The Best, Easy Cinnamon Swirls Recipe EVER

There’s nothing better than a cinnamon swirl if you ask me, and this easy cinnamon swirls recipe delivers. Crispy, crunchy pastry, warming cinnamon, juicy sultanas and that sweet kick of icing. And guess what? They’re ready in just 20 minutes from start to finish – that’s quicker than popping out to the bakery (and MUCH cheaper!).These puff pastry cinnamon swirls are suitable for all ages; from toddlers all the way through to grown ups. We found our way to them whilst developing some of our many pinwheel recipes for little ones… turns out when you have puff pastry in the fridge and a craving for a late autumn treat on a Sunday, that’s when the magic happens.

This recipe uses just six ingredients (most are store cupboard essentials) and makes 10-12 cinnamon swirls. They’re super affordable, quick to make and taste delicious warm or cold. We’ve opted to add sultanas to ours today but they’re just as tasty without them, I just like the added texture sultanas bring. Feel free to get kids involved… they’ll love this simple bake and there’s really no way that they can mess this up.

Your pastries will keep for a 2-3 days in an air-tight sealed container, if they hang around for that long! We find them far too easy to devour, they rarely last longer than the day! Right, that’s enough from us, these photos alone are making me hungry, let’s just get to the BEST easy cinnamon swirl recipe you’re going to find today. Enjoy!

The Best, Easy Cinnamon Swirls Recipe EVER

You will need:

• 100g butter, softened
• 1tbsp sweet cinnamon powder
• 1tbsp soft brown sugar
• 1 sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry
• Icing sugar
• Sultanas (optional, add as many as you like, this recipe used about a handful)

Recipe:

Before we start, your puff pastry and your butter will be best if taken out of the fridge atleast 30 minutes before hand, longer for the butter. You can soften your butter in the microwave if needed, but don’t be tempted to do the same with your puff pastry as it’ll melt! Instead just give it as long as you can, even if it’s only 5 minutes whilst you prep the butter mix. It’ll make the pastry easier to unroll and then re-roll.

1. Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees (fan), gas mark 5. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and put to one side.
2. Mix your butter, cinnamon and soft brown sugar in a bowl. You’ll need your butter to be well-softened in order to mix it well. We found that even with softened butter, a quick 20 seconds in the microwave helped loosen it further to allow us to mix it into a spreadable paste.
3. Unroll your pastry sheet so that the short side is closest to you, use a knife to spread your cinnamon butter mix over the entire sheet
4. Sprinkle sultanas if using. These should be sprinkled as evenly as possible across the sheet. Try to leave a small gap along the long edge furthest away from you, this is where you’ll ‘close’ the roll so having a sultana here will just make it a little more tricky, and we don’t need that!
5. Roll! Start with the edge next to you, tuck over the edge onto it’s self and then use this to start your roll. Try to keep it as tight and straight as possible. When you get to the end and it’s all rolled up, press down the final edge and give it a light squeeze with your hands, it’ll help keep it together.
6. Using a sharp knife, slice your cinnamon swirls. You want to aim for about 1.5cm thick, thinner will take less time in the oven but can make a crispier pastry, much thicker and you’ll find them quite doughy. Ours cut into 11 pieces this time. When cutting use a light sawing action, if you press down too hard you’ll squish the pastry to cut it, make your cinnamon swirls look a squashed!
7. Place your swirls on your baking sheet, well spaced as they will grow. We spread ours across two baking sheets which meant plenty of space.
8. Bake in the oven at 170 degrees celsius (fan) or gas mark 5 for 18 minutes or until golden brown on top. Check them at 12 and 15 minutes as you may need to rotate the tray depending on your oven. You want a nice golden bake on the pastry, the cinnamon/sugar mix will have caramelised on the bottom so don’t worry if those areas are much darker.
9. Once ready, remove from the oven. Allow to cool for a minute or two before transferring to a cooling tray.
10. If icing – and you don’t have to as they’re lovely with or without – mix your icing sugar with water to form a thick, runny liquid. You want it to be runny enough that it will come off of your spoon if you hold it up after a second or two. If it comes off really quickly, add a little more icing sugar to thicken it up. Use a spoon or icing bag to drizzle your icing over the cinnamon swirls whilst on the baking tray. Allow the icing to set for a couple of minutes and tuck in – DELICIOUS!

If you like simple recipes, you’ll love our pinwheel recipe selection. Our pizza pastry pinwheels are one of our biggest hits, check them out today, they’re ideal for adults and children alike.