Scuffles are one of those holiday treats that have been a part of my family for years. Growing up in a Ukrainian/Romanian family I was doubly blessed with a multitude of delicacies that now – as an adult – I am only starting to appreciate the intricacies of.
When I mention “scuffles” to my friends, I often get a puzzled look and, “What’s a scuffle?” in reply. I had no idea that Scuffles were a Ukrainian recipe but apparently they are. Maybe it’s because rolling them is likened to rolling a cabbage roll? I’m not sure. Whatever the reason, these treats shouldn’t be kept hidden from the world!
I finally learned how to make them myself, using my mother’s recipe and tips on the phone over the past day. Here’s the results (believe me, some were definitely not photogenic and left out of the picture but they taste just as delicious as the pretty ones!)
Enjoy the recipe, and happy holidays from my family to yours with this family recipe!
- 1 Tbsp. active dry yeast (or one package)
- ¼ cup lukewarm water
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp. sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 cup butter, softened at room temperature
- ½ cup milk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Sugar and cinnamon, for rolling (the more the better!)
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and let stand 10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, 3 Tbsp. sugar and salt.
- Add the butter, cutting it in with a fork or pastry cutter as if you were making pie crust. I have never made a pie crust so for those confused as I was, simply add the butter gradually, and piece it up with your fork until you have pea-sized amounts in the mixture.
- Add the milk, eggs, and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients.
- Mix well (by hand) and knead a few times until you've got a round ball of dough.
- Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight (important, you need to keep the dough chilled so overnight is perfect!)
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Divide dough into 6 parts, keeping one part out and putting the rest back in the fridge until ready for it.
- Scatter your counter generously with sugar and cinnamon, and roll each piece into a circle on the sugar. I used a tea saucer placed on top and cut around it to create the perfect circle.
- Cut your circle into wedges like a pie. I cut mine into 4 pieces and then cut each in half so I ended up with 8 wedges from each circle.
- Roll each wedge from the widest side inward to the skinniest.
- Place on a baking sheet about about 1 inch apart and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden.
- Remove from baking sheet immediately and cool.
These look incredible! I will definitely need to try these.
Have you ever had them Beth?
I made them today with a spoonful of Apricot butter before rolling them up… the jam leaked out, but they are delicious. A spanish gal makes them with marmelade inside. Plain or Jammy, they are delicious.Ive had the very same recipe for forty years or more!
Oh I’ve never had them with jelly, that’s interesting Bea!
They absolutely are Lena! If you make them small enough they’re a one-bite treat too!
I know these!! We had a different name for them though…
They are delicious. My Grandma used to make them.
Cheers.
youre killing me. yummm Im trying to rate it but it wont go over 3 stars for some reason so just say I gave ya 5
I can see these on our table for Boxing Day brunch. Thanks for sharing the recipe
Those look amazing!! I’ve never heard of them before but thank you so much for sharing your little secret 🙂
I’ve never heard of these but they looks so pretty! I want one!
Oh, no, no Paula…you can’t just have one! 😉
They look so delicious!
I need to start baking….lol
These sound AMAZING! Thanks for sharing your special recipe with us 🙂
These are my all time favorite. My mom makes these every year. It’s a little piece of home. This is a German tradition as well.
Yes, someone said yesterday that they thought it was a German thing too! I love that it has that tradition behind it for so many of us.
Yum, Tenille. They look delicious. I’ve never had one before.
I am definitely making these they look out of this world
These sound absolutely scrumptious!
Theese look absolutely amazing.
These look amazing! I love anything cinnamon!
They look like something I’d love to eat 🙂
yummyyyyyy
These look so good. I feel like baking now 🙂
look tasty!
Sounds amazing!
Wow they look good!
I love Scuffles and dh already requested them for Christmas. I also have gotten that ‘look’ when I say Scuffles, lol.
mmm my mouth is watering
I have pinned it when you shared it earlier this week… It is on my “to do” list for the holidays :p
They look amazing and easy to make..I’ll have to try these
These look very tasty and perfect for Xmas baking.
They look delicious!
These look amazing. And cinnamon and sugar is such a good combination :0
Those look so tasty & yummy!
Thanks for this! I remember my grandma making these when I was younger….been trying to find the recipe!
I have never heard of them but they have a cute name and they look party perfect.I would like to make some to pass around to my guests at Christmas..
These remind me of something my sister makes, but she adds walnuts to hers…and I don’t think her recipe calls for yeast. Either way these look super tasty! you can never go wrong with cinnamon! devouring some cinnamon chocolate nut spirals I just made, as I type! MmmMmmM LOL
Oh my these look like they are to die for , yummy, thanks for sharing they sound awesome , will try them out sometime soon !
I need to make these stat! Thanks for sharing this recipe. You are so lucky to have these cultural treats passed down in your family. I am so envious! Share more … I love to discover new ways to satisfy me sweet tooth 🙂
They remind me of reverse cinnamon rolls! I’ll have to give them a try
They look yummy. I want to try them for Christmas.
look delicious
Ohhhh my, oh my, oh my!
I think I can smell them from here! I bet the aroma is to die for! I might not be able to stop eating them when I make them! Thanks for sharing! Love it 🙂
These look incredible!Yummy
These Look and Sound Amazing (Mouth Watering) Wow and so special to =) passing it in family <3 <3 <3 =) Thanks so much for sharing =)
These sound really good…my husband would LOVE them!
looks so yummy . cinnamon & sugar taste great together
I like the smell of cinnamons I think I will try it soon.
These look delicious!
wow fantastic I made something like this a few years back and lost the recipe I MUST try this one ty
This recipe looks very delicious that I might try to make it one day.
Made these last night, they remind me a bit of Snickerdoodles..love them!
My mom makes these every year- we are Ukrainian too!
I used to make these with my bubba! I’m very upset we couldn’t find her recipe but this one looks good.
Printing off the recipe so I can try these.
Love the sounds of this recipe, going to make it as a treat for Christmas. Thanks for sharing.
I have never heard of Scuffles but they sure do look good. Thanks for sharing.
These bring back memories of my childhood. Except we called them “pigs ears” and no cinnamon sugar. You had it fancy!!
I’m going to save this recipe! I’ve never done any Ukrainian baking before and this looks tasty!
These look and sound really good!! Awesome photos too 🙂
Looks good! My grandma grew up in the Ukraine but I have never heard of these…I think my kids will love them though s will have to try
I looked at this recipe and thought it is one I would like to try. Cinnamon and Sugar, always so good.
oh my hubby is going to love me forever when I make him these!
these look so delicious, and not too difficult to make 🙂
These sound and look absolutely delicious
these look incredible
nicely done. your pictures are always so well done too
They look yummy, i will have to try 🙂
wow!! these looks sooo good. would love to try these !
I love anything with cinnamon and sugar. These looks so yummy
Mmmm got my mouth watering. I’m gonna have to make these tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe!
They look delicious. I will make some soon.
looks delicious love to try new recipes! thanks
That looks so yummy. Perfect for Christmas./
These would be great to serve at our Boxing Day brunch. Thanks for sharing
This sounds delicious, I’ll give this recipe a try soon.
these look yummy!
awesome looking!
these would go great with coffee !
My Baba used to make these with powdered sugar.. YUM <3
They look awesome, although I don’t know about having the patience to wait overnight for them
My children would love these!
Yumm!
ohh these sound soo yummy!!
That definitely looks delicious!
Those sounds absolutely delicious!
oh my i would love these,thanks
These are a german tradition in our family. My favorite
I’m searching for recipes for my Christmas baking and I think I’ll include this one. They sound and look delicious.
That’s an interesting name. From the translations my dictionary gives me I could guess where it comes from, still I’ve never heard them being called that way. We used to call them “little fingers” and my grandmother used to put a small piece of candied quince in each. I still have the recipe for the pastry (which is similar to yours), but have no idea how to prepare the quince…
I’ve had these!! My grandma used to make them and these one’s look perfect! Thanks for the recipe!
i so gotta have my hubby make these
I want to make these!!!!!!!!!!
love cinnamon
oh yum!!! Must make these!
Yummy
They look so good!!
Yummyyyyy 🙂
You should be proud. Thinking of trying this myself!
I can’t wait to make these scuffles Tenille they look delicious!
Yum. Looks really tasty
These look delicious. My Grandma makes something similar to these and they are great.
yummy… I’d love to try making these!
I had never heard of Scuffles but I am going to try them out this holiday season. They sound and look delicious.
These look fantastic! Perfect little treat for the holidays. Thanks for sharing.
Looks so delicious !!! Yummy , you should be very proud of this recipe and thank you for it lol
Those look really good. I may try making those for New Year’s Eve!!
Oh my, they do look delicious.
I will try this recipe.
That looks awesome!
wow those look delicious. Can’t wait to try it…when I get a chance
Yum! these look so delicious! we love cinnamon anything!
mmmmm, looks heavenly,, i must try.. thnx
mmmmmm they look sooo good! they remind me of cinnabon without the fat and calories
🙂 These are a staple in our home for christmas – we call them cinnamon twists though.. They are IDENTICAL in recipe though 🙂
This is definitely my sort of food
I make 500 of these every Christmas!
Do you need my mailing address? 😛
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you came up with that! That sounds amazing!!
oh my heavens, you have soo hit a weak spot…………cinnamon mmmmmmmmm got this bookmarked!
These look so beautiful & delicious!
My Mom made these forever, but we called them Cinnamon Twists (and there is no yeast in them…) but they were delicious! Seeing your recipe perhaps I’ll try them again (I never could make them just like Mom did!). Thanks for the memories! 🙂
They look delicious! I may have to try making them.
Cinnamon…. Sugar…. Yum!
My Mum always made these every Christmas, I love them so much that I used to always put away a few just for myself. Yours looks really yummy I can almost taste them, I’m a sucker for anything with cinnamon and sugar.
I’ve never heard of Scuffles before but they look amazing! I really want to try them out since the yeast would change the texture a bit from what I envisioned when I first looked.
Mmmm, my mouth is watering! These sound and look amazing! I’ve never heard of Scuffles
These look amazing! Need to make them.
These look incredibly delicious, can’t wait to try!
These remind me of pie twists that I have made with the grandboys. Leftover pie dough rolled in cinnamon sugar. But your recipe looks easy, and with all that butter tastier! Are they more bread like? Need to try them out.
These look delicious!
Bookmarking this one mmmmmm
These are a holiday staple in my home 🙂 They are soooooo addictive!
I have not heard of scuffles before now but boy, they do look delicious! Thanks for sharing!
A great recipe for holiday entertaining.
I’m making these for a bake exchange, I love scuffles!! How many does this recipe generally make?
I love anything with cinnamon and sugar and these look scrumptious!
Oh my gosh! These look Devine! I probably would eat half the batch myself lol
These really look sinfully delicious
Yummm!! These look delicious!!
I have never heard of Scuffles either. But OMG, they look delicious. Will be mixing up a batch of these someday soon. Lovely with a cuppa tea. Thanks for sharing.
These look so yummy. I love anything with cinnamon sugar ☺
I had never heard of Scuffles but I am going to try them as I know my grandchildren will love them.
These look awesome, very good!!
They look so good! I am going to make these today since it is a rainy day 🙂 I will let you know how they turn out.
I will definitely need to try these.yummy
Oh wow, my Mom used to make these every Christmas, brings back a lot of memories.
these look so good !
They look delicious! I’m going to try them this Christmas (or maybe even before)!
An awesome holiday treat, they look so good and would go perfect with a nice hot cup of tea!!
I have never heard of the Scuffles before. I will be making these this week but in gluten free. Will take me a while but I will get them tasting great before Christmas! Any suggestions , is the dough supposed to be heavy or light & airy texture when baked?
I am drooling just looking at these… A former employer’s wife used to make these for all the staff. I did have the recipe and lost it over the years (it has been over 26 years ago!!), so thought I hit paydirt when I seen this recipe here.
Amazing! So good to hear, enjoy!
So the dough is in the fridge right now. I am not sure I am doing this right. The dough was super sticky I added a bit of flour but it still seemed off. Well we will have to wait and see now.
See how it is tomorrow morning, it’s sticky going into the fridge but should be fine tomorrow.
I’ve never heard of these before. Will have to try it, they look fantastic. Thanks for sharing, yum!
I make these, but have found they turn out the same whether you refrigerate them overnight or not. They are delicious!!!
These are scrumptious! I’ve got the dough chilling right now.
These are very traditional…and no….you can’t skimp on the sugar mixture!
Thanks for sharing.
Five stars!!
So great to hear!
Love these! Grandma/mom always made it with a poppy-seed filling. These are ate up even before the home-made shortbread cookies! We are in Mexico with the family for Christmas this year, and apparently poppy seeds are illegal here?!? We are using ground up walnut filling instead…
I’m totally making these today with my (almost) 3 year old! 😉 Yummy!
My mom made these a regular treat when I was growing up, and I’ve been using her recipe for years. The ingredients are exactly the same as this recipe. However, after we roll the individual scuffles, we cover the baking sheet(s) and let the scuffles rest for 60-90 minutes before baking. This allows the yeast to begin acting, giving you the lightest, softest scuffles you can imagine. My mom would make the dough one evening, and then roll about 1/4 to 1/3 of it into scuffles the next day, and more the day after, etc., so that we would have freshly baked scuffles 3 or 4 days in a row. The raw dough, if properly wrapped and refrigerated will last for a couple days.
Oh I like this idea, I’ll try it Cindy – thanks!
I made these they are wonderful, I used 1/2 white sugar and 1/2 brown sugar and of course cinnamon!! I found they turned out extra fantastic like a cinnamon bun the brown sugar made more of a sugary bottom !!
Delicious. Can you freeze them?
Absolutely!
My Nana made these when we were young. The recipe she sent (by post in 2019) was a bit inscrutable. These ingredients are the exact same, however. Even the temperature at which to bake. The only difference is she baked them 25-28 minutes (which for my taste is way better) instead of ten minutes. After you flatten the ball of dough, grinding it into the mound of cinnamon and sugar, roll the wedges up, and pile the sugar on top so it fills the centre. Pinch the ends of the scuffle, it’s nice to have extra crispy ends, and go ahead and flatten out the scuffle quite a bit, squish it down. It will become stiffer, and develop more of a tooth. Also, when you place the scuffle down on the baking sheet, make sure the very end of the roll, the tip, is tucked under the scuffle so that it doesn’t expand while baking and ruin the nice croissant-like shape. Enjoy!
These are great tips Ben! I have learned to fold the tip under to ensure they don’t unroll when baking, but haven’t tested them baking them that long!
Started these yesterday, baked them off today after leaving them overnight. By far the best scuffles recipe I have ever made! They are easy, soft, puffy, and delicious. I will happily make these again and again.
Yay! So good to hear that!
Hi Tenille, I have read through many comments not all and no one has asked, I don’t like guessing because I’m always afraid that it won’t taste good. What is the sugar/cinnamon ratio? I really want to try these they look sooo delicious 🙂
I will rate once I’ve tried it
Great question. I’d say roughly 1 cup sugar to 2-3 TBSP cinnamon? Some people like a more heavy cinnamon flavor than others so start with 2TBSP?
I didn’t see anyone mentioning freezing them? How are they frozen and how long can you freeze them for? Do they stay good after being frozen?
Hi Christine! I freeze them all the time – even during the Christmas season because I make so many at once. In terms of “how long” I’m not sure I have an answer because they never last long. It’s April now and I bet if I found some in my freezer they’d be gone if I pulled them out now. I freeze mine in the large Ziploc freezer bags once they’re cooled (or next day). Hope that helps!
This recipe has been handed down, generations in my family. Over the years, it’s become simpler, as if it isn’t simple enough. Today, I use a package of quick rise yeast that I simply sprinkle into my flour. All other ingredients are tossed into my kitchen aid mixer, just as you have listed in your recipe. Once my dough ball has been rolled out, I use a ravioli wheel cutter to cut each wedged slice. It makes a pretty crimped edge even after baking! The great thing about this recipe, besides the taste, is they freeze well in an airtight container for up to a month. I’m definitely going to try adding jam, and maybe some chopped nuts before rolling. 👍🏼
I’m not sure these comments are still active but I made these as a personal “I Stand With Ukraine” statement. I’d never eaten them before but they are glorious & were a huge hit with my grandkids. (The dough is so lovely to work with so don’t let the word “yeast” scare you away.)
Made exactly to recipe. But they over rose and did not keep their shape some ended up flat
We’ve been carrying on the tradition of making these at christmas, from all the way back from grandma. My absolute favorite christmas treat! We made a triple batch (100+ scuffles), and they were gone less than a week! Our traditional twist to the above is we make a poppy seed “compote” and spread on before we roll them up.
Ours took 20 mins to cook (they were still raw at 10mins). Delicious though!