Carrot Cake Cruffins
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These carrot cake cruffins taste like carrot cake with warm spices, carrots and candied walnuts. Baked in a muffin tin then drizzled with a cream cheese glaze it’s a fun breakfast for spring!
If you love carrot cake you will love these carrot cake cruffins for breakfast or brunch. A cruffin is a unique pastry that tastes like a croissant but is baked in a muffin tin.
I made this cruffin recipe with a homemade dough then filled it with warm spices, carrots and candied nuts like a carrot cake. They are a crowd-pleasing pastry for Easter brunch or anytime!
Ingredient Notes
- Dough: I used an easy homemade dough from scratch but you could take a shortcut and use crescent roll dough in sheets or puff pastry.
- Carrots: A must for carrot cake cruffins! I recommend grating the carrots yourself, prepackaged shredded carrots are too dry and not the right texture.
- Sugar and spices: I used brown sugar in the filling with golden raisins, walnuts, cardamom and cinnamon. Lemon zest adds a special zing!
- Butter: Gives the fulling rich taste! I used unsalted butter but salted butter does work.
- Cream cheese drizzle: Cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon juice.
How to Make Carrot Cake Cruffins
Make the dough by adding flour, granulated sugar, salt, and instant yeast to a large bowl. Add eggs, melted butter and milk. Knead into a soft dough, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
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Assemble filling by melting butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add grated carrots and saute. Stir in the brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, cardamom, and lemon zest. Cook until the carrots are tender, adding some water or milk if necessary. Set aside to cool.
Roll carrot cake cruffin dough into a rectangle approximately 15×8 inches. Spread the carrot cake filling over the dough.
Roll the dough tightly into a log similar to cinnamon rolls. Cut into 12 sections, about 2-3 inches thick.
Add each cruffin to a greased muffin pan. Cover loosely and let rise for about 30 minutes in a warm place until doubled in size.
Bake at 375°F for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Cool in pan 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle with cream cheese frosting!
Tips and Variations
- Make with crescent roll dough: You will need 3 tubes crescent roll sheets. Roll out each sheet of dough, fill and cut into 12 sections. Bake at 350°F for 18-20 minutes.
- Make with puff pastry: You will need 3 sheets of thawed but cold puff pastry. Assemble cruffins with carrot cake mixture, roll and cut into pastries. Place in prepared muffin tin and bake at 400°F for 24 minutes.
- Roll in sugar: After removing from the muffin tin, gently roll each cruffin in cinnamon sugar.
- Garnish: Garnish with candied walnuts after adding the cream cheese drizzle.
Storage
Store leftover cruffins in the refrigerator for 2-3 days because of the dairy in the cream cheese frosting. Reheat in the microwave only until warm for a fresh baked taste.
More Sweet Recipes
Carrot Cake Cruffins
Ingredients
Cruffin Dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , melted
- 1/2 cup milk
- 4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
- pinch of salt
Filling
- 2 cups carrots , grated
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons raisins
- 2 Tablespoons walnuts , chopped
- 1 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom , or 2 pods crushed
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest , optional
Topping
- 1 cup cream cheese , softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
Make the Cruffin Dough
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, salt, and instant yeast.
- Add the eggs, melted butter, and milk.
- Knead the mixture into a soft, smooth dough. Cover and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Make Filling
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.
- Add grated carrots and saute 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in the brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, cardamom, and lemon zest. Cook until the carrots are tender, adding 1 tbsp of water or milk if necessary. Set aside to cool.
Make Topping
- In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and lemon juice. Stir until smooth and set aside.
Assemble and Bake
- Once the dough has doubled, roll it into a rectangle approximately 15 x 8 inches. Trim edges if needed.
- Spread the carrot filling evenly over the dough.
- Roll the dough tightly into a log and cut into 12 pieces, about 2–3 inches thick.
- Grease 12 cup muffin pan and place one carrot cake cruffin into each cup. Loosely cover with tea towel and let rise in a warm place 30-40 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 375°F and bake cruffins for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
- Allow the cruffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, drizzle with cream cheese topping, serve and enjoy.
