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Puff pastry cinnamon rolls are a totally delightful twist on the classic. They meld the perfect flavors of the original with puff pastry’s dreamy, buttery goodness, creating a roll that’s part familiar, part brand new. Plus — especially compared to a yeasted dough — they couldn’t be quicker or easier to make.
Why we love this recipe
Classic yeasted cinnamon rolls (Swedish- or American-style) are fabulous. No question. I highly recommend that you take those on as a kitchen project at some point in your cooking journey. But friends, there’s an easier way.
When you’re looking for a low-effort, high-reward take on the classic, make a beeline for puff pastry cinnamon rolls. They’ve got:
- All the cinnamon-sugar vibes of the original
- Plus the buttery magic of puff pastry
- The sticky tenderness you expect from a cinnamon roll
- Alongside a bit of flaky, layered crispness
- And, as if by magic, they’re ready in about half an hour
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this easy recipe.
- Dufour is my favorite brand of puff pastry by far, but it’s more expensive and sometimes less available than supermarket brands. You can use whatever brand you like. Dufour comes in a 14-ounce package that’s a single sheet. If you’re working with a 17-ounce package that contains two sheets, you can use the same amount of filling, icing, and egg wash, and a similar method for rolling and slicing. Just do it twice.
- Light brown sugar and good old ground cinnamon create everyone’s favorite filling. Unlike with yeasted dough, there’s a ton of butter in the puff pastry itself, so you won’t add any butter to the filling.
- You’ll mix half the milk with the egg to make an egg wash. This helps the cinnamon sugar stick to the puff pastry so it’s easy to roll up, and it also gets painted on the outsides of the rolls to brown them up a bit. You’ll mix the other half of the milk with the powdered sugar and vanilla to make a simple glaze.
How to make them
Here’s what you’ll do to make a great batch of cinnamon rolls. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Remove puff pastry from the freezer and use it when it’s defrosted but still cold (usually after about 45 minutes on the counter). First you’ll prep the egg wash and the filling. Both are super-easy. For the egg wash, mix together one tablespoon of the milk and the egg. For the filling, mix together the brown sugar and the cinnamon.
- Dust a work surface with flour and unfold the puff pastry. Dust the top of the pastry, too. Roll out a bit. Using Dufour, I roll it out to one 14-inch by 12-inch rectangle. If you’re using a brand with two sheets, roll them each out by a couple of inches on each axis, too. Paint the surface of the pastry with egg wash. Then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the whole surface and pat it gently with your hands to help it adhere.
- Roll up the pastry lengthwise into a log. Cut into 12 (or 13, whoops!) equal pieces. My favorite way to do this is with a piece of dental floss, which doesn’t compress the rolls the way a knife might. Refer to the video to see this in action. Place the slices in a greased 8×8-inch baking dish with some space between them to expand. Or, if you prefer crisper rolls, you can place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet with plenty of space in between them.
- Bake for 25 minutes (a little more if you’d like them more browned) in the center of a 400°F oven. While they bake, stir together the powdered sugar, the remaining tablespoon of milk, and the vanilla extract to make a glaze. Drizzle glaze overtop and serve.
Expert tips and FAQs
You’ll want to use the puff pastry when it’s defrosted but still quite cold. This tends to take about 45 minutes at cool room temperature, or you can leave it in the fridge overnight to defrost.
The flaky layers are created by the thin, intact pockets of butter in the dough, which release steam in a hot oven. In order for this to work properly, they need to be kept cold, so they don’t melt away into the dough.
If you want the rolls to stick together a bit and stay softer, bake them in an 8×8-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray (or greased with a bit of butter).
If you’d prefer more crispness, line a half sheet pan with parchment and place the rolls far enough apart that they won’t touch when they’ve expanded, a good few inches between them.
Both versions are good. I tend to think the baking dish version resembles classic cinnamon rolls a little more, and the sheet pan version leans a little more heavily into the puff pastry vibe.
You can prep the rolls up to a day in advance and keep refrigerated right in the baking dish, covered tightly with foil or a lid. Bake straight from the fridge right before serving.
Once completely cooled, store any leftovers covered at room temperature for up to three days.
More sweet brunch treats
- Banana bread
- Blueberry or rhubarb coffee cake
- Gingerbread glazed or baked apple cider donuts
More sweet & savory puff pastry favorites
- Apple tarts with honey and goat cheese
- Cheese straws
- Creamy leek and feta cups
- Turkey pot pie with lattice crust
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Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 14 ounces (397 grams) puff pastry
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) milk, divided
- ½ cup (106 grams) light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup (56 grams) confectioners sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the center.
- Make the the egg wash: In a small bowl, beat together the egg and one tablespoon of the milk with a fork.
- Make the filling: In another small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and the cinnamon.
- Dust a work surface with a little bit of flour and unfold the puff pastry. Dust the top of the pastry, too. Roll out a bit. (Using Dufour, I roll it out into a 14-inch by 12-inch rectangle.)
- Paint the surface of the pastry with egg wash.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the whole surface and pat it gently with your hands to help it adhere.
- Roll up the pastry lengthwise into a log.
- Cut into 12 equal pieces. My favorite way to do this is with a piece of dental floss, which doesn’t compress the rolls the way a knife might. Refer to the video to see this in action.
- Place slices spiral-side up in greased baking dish or on parchment-lined sheet pan. (See note 3 below.)
- Bake for 25 minutes, or a little more if you’d like them more browned.
- While the rolls bake, make the glaze. In a small bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, the remaining tablespoon of milk, and the vanilla extract.
- Drizzle glaze over baked rolls and serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- You’ll want to use the puff pastry when it’s defrosted but still quite cold. This tends to take about 45 minutes at cool room temperature, or you can leave it in the fridge overnight to defrost. The flaky layers are created by the thin, intact pockets of butter in the dough, which release steam in a hot oven. In order for this to work properly, they need to be kept cold, so they don’t melt away into the dough.
- Dufour is my preferred brand of puff pastry by a long shot, but it’s more expensive and not always as easy to find as other brands. It comes in a single 14-ounce sheet per box. If you’re using a brand with two sheets that total 17 ounces, you don’t need to worry about changing the quantities of the other ingredients. Roll out each sheet a bit, divide the filling equally, and cut each into six rolls.
- If you want the rolls to stick together a bit and stay softer, bake them in an 8×8-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray (or greased with a bit of butter). If you’d prefer more crispness, line a half sheet pan with parchment and place the rolls far enough apart that they won’t touch when they’ve expanded, a good few inches between them. Both versions are good. I tend to think the baking dish version resembles classic cinnamon rolls a little more, and the sheet pan version leans a little more heavily into the puff pastry vibe.
- You can prep the rolls up to a day in advance and keep refrigerated right in the baking dish, covered tightly with foil or a lid. Bake straight from the fridge right before serving.
- Once completely cooled, store any leftovers covered at room temperature for up to three days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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