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Most all of us have fond memories of Honey Buns! Whether it was your favorite snack you’d get from the gas station/corner store, or a treat you’d get in your lunch box on occasion. Perhaps you even still buy these, I think it’s been a decade since I’ve eaten one, but I’ll never forget that buttery honey flavor and sticky, doughy texture. The popular chain, Crumbl, created a Honey Bun cookie and today I am remaking it! These Crumbl Copycat Honey Bun Cookies have insane flavor and texture and blow Crumbl’s out of the water! From the sticky glaze (that uses real honey and not corn syrup) to the thick, chewy cookie texture, you’ll be wondering why these haven’t always been in your baking arsenal.
And no, you don’t need to have a masterful hand to achieve the embedded swirl design. I am far from a good decorator and I think they turned out great, sure they aren’t all perfect but they still look super cute.
What are Crumbl Copycat Honey Bun Cookies?
Think a brown-surgary snickerdoodle meets thick chewy sugar cookie and is then glazed is a delectable sticky honey glaze. This cookie dough is whipped for 8-10 minutes to ensure maximum texture perfection. Then each cookie gets a hand-carved swirl design (using a toothpick) to achieve deep crevices that catch all the honey glaze.
Rant Warning: Crumbl Cookie hater comments ahead!!
Crumbl is the famous cookie chain that has popped up in seemingly every town across America in just the past few years. If you ask me, they are overrated, overpriced, cheaply made cookies with unnecessary toppings (please, don’t hold back LOL). Who decided cookies needed to have toppings? Aren’t they sweet enough? I guess you could say I’m a bit of a Crumbl hater and I honestly don’t understand the hype. But as a food obsessed baker/cook, I can’t say I’m much of a die-hard fan of any chain bakery or chain restaurant. I much prefer to bake and cook at home for my family and control the quality of ingredients I use.
Putting all my hateration aside for a moment, I have to admit that these Honey Bun Cookies were legit. I think these were one of the best I tried because it didn’t have over-the-top toppings piled on. I was very excited to remake this cookie and this recipe is truly a slam dunk.
How to Make the Honey Bun Swirl:
Now the fun part – carving in that beautiful swirl! I found this so relaxing, although I can see it being tedious if you were making 100 cookies for a party. I demonstrate in the video below, how to add the swirl to these cookies.
Step 1: Start by portioning cookie dough into 2″ balls spaced out at least 3″ apart on the baking rack. Then using your palm, slightly flatten down to a thick disc shape.
Step 2: Using a toothpick, start in the center and make a swirl design working your way out toward the edge. I found that inserting the toothpick up and down repeatedly as you move yielded a neater design, rather than dragging the toothpick. You can test both methods by baking two test cookies and see which you prefer.
Ingredients To Make Crumbl Copycat Honey Bun Cookies
Softened good quality butter – I always use salted European/Irish butter in my recipes. Some call me crazy, but that hint of saltiness is my secret ingredient.
Granulated sugar + dark brown sugar – using a combination of sugars in this recipe for the perf texture!
Large eggs – eggs act as a binding agent in cookie dough. In this recipe, we’ll be creaming the dough for several minutes after the eggs are added which helps create the thick chewy texture.
Vanilla extract and butter extract/flavoring – extracts may seem minimal but they impart so much flavor into your baked goods. The butter extract, although still delicious if you don’t have it on hand, truly adds that nostalgic honey bun flavor.
Corn starch – you may have heard before, adding a little corn starch to your flour will help enhance the chewiness of your cookies.
All-purpose flour – I use all-purpose flour to keep this simple. Haven’t tested this recipe with any alternatives yet.
Baking powder & baking soda – allows the cookies to take the perfect height and shape.
Cinnamon – a good dash of cinnamon will be a background hero of this recipe. You don’t take a bite and say “oh it’s a cinnamon cookie” but the subtle hint adds a warmth and coziness to this cookie.
Salt – necessary to balance all the flavors.
Powdered sugar – adding powdered sugar to the glaze will allow it to thicken and set-up nicely on the cookies.
Real honey – I found that using raw honey in this recipe (as opposed to the cheaper ones) imparts much more robust honey flavor.
Milk – just a splash of milk to allow the glaze to come together.
Some of my favorite baking tools for this recipe:
Nordic Ware Baking Sheet – Not all baking sheets are created equal. This is one of those items that you find and reuse over and over until it starts to look so warn it’s embarrassing!
Kitchen-Aid Pro Series Hand Mixer – talk about whipping egg whites or whipped cream in a fraction of the time! I didn’t even realize I needed an update until my husband bought me this Kitchen-Aid hand mixer. It sped up the most monotonous tasks.
My Other Popular Cookie Recipes:
Ultimate Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies
Frosted Chewy Sugar Cookie Bark
Soft-Batch Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
I look forward to your questions and feedback below. Please be sure to tag me @BadBatchBaking using hashtag #badbatchbaking if you made this recipe and I will feature you on my story! Plus, I LOVE to see your baking accomplishments
Honey Bun Cookies (Crumbl Copycat)
Equipment
- toothpick or similar for creating swirl
Ingredients
Honey Bun Cookie Dough
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon butter flavoring or extract this can be skipped if you don't have it on hand
- 2 tablespoon corn starch
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon good quality
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Honey Glaze
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey I used raw honey for stronger flavor
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F then line a baking sheet with parchement paper and set aside.
- Cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until light and creamy. Add in the egg, vanilla extract, butter extract, and mix until smooth.
- Gently mix in the flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, & salt.
- Scoop out equally sized cookie dough balls, roll them in between the palm of your hands, then place them on the baking sheet and gently flatten to about 1 inch in thickness. Using a chopstick make the honey bun swirl indentations on each cookie.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 11-12 minutes then let the cookies cool down on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes.
- Make the honey butter glaze.
- While the cookies are still in the oven, melt the butter, powdered sugar, honey, and milk extract in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Continuously stir the mixture until the sugar is fully dissolved. Make sure not to boil the butter sauce.
- Remove the pan from the stovetop, then using a pastry brush, brush each warm cookie with the butter sauce, let the glaze set for a few minutes then enjoy!
