Cinnamon Swirls

Sweet and delicious cinnamon swirls. Make your own cinnamon swirls at home with this easy recipe. It takes just 10 minutes to mix together the dough and theres no need for a dough hook or bread machine! Soft and fluffy and filled with cinnamon sugar, they are perfect for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea.

👩🏻‍🍳 Why make this recipe

These rather impressive looking cinnamon swirls are actually really easy to make. With a foolproof method and 10 minute dough recipe that produces soft and fluffy rolls every time.

You don't need a bread machine and theres no need to activate the yeast before adding it to the flour. This is a simple method of adding wet ingredients to dry and bringing it all together into the most perfect and fluffy cinnamon swirls.

🥘 Ingredients

To make a 9x9 inch tin of Cinnamon rolls (9 rolls in a tin) you will need:

Ingredient notes

Strong white bread flour: Its quite important that the right kind of flour is used for this recipe. Strong bread flour (or just bread flour if you are in the US) contains a higher amount of protein, which will allow for more air to be trapped when the dough rises and bakes. Therefore, producing a light, soft and fluffy cinnamon roll.

Dark brown sugar: Soft dark brown sugar works best in this recipe as it easily mixes and dissolves into the butter. The brown sugar also has a lovely toffee flavour and the darker colour makes the swirl stand out more against the plain bread. Light brown muscovado sugar would also work well here.

Fast action or instant yeast: One sachet of this will ensure a good rise. Make sure you use a yeast that states it can be added straight to the recipe or flour. I find fast action yeast super easy to work with as it doesn't need to be activated first and it always works well when making any kind of bread.

Fresh yeast could also be used here but double the amount would be needed. Fresh yeast will need to be activated in the milk first rather than adding to the flour mixture. If you choose this option you will need to melt the butter and milk in a pan then allow to cool to a luke warm temperature. Then dissolve the fresh yeast in the warm milk and allow to sit for a couple of minutes before mixing into the flour. Read more about different types of yeast and how to use them here.

Caster sugar: The caster sugar (or bakers sugar) is added to the dough to make the bread sweet. Although other types of sugar could be used here, I find caster sugar to be the best as it dissolves quickly and produces a nice even flavour throughout the bread. Either white or brown caster sugar can be used.

Icing - Topping the swirls with icing is completely optional, but I feel icing is a must when it comes to cinnamon swirls. Icing can be piped or drizzled on. Or if you prefer you can add more water to make a thinner icing and then brush over the swirls to create an icing glaze.

If you aren't a fan of icing you could create an apricot glaze instead. To do this heat half a jar of apricot jam in a small pan until its nice and runny. Then brush the jam over the cinnamon swirls after they have been taken out of the oven and whilst they are still warm.

🔪 Step by step instructions

1. Melt the butter and milk over a low heat in a small pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, caster sugar, yeast and salt.
3. Gradually pour the melted butter and milk into the dry ingredients. Stir well between each addition to eventually form a dough.
4. Turn the dough out onto a clean floured work surface. Knead for 2-3 minutes until it starts to feel smooth and less sticky.
5. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover.
6. Leave the bowl to stand in a warm place (e.g. - on top of a pre heated oven) for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
7. Meanwhile mix together the dark brown sugar and cinnamon. Put to one side.
8. After the dough has risen, uncover and turn out on a floured work surface. Flatten out the dough roughly with your fingertips. Then flour a rolling pin and roll into a rough rectangle 2-3mm thick.
9. Use the back of a spoon to spread the softened butter over the surface of the rolled out dough.
10. Next sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the buttered dough and gently push into the butter with your fingertips,
11. Roll up the dough starting from the short side. Roll nice and tight.
12. Slice off the rough edges at either side of the rolled up dough. Then roughly mark out nine pieces before slicing into nine rolls with a sharp knife.
13. Pre heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 9x9 inch square tin with greaseproof paper. Then place the 9 rolls into the tin, swirls facing up. Cover and leave to rise again for 30 minutes.
14. Whisk up the egg. Uncover the cinnamon swirls and brush with the egg. Place the cinnamon swirls in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

🍰 Other easy baking recipes

• Pumpkin and date muffins
• Hot Cross Buns Recipe
• Easy bread rolls recipe
• Banana bread
• Apple crumble
• American blueberry pancakes
• Soft bake chocolate chip cookies recipe
• 5 Easy Recipes for Pancakes

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