Bake a little magic with your kids this Halloween! These easy Hocus Pocus Buns are a fun baking project where marshmallows vanish inside warm, golden rolls. They’re soft, sweet, and just spooky enough to delight kids and grown-ups alike — the perfect quick Halloween treat or classroom party snack!
This recipe for Hocus Pocus Buns is well over fifty years old! It was the Grand Prize winner in the 1969 Pillsbury Bake-Off. They were the brainchild of Mrs. Edna Walker from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Edna descriptively called them "Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs."
Although very simple, the recipe was especially noteworthy because it was the first winning Bake-Off recipe to utilize a relatively new product: refrigerated dough. Following the contest, many people flocked to their grocery stores to buy Pillsbury crescent rolls, and stores actually ran out.
The year 1969 was filled with iconic events, including Edna's novel recipe, the first moonwalk, Woodstock, the last public performance of the Beatles, and my high school graduation. Fast forward to 2025, and kids all over America are still enjoying this yummy treat at Halloween, now known as "Hocus Pocus Buns."
To make Hocus Pocus buns, you will need four ingredients: a tube of crescent rolls, large marshmallows, melted butter, and cinnamon sugar. Roll each sugar-coated marshmallow snugly inside a crescent roll dough, pop them into a muffin tin, and bake.
When you bake them, the marshmallow magically disappears, leaving the yummiest, caramelly goo inside. These rolls are incredibly tasty, so they will disappear like magic, just like the marshmallows!
You will need eight large marshmallows from the refrigerator section for each tube of crescent roll dough. Don't use the new-fangled jumbo marshmallows; they are way too big to fit into a triangle of crescent roll dough.
Unroll the crescent rolls and separate them into eight triangles. It works best when the dough is very cold, right out of the refrigerator. One by one, dunk the marshmallows into the melted butter and tap off any excess.
Now, roll the buttery marshmallow in the cinnamon sugar and coat it generously, but tap off any excess. Use a fork to keep things a little neater!
Now, wrap that sugary marshmallow snugly inside a triangle of crescent roll dough. I found starting at the skinny end is easier. Roll it up toward the wide end. This step is by far the trickiest part of making this Halloween treat!
Use your fingers to pinch and seal each seam shut, so the melted marshmallow doesn't sneak out from the dough. Despite my best efforts of pinching, I still had some marshmallow leakage, but it did not take away from the deliciousness of these Hocus Pocus Buns!
Muffin cups are perfect for this recipe. I had more success baking these yummy buns when I placed each in a greased muffin tin cup rather than on a flat baking sheet. The Hocus Pocus Buns hold their shape better, and it helps keep the marshmallow inside.
My old Norpro muffin pans have served me well for many years, but numerous newer and better options are available today. If you want, sprinkle some extra cinnamon sugar on the outside of the buns before you bake them.
I dipped the tops in what was left of the melted butter and then in the last of the cinnamon sugar. There's no such thing as too much cinnamon sugar, is there?
Patience pays off if you want perfection, and with a little more practice, I bet you'll have those babies rolled nice and tight, snug as a bug in a rug! These yummy cinnamon buns will melt in your mouth, no matter how they look!
Bake the buns at 375°F for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Don't be alarmed if some of them look like this! They will still taste amazing! I practiced rolling the marshmallows in the dough, and my second batch looked better.
These Hocus Pocus Buns are so much fun to make with your kids for a sweet, sticky, happy memory! Here's another easy treat that's fun to make for snacking: Chocolate Chex Caramel Crunch! Oh, and these are fun: Pumpkin Scooter Pies and Colorful Autumn Snack Mix. You'll love how easy it is to make this Two-Ingredient Puff Corn Snack!
When you dip a marshmallow in melted butter, roll it in cinnamon sugar, wrap it in crescent roll dough, and bake it, something magic happens! The marshmallow disappears, leaving a sweet, gooey filling inside the hollow bun!
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Love, GB (Betty Streff)
Real food. Real grandma.❤ Real kitchen. Real easy.
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We made these in v6th grade home ec class, back in the 70's.
What a terrific memory! Nowadays there is no Home Ec class!😥
Yes there is!!!! We are alive and well here in NJ with 5 FCS (Home Ec. teachers)
Yay for Family and Consumer Science!! I am all for teaching kids how to adult the way you do- I mean it's a far cry from binding the armholes of an apron with bias tape and making cocoa and cinnamon toast! Go you!! Happy it's part of today's curriculm!!