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!
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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, cut it into squares, and filled them 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!
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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.
- 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.
Have extra apples? Make my Apple Waffles. A delicious brown sugar batter is flavored with cinnamon and filled with fresh apples for a delightful breakfast anyone would love!
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!
- 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)
Step 5: Unroll your puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut into 8 equal pieces. If using square sheets of puff pastry, cut each one into 6 pieces. Bonus: You'll get a dozen baked apple croissants!
Step 6: Place the puff pastry into the prepared pan, using your fingers, or the handle of a wooden spoon to press the pastry to the bottom and sides. Spoon cooled maple apple filling into each one, filling them almost to the top. You may not use all the filling. Eat it with the spoon.
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. A couple of those raw sugar packets from the coffeeshop will do 😜
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 🥵
Expert tips
- Short on time? Use prepared apple pie filling and have zero regrets.
- Play it safe If you are unsure of your brown butter skills, just melt the butter and add the apples. How many regrets? Zero.
- Play it safe, Part 2 If you don't have faith in your muffin pan easily releasing these apple croissants, line the wells with your favorite muffin liners or tulip liners.
- Try more flavors! Fill with chopped chocolate, nutella, frangipane filling, or cherry pie filling! Absolutely no regrets!
Recipe FAQs
Allow to cool completely, then store in a covered container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
You can reheat leftover baked apple croissants in the microwave in 20 second intervals until warmed to your liking. You can also heat them up and restore their crisp a bit in a 325°F oven for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Uh yumm!! Yes, just combine ½ cup of powdered sugar with a few drops of vanilla, a tiny pinch of salt, and one to two tablespoons of milk then drizzle to your hearts content.
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-Cynthia
📖 Recipe
Baked Apple Croissant (Easy Starbucks Copycat)
Equipment
- Muffin liners optional
- Tulip liners optional
Ingredients
- 4 (500 g) apples peeled, cored, and diced into ¼ to ½ inch pieces
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter
- ½ cup (110 g) brown sugar light or dark is fine
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons (40 g) maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon (8 g) cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
- 1 package puff pastry
- 1 large egg for optional egg wash
- Coarse sugar optional
Instructions
Make apple filling
- Peel and dice your apples into ¼ to ½ inch dice.
- In a medium pot or deep 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.
- 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.
- Whisk 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and pour into apple mixture. Simmer for another 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Add vanilla and stir in.
- 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 while you prepare your puff pastry.
Build and bake pastries
- Preheat your oven to 400°F and spray 8 of the wells of a muffin pan with nonstick spray.
- Unroll your puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut into 8 equal pieces. If using square sheets of puff pastry, cut each one into 6 pieces. Bonus: You’ll get a dozen baked apple croissants!
- Place the puff pastry into the prepared pan, using your fingers, or the handle of a wooden spoon to press them to the bottom and sides.
- Spoon maple apple filling into each one, filling them almost to the top. You may not use all the filling. Eat it with the spoon.
- Fold the corners of the pastry over the top, leaving a bit of the filling exposed.
- Brush to 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.
- 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.
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!
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