I had never heard of or seen crumb buns before. I came across this recipe on Food.com and had to try it. The person that posted the recipe said these are rolls that you would have found in an old New York Style Bakery. They were so different from other rolls like sticky buns that I’ve made. There’s nothing sticky bun-ish about them. After the dough is made and has risen once, punch the dough down and divide it into two pieces. Roll the dough into a 14×8 inch rectangle.
Instead of making a filling like you would for sticky buns, you make crumbs and spread them on the rolled out dough after you brush it with melted butter. The dough isn’t even rolled up, you take 1/3 of the dough and bring it over to the center of the rectangle, brush the top of the piece that you folded over with melted butter and then fold it one more time.
Press on the dough slightly to make the layers adhere, seal the edges and the ends of the dough and cut into 7 slices that are 2 inches long. Yes Kids, there’s only 6 slices, have I mentioned I’m measurement impaired? It all worked out, I had 8 slices when I cut the second piece. Repeat with the second piece of dough. The dough is absolutely wonderful, there’s lots of butter in it to make it very tender. The rolls are put in a buttered 13×9 inch pan with half and inch between them. They aren’t suppose to be touching but that was kind of hard to do with 14 rolls in the pan. Next time I’ll use two smaller pans.
The reserved crumb is sprinkled all over the top of the rolls and in between the rolls. The dough rises for 30 minutes or till the rolls are puffy. The recipe didn’t say …until doubled in size, just puffy. Bake for 40 minutes in a 325 degree oven or until golden brown on top.
Let the buns cool for ten minutes in the pan then run a sharp knife around the edges of the pan. I put a cookie sheet over top of the buns, turned the bun pan upside down and they came out beautifully. Let cool on a wire rack. When your ready to serve them, sprinkle generously with powdered sugar. These rolls have a hint of cinnamon flavor and are slightly sweet, they get most of they’re sweetness from the powdered sugar you sprinkle on top. They are wonderful warm with a little butter spread on them! The directions for the recipe are long, but only because the person writing them out to pain staking care to make sure to explain everything very well. We loved these rolls, I hope you do too! Enjoy!
New York Style Crumb Buns
Food.com
The recipe directions are long but it is very detailed and easy to follow.
For The Crumbs
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For The Dough
Ingredients:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 1/2-4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Directions:
Place water in the bowl of your electric mixer, sprinkle with yeast and add sugar, stir until yeast is dissolved.
Set aside for 10 minutes or until foam and a few bubbles start to form on the surface.
In a small saucepan, over low heat, warm the milk and butter until butter just melts.
Temperature of the mixture should not be more than 105°F Add the 105°F butter/milk into the proofed yeast mixture, stir.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.
Add 1 cup of all purpose flour, the cake flour, 1/4 cup of sugar and the 1/2 tsp salt.
Beat on low speed until smooth and well blended.
It may be necessary to do this last step by hand with a wooden spoon if your mixer is not a heavy duty model.
If using the heavy duty mixer, install the dough hook and mix until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.
OR, knead by hand for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured board, it should be smooth and will no longer stick to the work surface.
Transfer the dough to a bowl that’s been well buttered, flip it around a couple times to coat all sides of the ball.
Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to rise until it’s about doubled in size.
It can also rise overnight in the fridge, but must be allowed to come to room temperature before making crumb buns Using your fist gently punch down the dough to deflate.
The dough is now ready to form into buns.
While your dough is rising, about 20 minutes before it’s done, prepare the crumbs.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed beat the butter, sugars, salt and vanilla until the mixture is well combined, about one minute.cc
Combine until mixture just forms a crust.
After punching down the dough, divide it into two portions, cover.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion of the dough until it forms a 8×14 inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick.
Brush the dough lightly with some melted butter and evenly sprinkle 3/4 cup of the crumb mixture over the buttered surface.
You will now have a 3 layered dough that’s 14 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide.
Repeat with second half of dough.
Butter a 9x13x2-inch baking pan, place the buns 1/2 inch apart in the pan.
Gently press the crumbs into the top of the buns.
The buns should NOT be touching.
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Remove plastic wrap from the buns and bake for about 40 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and the crumbs are slightly firm.
With a small sharp knife cut along the sides of the pan and carefully remove buns so as not to disturb crumbs.
Transfer to a rack to cool, just before serving dust with confectioners sugar.
Cover and store at room temperature for 2 days.
To freshen wrap in foil and heat in a 300°F oven until just warm or microwave about 30 seconds.
How to make cake flour… To make 1 cup cake flour, measure out 1 cup all purpose flour. Sift once, remove 2 Tablespoons of the flour, put back in flour bin. Replace the 2 Tablespoons of flour with 2 Tablespoons of corn starch. Sift the flour and cornstarch together 5 times to incorporate the cornstarch well into the flour and make it soft. Measure out the amount of cake flour you need and put the rest back in the flour bin.
i love the idea of these buns bunny with the crumbly coating.
They were delicious Val. Something a little different than a sticky bun. It was very nice, and I loved the crumbs!
Crumb buns are my all time favorite. This recipe looks quite good. I will definetely try this. Thank you for sharing!
Lucia, I was so happy to make these, they were so tender and slightly sweet. Such a nice change from cinnamon rolls. Thanks for stopping by!
These look absolutely delicious. I can never get cinnamon rolls to come out the way I want, but this looks like something I could probably do. They look very light and fluffy. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Thank you Stephanie, you’ll love how tender they are!!