What happens when a croissant and a muffin fall in love? A cruffin, of course! Layers of buttery croissant dough topped with grated dark chocolate and spiraled together for a beautiful zebra pattern. Baked in muffin tins, these croissants are crispy and flaky on the outside, while fluffy and buttery on the inside. Try them for yourself and see what the hype over this fad is all about.
Makes 8 jumbo sized cruffins
Ingredients
Chocolate Cruffins
160 g luke-warm water
7 g instant dry yeast
150 g bread flour
150 g all-purpose flour
25 g granulated sugar
11 g salt
50 g unsalted butter, softened and cubed
165 g salted butter, softened
1 bar dark chocolate (about 4 oz)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Directions
Chocolate Cruffins
Whisk the yeast into the warm water, and let sit for 5 minutes.
Combine the flours, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the dough hook attachment and stir together.
Add the yeasty water to the flour mixture and mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until a stiff dough is formed. If the dough is too dry, add in more warm water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together.
Gradually add in the unsalted butter on low speed one chunk at a time until the butter is fully incorporated. Once all of the butter has been incorporated, knead the dough for 2-3 more minutes.
Turn the mixer up to high speed and knead the dough for 10 more minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature to rise for about an hour.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into two equal pieces. Wrap one piece with plastic so it doesn’t dry out, and set aside.
Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the unwrapped dough on a floured surface into a long log shape until it is paper thin, or as thin as you can get the dough without it tearing. (You can use a pasts machine to roll out your dough, but I found that the dough ripped too easily, so I resorted to a rolling pin. If you use a pasta machine, first flatten the dough with your hands until it is about ½ inch thick. Then work the dough through the pasta machine starting on the widest setting and gradually move the dough through to the thinnest setting.)
Using an offset spatula, gently and evenly spread half of the softened salted butter over the entire surface of the dough all the way to the edges.
Grate half of the bar of chocolate evenly on top of the butter over the entire surface all the way to the edges. Then tightly roll up the dough lengthwise. Using a very sharp knife, cut the croissant log in half down the middle lengthwise, so all of the chocolate layers are exposed. Cut each half in half so you get 4 equal parts, twist into spirals, and place into buttered muffin tins. (If you’re using jumbo muffin tins like I did, cut into 4 equal parts. If you’re using standard muffin tins, cut each half into thirds so you get 6 equal parts.)
Repeat steps 7-9 with the second portion of dough.
Cover the muffin tins with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature to rise for about 3 hours, or until each cruffin has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Once proved, bake the cruffins for about 20 minutes, or until they are puffy and golden brown. Remove the cruffins from the oven and allow to cool in the muffin tins for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Just before serving, dust the top of each cruffin with confectioners’ sugar.