An Ode to the Morning Bun
There are several schools of thought when it comes to breakfast pastries. There are the French loyalists, who rely on a time-honored repertoire of croissants, brioche, and pain au chocolat. Then there’s the anything-goes sweet tooth contingent—lovers of sticky buns and coffee cake, donuts and muffins, not bound by patisserie tradition but looking for a breakfast that’s gooey and satisfying.
Can these two camps ever reach across the aisle? Yes, they can—in the morning bun.
In my mind, the morning bun is the perfect synthesis of the classic croissant and the irresistible sticky bun. Call it a croissant in cinnamon roll clothing. It’s made of a buttery croissant dough, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar (and often walnuts or pecans), then rolled into spirals. Each one is baked in a muffin tin, and when the morning buns rise, they spill up and out of their little slots. Kept in close quarters, the bottom stays a bit doughy, like a sticky bun interior, while the top lifts into an appealingly flaky, cinnamon-speckled dome.
This one, from Clear Flour Bread near Boston University, is one of the bakery’s top sellers. The cinnamon sugar winds through the flaky layers without overwhelming the buttery croissant dough—except on the bottom, where it caramelizes into a perfect sticky goo. Both the walnut-studded and walnut-free versions fly off the shelves.
Tender like a croissant, sweet like a cinnamon roll, the morning bun may well be the best of both worlds. Are there any other fans out there? Where do you find your favorite morning buns?
Clear Flour Bread, 178 Thorndike St, Brookline MA 02446 (map); 617-739-0060.
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15 Comments:
What a great way to open my home page and see this delicious looking pastry- good morning everyone
TaylorShocks at 9:43AM on 11/19/08
Our regular Saturday morning family breakfast is at Wegmans. Their croissants are wonderful!
5starfoodie at 10:14AM on 11/19/08
That looks incredible!
Lilartist at 10:17AM on 11/19/08
Count me in the sticky bun and coffee cake crowd.... but i gotta admit-- that morning bun would sure go well with my coffee right NOW!
MikeTheWaiterDotCom at 10:19AM on 11/19/08
I fell in love with morning buns at La Farine bakery, right on the border between Berkeley and Oakland. Textbook puff pastry, with extra crispness and flavor from the spiced currant filling. So good you eat the crumbs that get scattered over the Sunday paper.
Philadina at 10:38AM on 11/19/08
I like both patisserie and coffee cake...so that looks pretty much perfect...
missmanders at 10:46AM on 11/19/08
Thank you for your ode to the morning bun... or, more specifically, giving me a push to change it up! I'm such a devotee to pain au chocolat (occasionally being more modest with just a croissant) and I never stray. But, clearly, I should...
Sweet Freak at 11:03AM on 11/19/08
whatever, this has been going on in Denmark for years and is commonly consumed as an easy breakfast for construction workers who wash it down with bad coffee and the occasional beer.
Kasper at 11:35AM on 11/19/08
I first tried a morning bun at Macrina Bakery in Seattle. Amazing! I still dream about it. Does anyone have suggestions for where to get morning buns in NY?
dcmeg at 11:56AM on 11/19/08
Mmmm, I love morning buns. I haven't been able to find any in Baltimore -- makes me pine (again) for Florence, haha.They were called something different, though, I just can't remember what.
kfarrel3 at 12:16PM on 11/19/08
I recently had the good fortune of moving to an apartment around the block from Clear Flour. Morning Buns are only one of their many amazing offerings. And at Clear Flour, they're called Morning Buns because they're gone by noon!
thecynthesizer at 1:02PM on 11/19/08
in Baltimore, you can find morning buns, and also teacakes (my favorite), and croissants, and pain au chocolat, and maple sticks, the list goes on and on (!!), at the weekend farmer's markets in Waverly and under the JFX. Bonjour Bakery also has them too! The farmer's market also has great coffee (Zeke's)!!
in D.C., I love the pain aux raisins from Marvelous Market for breakfast!
angelak at 2:59PM on 11/19/08
long live the morning bun!
http://flickr.com/photos/tortor/2184307143/
tortor at 4:34PM on 11/19/08
Best morning bun, hands down, no competition is at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. I mean, it's true that the best everything is at Tartine. So it stands to reason their morning bun would be the best, too. But really: they are the definition of perfect. YUM.
denaluna at 1:14AM on 11/20/08
I second La Farine in the Bay Area. I discovered the morning buns just as I left the bay for college because its photo was featured in a "125 Best Things to Eat" article for San Francisco magazine, and now I have to make the trip there to savor them every time I'm home. I feel like the Tartine ones can't even compare. There's a recipe for them in the La Brea Bakery book of pastries that I've had my eye on for awhile...
dimsumlikeithot at 12:51AM on 11/22/08