Baked Apple Croissant (Better than Starbucks Copycat)

Craving the pastries from your favorite coffee shop? These Baked Apple Croissants are a better-than-Starbucks homemade version. Flaky pastry filled to the brim with spiced maple apples will transport you straight to your favorite café without the high price or even leaving the house!

Save This Recipe! 💌

I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later, plus you'll get great new recipes from me every week!

I would love to receive new recipes from But First We Brunch!

I didn't even know that Starbucks Baked Apple Croissants existed until my family and I took a trip to Philly to find the best cheesesteaks (ironically, John's Roast Pork won our informal contest). Anyway, we stopped at a local Starbucks go to the bathroom, like you do, and there was one lonely apple croissant sitting in the bake case. You know I had to try it.

When I say there were three pieces of apple baked into the center of a whole lotta dough, I am not exaggerating. There were three chunks of apple, no apple pie juiciness to be found, and a whole lot of underbaked dough. Come on guys. We can do better than that!

So, I took my homemade rough puff pastry, put it in my muffin pan, and filled the wells with my delicious maple apples. These are the same delicious apples that I put into my simple apple turnovers, on top of my chai waffles, and on my breakfast chops. Guys, there is almost a full quarter cup of juicy apple pie filling inside of each one of these baked apple croissants and everyone is gonna lose it when they take a bite!

Enjoy as part of a fun brunch spread, along with one of my other Better-Than-Starbucks dupes, like a Blackberry Sage Refresher, a warm Potato Cheddar and Chive Egg Bite, and don't forget a hot vanilla latte!

Ingredients & Substitutions

Most of the ingredients for these cinnamon apple croissants are for making the super cravable apple filling. Then it's just puff pastry, an egg (for the egg wash), and some sparkly sugar for fancy reasons (which I forgot to add to the picture, of course).

• Apples - Honeycrisp apples are my apple of choice for these delicious apple croissants because of their sweet and tart flavor and the fact that they hold up well to cooking and baking. Granny smith apples would also be good. I would avoid McIntosh, red delicious, or Fuji apples, as they tend to get a little bit grainy and mushy when cooked.
• Apples (cont.) - If you want to save some time and not cook apples, you can use two cans of apple pie filling. I like to dice the apple slices and add a teaspoon of cinnamon, a little pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of maple syrup.
• Spices - I love cinnamon and allspice in any apple recipe, and nutmeg is their best friend. If you don't have those individual spices, you can use apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or just cinnamon. You could even skip the warm spices altogether, and let the maple syrup do the heavy lifting.
• Maple syrup - That being said, it has come to my attention that some people don't like the flavor or aroma of maple syrup. Leave it out! You've got brown sugar and spices in there.
• Cornstarch - You need the cornstarch to thicken up the apple pie filling as the mixture bubbles so it doesn't come all running out when you bite in. You can substitute with tapioca starch, arrowroot powder, or even flour in a pinch (add the flour with the sugar and spices).
• Butter - I always use unsalted butter because there is no standard in the amount of salt contained in different brands of butter. If you only have salted butter, just leave out the added salt.
• Puff pastry - I have a super easy and delicious all butter, rough puff pastry recipe on the blog, but store-bought works great. I prefer the ones that come in one long sheet, like Dufour or Jusroll. If you use Pepperidge Farm puff pastry you may need more than one sheet, but you'll get more apple croissants, so you're still winning!
• Egg - The egg is on the list simply to be used as an egg wash. If you don't want to use an egg, feel free to brush the tops of the croissants with a little bit of milk or heavy cream to help the sparkly sugar adhere.

See recipe card below for all measurements.

Quick Recipe Video

Step-by-step Instructions

If making a quick batch of maple apples is the hardest thing you do all week, you are very lucky. This is such an easy recipe that is so impressive. Everyone's good to think you're a master baker!

Because there are two different major types of puff pastry, I have two different methods you can use to make these delicious baked apple croissants. The first is to cut the square sheets into smaller squares, press them in, and fill them. The second is to roll a whole sheet of rectangular puff pastry directly over the top of your muffin pan, press down, filling, and then cutting between the muffin wells with a knife or pizza cutter. Check out all the pictures and pick the method that works whichever puff pastry you have.

• Start by peeling and dicing your apples into ¼ to ½ inch dice.

Step 1: In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. As it melts, keep swirling the butter over the heat until it is light brown in color and smells nutty, about 3 to 5 minutes. Immediately add the diced apples and stir around in the brown butter. This will stop the butter from burning.

Step 2: Add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. Stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10-12 minutes until the apples have slightly softened.

Step 3: Whisk 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and pour into the apple mixture. Simmer for another 1 to 2 minutes or until juices have thickened. Add vanilla and stir in.

Step 4: Spread on a small sheet pan to cool. When completely cool place in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. If making your apple croissants immediately, place the sheet pan of apples into the freezer to flash cool while you prepare your puff pastry.

• Next, preheat your oven to 400°F and spray 8 of the wells of a muffin pan with nonstick spray (spray all 12 wells if using square puff pastry sheets)

Cut-out method

If using thawed square puff pastry sheets, follow this method.

Step 5: Cut each piece of puff pastry into six pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll each piece into a square, try not to roll over the cut edges which may compress the puff pastry and keep it from puffing.

Step 6: Place the puff pastry into the prepared pan, skipping every other well, and spoon cooled maple apple filling into each one. Repeat cutting, rolling, and filling with the other thawed sheet of puff pastry.

Step 7: Fold the corners of the pastry over the top, leaving a bit of the filling exposed. A sneak peek.

Step 8: Brush the exposed pastry with a bit of milk, cream, or an egg wash composed of one egg whisked with one tablespoon of water. Sprinkle with some sparkly coarse sugar or granulated sugar.

Roll-out method

Use this method for frozen or refrigerated rectangular puff pastry.

Step 7: Roll your puff pastry out over the top of the muffin pan. Press down lightly into each well with something small, like a spice jar, to give you a spot to scoop the filling.

Step 8: Fill each well with a scoop of maple apples. Be generous. It may seem over-full, but it will work out in the next step.

Step 7: Use a pizza cutter, or a knife, to cut between each well, trimming off the excess from the top and bottom.

Step 8: Fold the corners of the pastry over the top, leaving a bit of the filling exposed. The weight of the apples should cause the puff pastry squares to fall into the wells. Brush the exposed pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar or granulated sugar.

Bake: Bake in your preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and the apple filling is bubbling up out of the pastry. Allow to cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool at least 15 minutes before eating. Trust me, the filling is hot. My husband found out the hard way 🥵

Recipe FAQs

Want more apple recipes?