These cinnamon puff pastry rolls are the easiest rolls you could possibly make. Sweet, flaky, delicious, and ready to serve in about 30 minutes.
Puff pastry cinnamon rolls made with only a few ingredients and ready in about half an hour—can it get any better? Either for breakfast or a quick dessert, they're perfect when you have guests coming or just to make your kids happy! Not to mention that a whole batch (6 cinnamon rolls) costs about as much as one cinnamon roll bought in a bakery!
I have a thing for cinnamon rolls and a thing for puff pastry. And to combine the two is always a great idea! Have a look at these French Palmiers or these Apple Puff Pastry Rolls, for instance. Or try the Swedish Kanelbullar or the Sweet Rolls with Cinnamon Sugar. I love them all!
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Ingredients
- Pre-made puff pastry: I always use already-rolled pastry from the refrigerator section of the supermarket. It costs almost nothing, is delicious, and is so easy to work with.
- Frozen puff pastry is a very good substitute, of course. But you will have to defrost it according to the package instructions and roll it, if necessary.
- Other ingredients: butter, brown sugar (but regular sugar is fine if you don't have it), a small handful of walnuts (or pecan nuts), and cinnamon.
- For the glaze, you will need some icing sugar, water or milk, and a little vanilla extract.
How to make cinnamon rolls with puff pastry?
- Chop the walnuts. (1)
- Unroll the pastry sheet.
- If using frozen pastry, let it thaw according to the package instructions and roll if it hasn't already. If rolling, you will need a sheet roughly 25 cm/ 9.8 inches long. The exact size is not so important; a bit more or less is OK.
- I leave the pastry on its paper (it is parchment paper) and use that to line the baking dish as well. Only do that if the paper is suitable for placing in the oven. (2)
- Smear the pastry with the soft butter. (3)
- Mix 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly on the dough. (4)
- Top with the walnuts. (5)
- Roll up tightly into a cylinder, but be careful that the walnuts don't tear the dough. If it does tear a little here and there, just pinch the dough with your fingers to close again. (6)
- Sprinkle 2 more tablespoons of sugar on the working surface. Carefully roll the cylinder in the sugar. (1,2,3)
- Cut the cylinder into 6 cinnamon rolls. (1)
- Place them into a small baking dish lined with parchment paper. (2)
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and puffed. (3)
- Let cool for about 10 minutes before glazing. (4)
Icing
- In a small bowl, mix together the icing sugar, ½ to 1 tablespoon milk or water, and vanilla extract.
- Adjust the amount of liquid as needed to obtain a thick yet pourable icing.
- Drizzle the icing over the warm puff pastry cinnamon rolls.
How to serve?
Enjoy immediately, or let them cool.
Foods made with puff pastry are always at their best on the day they are baked. However, leftovers are delicious the next day, although they will lose some of the crispiness and flakiness.
The leftovers will be fine for 3-4 days. Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Can you freeze them?
If making the cinnamon puff pastry rolls with pastry from the refrigerator section, prepare everything, cut the cylinder into rolls, and freeze the unbaked rolls on a baking tray without them touching each other. Once they are frozen, transfer to a smaller container.
Don't freeze rolls made with defrosted pastry, it is never a good idea to freeze again something that has already been defrosted.
I also would not freeze the already baked pastries, they are not as good anymore once defrosted, not really worth the trouble.
More puff pastry recipes
- Berry Puff Pastry Cake
- Croissants with Jam
- Cremeschnitte
- Marzipan Pastries
- Mushroom Puff Pastry Pies
- Party Nibbles with Pesto
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Cinnamon Puff Pastry Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 ready-rolled sheet puff pastry about 275 g/ 10 oz (Notes 1 and 2)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter soft
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar divided (white sugar is fine as well)
- 30 g/ 1 oz/ ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- 30 g/ 1 oz/ ¼ cup icing sugar Note 3
- ½ to 1 tablespoon milk or water as needed
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a small baking dish with parchment paper.
- Unroll the pastry. If using unrolled pastry, roll a rectangle of about 25 cm/ 9.8 inches long, a little more or less is OK.
- Smear the pastry with the soft butter.
- In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Sprinkle over the pastry and top with the walnuts.
- Roll up tightly into a cylinder.
- Sprinkle 2 more tablespoons of sugar on the working surface. Carefully roll the cylinder in the sugar (optional step).
- Cut into 6 rolls. Place them into the baking dish and bake for about 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden. Let cool for 10 minutes before icing.
- To make the icing, mix together the icing sugar, water or milk, and vanilla extract. Use enough liquid to get a thick yet pourable sugar paste.
- Drizzle over the hot cinnamon rolls.
Notes
- You can easily double the recipe.
- Frozen puff pastry can be used instead, thaw according to the package instructions, and roll, if not already rolled.
- This makes a small amount of icing, we find that enough. However, if you like a thicker icing, just double the ingredients.
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