This is a nice & easy cinnamon swirl recipe-made with ready roll puff pastry
If you love the flaky cinnamon swirls from the supermarket bakery but want to make them at home for a fraction of the price, this easy recipe is for you. Using a sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry and a handful of store cupboard ingredients, you can have a tray of warm, golden cinnamon swirls fresh from the oven in under 30 minutes.
I usually make these with Lidl’s ready-rolled puff pastry because it’s affordable, reliable and gives a generous batch. One sheet makes around 14 to 16 cinnamon swirls, making them perfect for sharing with family, enjoying with a cup of tea or packing into lunchboxes for a sweet treat.
Jump to RecipeWhy You’ll Love These Cinnamon Swirls
This is one of those recipes you’ll find yourself making again and again. It takes just a few minutes to prepare, uses simple ingredients and fills the kitchen with the comforting smell of warm cinnamon as it bakes.
The secret to getting soft, sticky centres is to make a smooth cinnamon butter filling rather than simply sprinkling sugar over the pastry. As the swirls bake, the butter melts with the brown sugar to create a rich, jammy filling while the pastry becomes crisp, flaky and beautifully golden.
Top Tips for the Best Cinnamon Swirls
For the best results, make the filling into a soft, spreadable paste. You’re aiming for something that spreads easily with the back of a spoon without tearing the pastry. If the mixture feels a little dry, don’t worry about adding a little extra softened butter. Different brands of butter can vary slightly, so adjust it until the filling has a smooth, jammy consistency.
Spread the filling right to the edges of the pastry so every swirl has plenty of flavour.
When rolling the pastry, keep it snug rather than pulling it tightly. A roll that’s too tight can stop the centres opening properly as they bake, while a loose roll may lose its shape when sliced.
I also recommend lining your baking tray with baking parchment. The brown sugar filling can bubble slightly as it cooks, and the parchment makes it much easier to lift the swirls away once they’ve cooled for a few minutes.
Finally, brush the tops with a little milk before baking. Butter belongs inside the filling, while milk gives the pastry a lovely golden colour and a gentle shine.
Serving Suggestions
These cinnamon swirls are best enjoyed while they’re still slightly warm, when the centres are wonderfully soft and the pastry is at its flakiest.
Serve them with a cup of tea or coffee for an afternoon treat, add them to a weekend brunch or drizzle over a simple icing sugar glaze for an extra bakery-style finish. They’re also lovely to make during the autumn and winter months when you’re looking for an easy homemade bake without spending hours in the kitchen.
Storage
Store any leftover cinnamon swirls in an airtight container for up to three days.
If you’d like to freshen them up, pop them into an air fryer at 160°C for two to three minutes, or warm them in the oven for a few minutes. They’ll crisp up beautifully and taste almost as if they’ve just been baked.
The Recipe
You’ll find the full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions in the recipe card below.
Once you’ve made these easy cinnamon swirls once, they’re likely to become one of those reliable recipes you come back to whenever you have a sheet of puff pastry waiting in the fridge.
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan for 14–18 minutes(slightly longer because it’s a bigger batch).
- In a bowl mix the brown sugar, very soft butter, the cinnamon and the pinch of salt
- Mix into a spreadable paste and set to one side.
- In another small bowl. Mix the icing sugar with a tiny drop of water or milk till it makes a medium thick icing. Then set to one side. If it is very cold in your kitchen you may want to make up the icing glaze when the swirls are cooling at the end. If it dries a bit just add another tiny drop of water or milk to loosten it.
- Lay out the pastry flat on its baking paper.
- Spread the filling evenly over the pastry, right to the edges.
- Roll into a snug log from the short side and press the seam to seal-brush a little milk to help you make the seam.
- Slice into 12 swirls and place on a lined tray with space between each
- Brush with milk.
- Bake for 14–18 minutes till golden brown and flaky. But leave in longer if needed.
- Allow to cook on the baking tray for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Spoon over he glaze while still warm. Allow to a cool for a few more minutes and enjoy!
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