Blueberry Morning Buns
Summer months means fresh fruit aplenty. I love going to the market and finding rows and rows of peaches, plums, and several varieties of berries as far as the eye can see. I always look for ways to incorporate them into everything: pies, tarts, scones, and our no-knead bread dough. Swirling fresh blueberries in brioche dough (with just a little bit of sugar and cinnamon) was my latest experiment, and the result? Delicious morning buns I’m happy to wake up to.
Blueberry Morning Buns
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup of sugar, plus more for dusting the muffin tin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch salt
1 1/2 pound piece of Brioche or Challah from New Artisan
1 cup blueberries
Powdered Sugar Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons water
Using a pastry brush, brush the wells of a muffin tin with the melted butter (about 1 tablespoon total). Generously sprinkle the wells with granulated sugar, so they are fully coated.
In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon, and pinch salt.
Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. Using the pastry brush, brush the dough with the remaining butter. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top, and smooth it in an even layer. Scatter the blueberries over the sugar, and gently press them into the dough.
Roll the dough up, starting at the long end.
Use a Bread Knife, Kitchen Scissors, or floss to cut the log into 12 equal pieces.
Place the cut pieces into the prepared muffin tin. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-1/2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, just until the centers are set when poked with your finger.
Let the buns cool in the pan for 2 minutes, then flip them out onto a wire cooling rack. Turn them right side up, and let them cool a few minutes before icing.
For the icing
Put the powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons water, and mix until combined. If the icing is too thick, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached.
These look divine! Mini brioche with fresh fruit…what more could a girl ask for!
Hey Sweet & Saucy,
I suppose we could dip them in chocolate! 😉
Zoë
Wow, these look fantastic! I love fresh, undoctored fruit in baked things.
These look absolutely delicious. I should really give your brioche recipe a try!
when the fruit is that amazing, you can never really go overboard. the muffins look gorgeous!
Is anyone going to mind if I call these cupcakes?
Hey Jeff,
Put a little cream cheese frosting on there and you’ll be all set! 😉 Actually, that sounds really good. You’re a genius.
Zoë
baked my first bread about 50 years ago but haven’t baked bread for about 10 due to shoulder problems – have made my first batch of basic dough and it is almost gone between my husband and myself – intend going thru the entire book expecially the deli rye because I miss NY rye bread – thanks a lot Zoe and Jeff – and my husband also says thanks
Hi Louise,
That is wonderful news, thank you for writing. Enjoy all of the bread and please stay in touch.
Zoë
No, you’re a genius.
your site is great! I neglected to include it in my latest blog post. I will make that change, and check back to this blog often. Thank you, Jeff, for letting me know about the Web site. I am so excited to try more of the recipes in your book. my husband and i moved across country in January, and I have been meaning to really explore this book for about 6 months now. Great Job!
Ali: Thanks so much. Our webmaster tells us that this sort of thing is important, so it means a lot to us. Check back with us anytime you have questions. Jeff
I enjoy using your bread recipe(s). I am just tickled when guests ooh and aah. I’m not giving away “my” secret just yet. Are you coming out with another bread book?
Hi Sheila,
So glad you are enjoying the bread, along with your guests.
Jeff and I are busy writing another book right now. The focus will be on more whole grain breads that are as easy and delicious.
Thanks, Zoë
These looks scrumptious!
Hallelujah! I’ve made the brioche dough and LOVE it. This is a great new thing to try with it.
My loaf is too big to eat at once, so I slice and freeze it. I’m really thrilled about trying these as muffins instead.
I have nothing more intellegent to say except COOL!
Kristen: This is great. Now, are you willing to call these muffins cupcakes?
And you thought YOU had nothing intelligent to say!
Jeff
Hmmmm, with either the cream cheese or a dollop of something chocolate and melty, they could definately be cupcakes.
Unrealated aside: I fudged with the lemon curd ring recipe and substituted just a peach jam I had on hand because I was too lazy to try the lemon curd but really wanted to try a ring of brioche dough. The result was a rather unmanageable ring, and runny jam while baking but boy did it taste great.
My 2 year old now says “brioche” when he sees me pull a slice out of the freezer.
Looking forward to the whole grain bread book!
From the mouths of babes…
Sounds like the water content of that jam was higher than what you need, but I’m glad it worked out.
I’m looking forward to that whole-grain book too (it will mean we made our deadline!). Jeff
I made these Fresh Fruit Brioche Muffins and they were so wonderful and simple! Now I want to use the rest of the rich brioche dough on some new recipe! I am a little confused by the directions for the Blueberry Lemon Curd Ring–I jsut can’t quite picture the cuts and the step where you turn every other section outward…is there a photo anywhere or any further description you can give me? I have fresh blueberries and lemon curd on hand and the dough is fast expiring….!
Hi Lady Di,
Here is a step by step of how to put the ring together. https://zoebakes.com/?p=534
enjoy! Zoë
You and Jeff are so incredible to answer our questions so quickly when we are in a crisis! It’s like having an interactive cookbook!! Thanks for the step by step, it is very helpful. I don’t see step 12 from the cookbook in that tutorial, the part that says “fold every other cut piece out away from the center” — which is the part that I couldn’t visualize. It seems all the fillilng would leak out if you twist it around…
Tried them and they are good! I had a bit of a timing problem due to a toddler who wouldn’t nap, so I didn’t get to put the fruit on them, and ended up having them rising on the counter much, much longer than recommended or anticipated. But they were still very yummy, if a bit yeasty tasting.
They also seem to be freezing ok, too. I froze them shortly after they cooled so still have some to pull out here and there for breakfast or snack.
I also tried an experiment, some in paper liners, some without. The paper liners didn’t work that well. The muffins stuck too much to the paper.
Thanks again for the idea!
Thanks for trying them Kristen. And for the tip about the paper liners. Jeff
I took a class a few months ago at Cook’s on Grand. Yesterday I brought friends and family to the class at Cook’s in Edina. Everyone loved it and are inspired to start baking. I haven’t checked out your site for awhile. The brioche muffins look fabulous! Mmmmmmmm. I’m heading to Florida in a few days with your autographed book, a Wusthof bread knife, containers and pizza peel for my son and his wife who love to cook together. Your book and methods are remarkable! You’ll have the whole world back to making homemade bread.
Cheers, Marvyl
Hi Marvyl,
Thank you so much for coming to the classes. Yesterday was so much fun.
Stay cool in FL and I hope the recipient of the book enjoys all the bread!
We hope to see you again soon. Stay in touch!
Zoë
I made these Broiche Muffins today and they are yummy! Even my husband – the man of few words – said “I LIKE these muffins.” Once again, my neighbors are enjoying the fact that I’m in love with your book! LOL!
I think I’ll do the Aunt Melissa’s Granola Bread next – it sounds yummy! I did notice that the instructions don’t mention putting on the egg wash or sprinkling the extra granola on top. It’s not hard to figure out, but I thought I’d mention it since I didn’t see it in the errata.
Any chance of you guys doing a class in cental Massachusetts??? 🙂
-Melissa
Hi Melissa,
I’m so glad you will make the granola recipe, I really love it.
Thanks for pointing out the finishing touches on the bread. I will add that to the errata sheet.
I hope to make it to MA during our book tour for our upcoming book. I’m not sure the publisher has plans for us to come with this one.
Thanks! Zoë
I would like to make brioche buns for hamburgers. Is that possible? I have taken two of your classes and they are great! Thanks for any advise you may have to help me. Linda
Hi Linda,
Thanks for coming to our classes. We have so much fun doing them.
Yes, I make hamburger buns with the brioche all the time. I just form small boules, them flatten them slightly so they are more the shape of a puck. I let them rise for about 60 minutes and then brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake them at 350° for about 18-25 minutes depending on the size you go with.
Enjoy! Zoë
Hmmm, I think I’ll try these soon, but with some frozen fruit, since that is what we have now.
I have a few more days to use up my Brioche dough since I intended to half the recipe and didn’t. The sticky buns I made with walnuts were a BIG hit and I will be doing that again. MMMMMMMMmmmmm.
Thanks(-:
Jessica: welcome to the site, come back anytime you have questions. So glad the recipes are working well for you.
Ah, well it was quite good with some frozen fruit. I also forgot to butter the ‘tins’ and they didn’t stick at all (I used silicone muffin makers).
Perhaps they should be called dessert muffins? Or cupins (cupcake/muffin hybrid)?
I think I’ll try some mini cinnamon raisin ‘muffins’ the next time I have the oven on.
Gotta come up with a name. “Cupcake” is all the rage right now!
What about cupkins?
Anyways, sorry for the multiple posts, I should have waited and combined them and I kept meaning to ask a gluten-free question.
Just wanted to mention that I wasn’t as excited about my muffns today…. they were definitely better warm, but they _did_ all get eaten up(-: I’ll have to play around with this one, they seemed to be a bit too dry after they cooled down.
Anyways, cupkin’s cute, I think, lol!
And I’m so thankful that I have all this fun stuff to play with- really with 2 kids I never thought I’d have time for making bread.
BTW, any gluten-free recipes here or coming up?
Jessica
The gluten-free stuff will all be in the second book, out this fall or Christmas the latest: Healthy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Should be about 10 recipes, including pizza, regular breads, and some sweet rolls.
Hi there. This sounds like a great use of leftover brioche dough. It’s so rich, I tend the freeze 1/4 portions. I also froze some leftover lemon curd from the blueberry pastry ring. I wonder if I could put a dollop of lemon curd under a piece of these fruits for the cupcakes and make a novel little pastry? Or perhaps fold the dough over the lemon curd and small piece of fruit, let rise, then cook?
Caroline: This sounds perfect for brunch. Give it a shot! Jeff
i made these in muffin tins with more dough. I put slices of apple and golden syrup in the dough which then rose up around the apple and syrup to make a hidden filling. The apple cooked beautifully and I didn’t change the time although my partner said they could even have had more apple and syrup to make a moister filling. Perfect morning treat. Thanks for the awesome recipes!!!
Susanna: So glad you liked them… Jeff
Really like this recipe. I mixed in 5 chocolate chip in each muffin and put mango pieces in some of them and put xylitol on top instead of sugar. It turns out great, even my husband who don’t usually eat anything sweet had two! The brioche dough is quite rich, do you think I could substitute with Challah?
Rosalina: Could definitely swap for challah…
Have a batch of these resting on the counter right now. Had a tub of brioche dough and needed to make something easy for a meeting tonight. These are perfect.
Hi Zoe in England, thnx for the kind wrds. Just an FYI; gram conversions are in “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” on Amazon UK at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes/dp/0312545525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279047779&sr=1-1
Keep in mind that this is still a US edition, with volumes, U.S. cup-measures, etc. Jeff
I think I’ll try this with chocolate chips.
Maybe chocolate chips and cream cheese.
Drooling over all your scrumptious recipes!
It would be great if you included a link to which book the recipes came from (i.e.: the brioche). I am wondering which book to buy??
Judy: That that is a good idea– it’s from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
What a shame, I have just this minute used all my brioche dough on cinnamon rolls and apple strudel bread! Oh well, I’ll just have to make up another batch……
never hurts, Ruth!
This is perfect! I have blueberry bushes in the backyard garden and am picking several cups a day. As much as I like eating the berries just straight up, I am going to give this a try.
I love being able to use my own homegrown in this recipe.
Hi Sandra,
How incredibly lucky you are!
Enjoy, Zoë
They are in the muffin tin rising as I type this. I added just a drop or 2 of vanilla to the powder sugar glaze. I also think that some lemon zest would be nice…come to think of that, I do have 2 lemons on hand…
I made these for my daughter’s birthday this morning and they were absolutely delicious. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of this combination of cinnamon roll and blueberries before…just so perfect. Thank you for sharing, Sarah! One caveat is that I laugh that they are called “morning buns”, because like any yeast dough, the 1 hour rise+ 30 minute bake means it should be called “crack of dawn if you want to eat them at a reasonable hour” buns. 😉 Thanks again!
Hi Lauren,
We are so thrilled that you made Sarah’s buns and liked them. You can make them up the night before, stick them in the muffin tin, loosely cover with plastic and refrigerate over night. In the morning, just place them on the counter while you preheat your oven and then bake. They will have risen slowly in the refrigerator, so they don’t require as long a rise the next day. If you have the time, you can let them get to room temperature, but it isn’t mandatory.
Cheers, Zoë
I made this yesterday, along with cinnamon twists, using the Better Batter gluten-free flour. Both came out so well, they disappeared quickly.
So delicious, thank you for the great and oh-so-easy recipes!
I continue to fill my home and give gifts of bread from your recipe.
Thank you.
Absolutely a reason to get up. Delicious!! Used the Challah from New Artisan. Wild blueberries from up North. Perfect!
Can’t say enough. Watching another batch rise.
Hi Sisusue,
That is wonderful, so glad you are enjoying them!
Cheers, Zoë