You've never tasted anything like these twisted sweet cream cheese muffin buns! This sweet treat dessert is a crossover between a cinnamon roll, sweet bun and cheese danish. Fluffy dough is twisted around silky smooth sweet cream cheese and topped with a light glaze.
This is the type of dessert you'd expect to see from a local bakery. Not your chain grocery store but a little mom and pop type of setup in your neighborhood.
The idea for these cream cheese buns actually came from a bakery in the small town of Signal Mountain, Tennessee. My mother-in-law raves about their cream cheese muffins and since I can't get my hands on them we pieced together the recipe from her description.
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A cross between a muffin and a sweet bun. Similar to a sweet bun but made in a muffin tin, plus they are twisted and knotted before you bake them. They are so fun to look at!
Sweet cream cheese. The idea was for these twisted buns to have a sweet cream cheese taste. Not overly sweet but still wanting the tangy cream cheese flavor to shine through.
Glaze. Ruth (my MIL) told me these cream cheese muffins (that's what they call them at her bakery - muffins) were sticky and sweet on the outside. So right out of the oven, while hot, these get a brush of glaze.
Ingredients Needed
For the dough you'll need milk, active dry yeast, greek yogurt, butter, 1 whole egg, 1 egg yolk, flour, cane sugar and salt.
The greek yogurt is a bit of a different ingredient than other doughs you've probably made. The idea behind it is to give the dough a sourdough type of taste. It's not exact but there is definitely a bit of that taste.
For the filling you'll need cream cheese, butter, cane sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt.
For the glaze you'll need powdered sugar and water.
Sweet Cream Cheese Filling
The filling is a sweet cream cheese but not too sweet! It reminds me of a cheese danish.
It's made with cream cheese, softened butter, brown sugar, cane sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
It's so delicious!!!
Beat together all the ingredients for a couple minutes until its creamy, light and fluffy. If it looks too soft then you can refrigerate it to firm the filling up then spread it on. Some with gush out when you twist up the dough.
How To Make The Twists
To make the twisted shape it's just a few steps.
Start by rolling the dough into a rectangle on a floured surface. About 15" x 20". Spread the sweet cream cheese all over, to the edges.
Next, make two folds, like you would a letter. Then use your rolling pin to gently roll out any air bubbles.
Width wise, cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Take each piece and twist it, start to form a circle with the two ends and tuck one end under. It should be snug.
Spray cooking spray on your muffin tin and place each cream cheese muffin bun into a muffin well.
Glaze
Powdered sugar and water. That's all that's in the glaze. ½ cup of powdered sugar and 3 teaspoons of water, whisked together until all the sugar is dissolved.
The trick to the glaze is to brush it on as soon as you pull the sweet cream cheese muffin buns from the oven. The glaze will melt into all the cracks and crevices. Be generous with the glaze, you want it to melt all over!
FAQ
No you can't. For these muffins buns, you don't want to use muffin tin liners - they will stick. Just grease your muffin pans with a spray.
I wouldn't. It's best to use greek yogurt, greek yogurt is thicker in consistency and isn't sweet.
Twisted Sweet Cream Cheese Muffin Buns
You've never tasted anything like these twisted sweet cream cheese muffin buns! This sweet treat dessert is a crossover between a cinnamon roll, sweet bun and cheese danish. Fluffy dough is twisted around silky smooth sweet cream cheese and topped with a light glaze.
Ingredients
Dough
- ¾ c milk, warm but not hot
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- 3 ¼ c flour
- ¼ c cane sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 4 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ c greek yogurt
Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 4 tbsp butter, room temp not melted
- ¼ c cane sugar
- ¼ c brown sugar, packed
- ⅛ tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
Glaze
- ½ c Powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp Water
Instructions
- Add the active dry yeast to the warm milk, let this sit for 5 minutes until foamy
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, sugar and salt
- To this add the yeast/milk mixture, melted butter, whole egg, egg yolk, and greek yogurt
- Mix with a dough hook, on low speed, until combined (about 5 minutes)
- Dust some flour on a counter and roll the dough into a ball, put it back in the bowl, cover with a towel and rise until doubled in size
- To make the filling cream together the cream cheese, softened butter, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt for 3 minutes until fluffy
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Dust some flour on a counter, roll out the dough to a 15” x 20” rectangle
- Spread the filling evenly over the dough, to the edges
- Fold the dough like a letter (two folds (fold each end) toward the center on the longest side)
- Use a rolling pin to gently roll the top of this, to get out any air bubbles
- Grease a muffin tin
- Cut 12 pieces of dough, width wise
- Since the dough is soft, as you twist it will stretch
- Twist each piece and bring the ends together, like forming a circle, then tuck one end under, like a knot, place each one into a muffin well
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until light golden
- To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar and water
- Immediately brush the glaze on the muffin buns when they come out of the oven and serve!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 349Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 256mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 1gSugar: 18gProtein: 7g
This information comes from online calculators. Although moderncrumb.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Sherry
I know the bakery!! I was sitting here trying to find a recipe that sounded like them! So excited to try the recipe!!
Tara Moore
That's amazing Sherry! This recipe got her seal of approval, I hope you like it as well.
Sherry
I have tried three times. The milk and yeast won’t foam. Well it did once but then the dough wouldn’t rise. I tried whole milk and 2%. I tried warmer milk. Cooler. Milk. What am I doing wrong???? We own a coffeeshop and make our breads daily. We are a little baffled.
Tara Moore
Hi Sherry, I'm so sorry to hear you're having some trouble getting the yeast activated. The only thing I can think of is bad yeast. It shouldn't be taking this many tries for it to activate, otherwise I'm also stumped.