Matthew Woolen is a master pastry chef and has worked in a variety of Seattle restaurants, including gastropub Old Sage, Zhu Dang, and a gluten-free restaurant called Capitol Cider.

Matthew Woolen

Combine the flaky, buttery nature of croissants and the chewy brown sugar goodness of a cinnamon roll, and what do you have? This delight. Our chef Matthew Woolen was doing some research and development for the croissant recipe. (Translation: Everyone on staff, aside from Matthew and another staff member who must eat gluten-free, ate warm croissants for lunch for days.) In all that baking, he found himself with some leftover dough. Matthew does not like to waste food. So, as we were all working one day, he baked up cinnamon rolls with the leftover croissant dough, just to see what happened. We all lost our minds, of course. These are the ultimate cinnamon rolls, the ones you dream of when you eat commercial (mostly doughy, overly sweet) cinnamon rolls and wish for something better. Start with croissant dough, roll it out, spread butter and brown sugar, and then use a few tricks to make the final rolls flawless. Then, ice the rolls with a cream cheese frosting—not too sweet and no lumps or bumps at all—the moment they come out of the oven. Our staff loved these cinnamon rolls so much that we asked—well, demanded—that Matthew make them again and again. (All in the name of research, naturally.) We think you will feel the same about these flaky, chewy cinnamon rolls once you have eaten them.

If Croissants and Cinnamon Rolls Had a Baby ...