 cm slices. Prepare the pan the same way. Start checking for doneness around 25 minutes, using color and internal temperature as your guides. I haven't tested this size.
Make ahead: Shape the buns, place them in the prepared tin, cover, and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, let them sit at room temperature until puffy and relaxed before baking.
Don't leave them in the pan: Remove the buns after just a minute or two and toss them in the spiced sugar while they're still hot. The caramelized sugar will harden as they cool, making them much harder to remove.

Nutrition