Kouign Amann Recipe
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Feb 19, 2025 A delicate French pastry made in a hurry! This cheater Kouign Amann Recipe captures the essence of traditional crusty sugar-crusted rolls, without all the time and effort.
Why We Love This Kouign Amann Recipe
Every now and again I like to share a “cheater” recipe… A quick simplified version of a wonderful classic recipe that takes a lot of time and effort to make.
I believe there are certain dishes worth spending hours to cook. However, most of us don’t have hours (or in some cases days) to spend on a single dish.
It’s just not practical.
In some cases there are ways to mimic the best qualities of said time-consuming dishes so we can all enjoy them. This is the case when making Kouign Amann at home. Instead of making a homemade croissant dough that you need to tend to for hours and hours before baking, I made my own kouign amann with store-bought puff pastry sheets!
What is French Kouign Amann?
A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to spend a week in Paris, France cooking and eating. While in Paris, I sampled french pastries on a daily basis, including the famed Kouign Amann. Kouign Amann is a sugar-coated croissant variation that is usually rolled or folded into little circular crowns.
After taking a croissant-making class (which was very fun, by the way) I felt I fully understood why hardly anyone makes croissants at home.
Making a homemade kouign amann can be time consuming, if you are actually going to go through with make a laminated dough. Instead of making a pastry dough, I recommend making an easy version like this recipe!
Ingredients You Need
- Puff Pastry – For ease, use the frozen store-bought puff pastry!
- Butter – Melted butter will help the sugar stick.
- Sugar – To allow the edges to caramelize and adds a touch of texture and sweetness!
How To Make Easy Kouign Amann
Set out the thawed puff pastry on a clean counter space. Start by cutting thawed puff pastry sheets in half. Cut one-half into squares and the other half into rectangle strips.
Dip the squares in melted butter and then press one side in sugar, or sprinkle the sugar on top. Lay the squares sugar-side-up on little pieces of parchment paper.
Dip the strips in butter, then dip in sugar. Roll the strip loosely into spirals, and place them in the center of the puff pastry squares.
Then pick up the parchment paper squares and place them in the wells of a muffin tin.
Press the pastry sheets down to fill in the wells. Don’t worry about messing them up…
Puff pastry has a way of fixing itself in the oven.
Then bake! You can sprinkle with additional sugar if you’d like before baking.
As the puff pastry rises, the butter and sugar create sticky layers on the inside and crusty folds on the outside.
Heaven. Pure heaven. Even without the 3 day process.
Get the Full (Printable) Cheater Kouign Amann Recipe Below
Serving Suggestions
These are a marvelous addition to Christmas or New Years Day breakfast. I love to have these during breakfast, along with my morning cup of coffee and a whole breakfast spread! Here are some delicious dishes to pair alongside these shortcut kouign ammans:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this an authentic kouign amann recipe?
Let me be clear, my Cheater Kouign Amann Recipe can’t compete with Fresh from-scratch authentic Kouign Amann with its seemingly endless sugar folds.
Yet, they do capture the taste and texture of real Kouign Amann, and are always welcomed at my house.
With just 3 ingredients, it’s worth giving this Cheater Kouign Amann Recipe a try!
How should I store leftover kouign amann?
Store any leftover pastries in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days! Pop them in the oven or air fryer to warm them slightly if you prefer!
More Breakfast Treat Recipes
- Tiramisu Baked French Toast
- Protein Pudding Recipe (Protein Yogurt)
- Dark Chocolate Gravy and Cinnamon Biscuits
- Better Than Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
- Best French Toast Recipe (Pain Perdu)
- Spelt Flour Waffles
- Crispy Waffle Recipe
- Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins
- Peach Hand Pies (Pop Tarts!)
- Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding Muffins
- Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cream Cheese Maple Syrup
- Arnold Palmer Sweet Rolls
Cheater Kouign Amann Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 box frozen puff pastry, 2 sheets thawed
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut out sixteen 5-inch parchment paper squares. Flour a work surface, lay the puff pastry sheets out, and roll the puff pastry sheets to remove the fold lines.
- Cut a puff pastry sheet in half. With one half, cut eight even strips. With the other half, cut eight equal squares. Repeat with the second puff pastry sheet.
- Dip the squares in the melted butter. Press one side of each square in sugar and lay each square sugar-side-up on its own parchment paper square. Then dip each strip in butter. Press one side of each strip in sugar and roll into a loose spiral. Place a spiral on top of each square.
- Lower the parchment paper squares into the wells of a muffin tin. Press each piece down to fill out the wells. Then bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Easy & lovely pastries..Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe .
Just tried this recipe…….YUUUM Thanks for posting…I know I will be making these again & again.
I made these and filled them with fresh lemon curd. delicious. Only suggestion: freeze lemon curd into little rounds or plugs first to prevent boil out
I made these! Very easy. Not as good as homemade of course, or the ones Trader Joe’s used to sell. But pretty darn good and very decadent. I did find that the sugar tended to clump a little (again, still darn good!)
OMG! You are fabulous! You have transformed a 3-Day tedious recipe into a 45 minutes ‘Fast & Furiously’ delicious piece of cake! I love it! Thank you!
Has anyone tried this? Results? Comparison? I’m addicted to the real thing – need something to hold me over until i can get it again…
I love these! They look like little roses!
So easy and so GOOD!!! It really helped to have photos showing how to cut the puff pastry, etc. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I made these for breakfast today and they were delicious! I used 1 teaspoon of maple syrup poured over the buttered pastry in the muffin tin instead of the sugar, though. It worked perfectly! Not quite as crispy, but the maple syrup helped to create the caramel layer at the bottom. Thank you for a recipe that I will definitely make again!
I made these today. Lovely. Next time I can picture them with some marzipan spread on the rolled up strips. Yum!
Bet these would be great with Cinnamon Sugar !!! Goin to try it myself this weekend. 😁
Ma sha allah, Nice easy and yummy,in sha allah I will try this recipe as soon as possible.
I love puff pastry…but there’s no way to get 8 small strips from one side and then 8 large aquares from the other side of equal size. It doesn’t make sense. When you slice the puff pastry in half….one side isn’t going to be bigger than the other side. It’s just not possible, sorry.
Never mind, the rest of the pictures finally loaded showing how the sheet was cut. Now I get it. Can wait to try these!