Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls

5 from 5 votes

Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls

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.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Course: Cookies + Bars

Cuisine: American

Keyword: puff pastry cinnamon rolls

Servings:

Calories: 357kcal

Author: Carolyn Gratzer Cope

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 8x8-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.

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