Cinnamon swirls, what a delicious start to the day. You can’t beat straight-of-the-oven baked goods for a satisfying weekend breakfast.
This weekend I was craving cinnamon – there may or may not have been a direct link between the dropping temperatures outside and the desire for a warming spice in my life. I wanted sweet, spiced, pastry goodness.
I wanted Cinnamon Swirls (or is it whirls? I can never remember).
And as Mary Berry had said on Great British Bake Off last week that she sometimes cheated and used store-bought pastry for making strudel (ok, not quite the same but I ran with it) I am using it as an excuse to cheat with my Cinnamon Swirls.
The result was the quickest, easiest and most satisfying bake I have ever had for breakfast. I am now going to pastry the crap out of everything!
I picked up a roll of puff pastry for 99p from my local Aldi and the rest of the ingredients were already in my cupboard. This is lazy baking at its best. I think I might keep spare pastry in my fridge more often. It was so easy to use and made super-cute mini cinnamon swirls.
The sugar pearls for my Cinnamon Swirls add just the loveliest crunch, I certainly recommend giving them a whirl!
This certainly isn’t the prettiest recipe or technique, but I kind of like my home baking to look slightly imperfect.
It’s the rustic look I am going for.
And these Cinnamon Swirls were exactly what I was hoping for.
Cheat’s Cinnamon Swirls (makes 12)
Ingredients
- 1 packet ready-made puff pastry
- 75g butter, softened
- 75g golden sugar
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1tbsp pearl sugar (buy here)
- optional: simple icing to drizzle over when cooled
Method
- preheat the oven to 180C fan.
- carefully roll out your pastry and place on a piece of baking paper
- in a small bowl mix well the butter, sugar and cinnamon. maybe pop the butter in the microwave for 5-10 seconds to get it nice and soft
- use a spoon to gently spread the sugar-butter-cinnamon mixture over the pastry. make sure you get right up to the edges and be as even as possible.
- roll up the pastry along the longest edge. it helps to lift the baking up and use it fold and roll the pastry over. once rolled, just pinch along the edge to seal shut.
- take a sharp knife and cut 2cm sections along the roll and place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper sideways facing up so you can see the swirl. position them about 1-2 cm apart as the pastry will expand!
- use a pastry brush to lightly coat the top of the swirls with beaten egg and sprinkle over with some pearl sugar.
- allow the pastry to rest for 10 minutes.
- bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.
- allow to cool for at least 10-20 minutes before eating or they’ll go soggy. (also if you get a lot of runoff from the butter like I did, pour the excess out of the baking tray so you don’t get soggy bottom)
- allow to completely cool on a cooling rack before storing and enjoy! (at this point drizzle with icing should you wish).
Enjoy!
Recipe: Cheat's Cinnamon Swirls
Cinnamon swirls, what a delicious start to the day. You can’t beat straight-of-the-oven baked goods for a satisfying weekend breakfast.
These Cheat's Cinnamon Swirls use store-bought, ready-made pastry. You simple make the filling, spread it over the pastry, roll it up, slice it, baste it, and bake it.
Ingredients
- 1 packet ready-made puff pastry
- 75g butter, softened
- 75g golden sugar
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1tbsp pearl sugar
- optional: simple icing to drizzle over when cooled
Instructions
- preheat the oven to 180C fan.
- carefully roll out your pastry and place on a piece of baking paper
- in a small bowl mix well the butter, sugar and cinnamon. maybe pop the butter in the microwave for 5-10 seconds to get it nice and soft
- use a spoon to gently spread the sugar-butter-cinnamon mixture over the pastry. make sure you get right up to the edges and be as even as possible.
- roll up the pastry along the longest edge. it helps to lift the baking up and use it fold and roll the pastry over. once rolled, just pinch along the edge to seal shut.
- take a sharp knife and cut 2cm sections along the roll and place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper sideways facing up so you can see the swirl. position them about 1-2 cm apart as the pastry will expand!
- use a pastry brush to lightly coat the top of the swirls with beaten egg and sprinkle over with some pearl sugar.
- allow the pastry to rest for 10 minutes.
- bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.
- allow to cool for at least 10-20 minutes before eating or they’ll go soggy. (also if you get a lot of runoff from the butter like I did, pour the excess out of the baking tray so you don’t get soggy bottom)
- allow to completely cool on a cooling rack before storing and enjoy! (at this point drizzle with icing should you wish).
If you like this recipe check out my recipe index for more tasty stuff
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