Easy air fryer puff pastry cinnamon rolls
I always have some chilled puff pastry in the fridge. It’s useful for quick puddings, a topping for chicken pie filling, and N quite likes to make sausage rolls if we’ve also got sausagemeat in the freezer. After Jusrol changed their recipe and method for their ready to bake cinnamon rolls, I decided trying a cheat version might be better (and certainly less expensive). So I ended up with these cheat’s air fryer puff pastry cinnamon rolls.
Ok, so they’re pastry and not an enriched dough. But they take minutes rather than hours. (The couple of times I’ve made proper cinnamon rolls I’ve managed to overcook them which was a waste of the time spent making them!).
The important thing is they taste just as good – cinnamony, fluffy, with a bit of crispy pastry on the outside.
You can adjust the amount of cinnamon according to taste, but I found mine were just right for me flavourwise the first time of trying.
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Cinnamon buns or cinnamon rolls?
The name seems to be used interchangeably. I’ve called them cinnamon rolls because of the rolled up shape. But cinnamon buns also have the same structure. Evidently cinnamon buns should have nuts in – but I’ve never seen a cinnamon bun with nuts on. So I’m sticking with cinnamon rolls because these aren’t made of bun ingredients, but are rolled! But if you want to add the nuts, you can add chopped nuts of your choice spreading them over the butter mixture.
Do I need an air fryer for these?
Strictly speaking no, because an airfryer just does the same as an oven. So if you don’t have an air fryer, by all means add them to a shallow edged baking tray with a bit of space around for expansion. Bake for around 15 minutes at 180C.
How to get even cinnamon rolls, rather than wonky ones
I have to admit you’re unlikely to get perfect rolls like you might with shop bought or even properly made cinnamon rolls. My first attempt were very wonky in shape the way they puff up. However I worked out you need to roll from the short end, not the long. That way you have more of a swirl to hold them in place.
Use a sharp knife to cut the pastry log, otherwise you’ll squash the shape of them too much.
While you want to have a little space between the puff pastry cinnamon rolls as they’re cooking, the more you have in the space will help them stay more upright.
You can also try putting each roll in a cupcake paper case to keep them upright. If you try this method using silicone cases, they’ll probably need a little more cooking time to get the bottom cooked. (or just turn them over at about the ¾ through cooking point). I would try cooking these at a slightly lower temperature, for longer to avoid them getting too dark and crispy on top. I’ve not tried this way though so let me know if you try this method.
Do you need oil when air frying them?
No, because you’ve got the butter in the cinnamon rolls, and it will get a little oozy. So no need to add more to the airfryer.
What equipment might you need?
Obviously other than an air fryer (I love my Ninja dual 9.5L), you might need:
- sharp knife – my favourite is a Santoku that was my Christmas present from my brother (he moans that none of our knives are ever sharp, so last year’s gift was a really amazing knife sharpener!)
- Baking paper*
- Wire baking racks*
- Piping bag kit*
Making air fryer puff pastry cinnamon rolls
They really are simple little treats, ready in minutes. Just remember to leave out your pastry for 10 minutes to take the chill off it and easier to unroll without cracking.
Then mix the very soft butter with the cinnamon and sugar before spreading that over the pastry. Then roll up the pastry from the shorter end and cut into even swirls.
The rolls don’t need to be too tight as they’ll need room to puff out as they cook, but try and make sure the edges are secure to avoid them unravelling. I just press the end in of the roll before cutting, and that seems to work fine.
Stand in the air fryer with the swirl vertically, leaving a little room inbetween. I cut out squares of the baking paper the pastry comes in to stand the rolls on in the air fryer. But they’re fine just on the non stick crisper plates without anything underneath.
I use the bake setting on my Ninja air fryer for around 8 minutes, but if you don’t have that setting then air fryer works too at 180C. I did turn them with about 2 minutes to go. But just keep an eye on them so they cook through and don’t get too over done on top and undercooked on the bottom.
Once cooked you can leave them in the open drawer for a bit to cool, or remove and put on a wire cooking rack.
I decided to also add some icing – may as well have more sweetness! Just take some icing sugar, and add a little water at a time, mixing until you get the consistency to drizzle it over. I used a circular baking paper cone with the end snipped off (the narrower neater drizzle), and a sandwich bag with the corner off (the thicker lines).
Serve once the icing has cooled and set, if you can last that long.
Check out the detailed recipe below.
Air fryer puff pastry cinnamon rolls
Make these pastry cinnamon rolls in the air fryer
Ingredients
- 1 pack ready rolled puff pastry
- 80 g unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 4 tbsp demerara sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- chopped pecans optional
For the icing (optional)
- 4-5 tbsp icing sugar
Instructions
Remove the pastry from the fridge for about 10 minutes to enable you to unroll it without it breaking. If frozen, then defrost in the fridge before using.
Mix the very soft butter with the cinnamon and sugar
Unroll the pastry and spread the butter mixture over it, leaving a little empty border at one short end. Sprinkle the nuts over if using.
Roll up the pastry along from the short end. Push the end of the pastry in a little to help seal it.
Using a sharp knife, cut into 10ish rolls. I got 11 out of mine
Place in your air fryer upright leaving some space inbetween. On air fry setting cook them at 180C for 8 minutes, checking with a couple of minutes to go and turning over if needed.
Leave to cool slightly in the open air fryer drawer while you prepare the icing. In a bowl, put the icing sugar, then add enough water (start with a tablespoon, then add a teaspoon at a time) until you have a drizzling consistency.
Remove the pastry cinnamon rolls from the air fryer, put on a plate or wire rack then drizzle over the icing using a spoon, piping bag, or sandwich bag with the corner cut off..
Alternatively, try these smores pastry swirls which would also work well in the air fryer, or check out 20 ways with puff pastry.
How do you like your cinnamon rolls?