When you want cinnamon swirls but are short on time, these easy cinnamon swirls will hit the spot, with their tasty cinnamon sugar filling and drizzles of icing!
Some days you want to bake cinnamon rolls for breakfast, brunch or just to enjoy but you don’t have the time or energy to wait for the dough to rise!
These easy cinnamon swirls are perfect for days like these, as they are made without yeast so you don’t have to allow for proving time at all.
Unlike puff pastry swirls these are soft and buttery, perfect as a contrast to the sweet icing.
Based on an easy scone dough using self-raising flour, these swirls are so easy to prepare and you’ll end up with tasty soft rolls with a cinnamon filling, delicious with a simple icing drizzled over the top.
Better still they’ll be ready in half an hour!
If you love cinnamon then you’ll love these swirls. My children love them and even my husband who isn’t fond of cinnamon normally was a fan!
The lovely people over at Divertimenti, a premium bookshop and cookery school in South Kensington (London) sent me a Nordic Ware Cake Pan to try out this week.
These cinnamon scones were the perfect opportunity to try out the pan, as at 9 x 13 inches it is well-sized and perfect for a traybake like this. What I loved is that it has deep sides, is made of aluminium so it ensures your bakes brown evenly and consistently, and it also has galvanised edges to prevent it from warping.
I found the pan really easy to prepare for baking just by lightly oiling it, and also so easy to clean afterwards. As it will never rust it is a great addition to my baking arsenal. I look forward to using it for more bakes soon, I think a millionaires shortbread or an old school traybake cake might well be on the cards!
Ingredients
- self-raising flour
- butter
- caster sugar
- milk
- cinnamon
- granulated sugar – used for the filling
- icing sugar – used for the simple icing
Step by step
- Sift the self-raising flour into a large bowl.
- Cube the butter straight from the fridge and add to the flour.
- Rub it into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the caster sugar.
- Pour in the milk and stir with a spoon until it comes together as a dough.
- Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and bring it together in a ball so you can roll it out.
- Roll the dough into a large rectangle using a rolling pin.
- Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon for the filling in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle it all over the dough, spreading it equally around so it covers it evenly.
- From the long side of the rectangle, roll up the dough carefully and tightly into a large roll, as if you are making a Swiss roll.
- Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces.
- Grease your baking tin with a little oil, ensuring you cover all sides and edges, to prevent sticking.
- Arrange the swirls in 4 rows of 3, leaving a little room between each roll as they will rise as they bake.
- Bake for 25 minutes at 180 degrees C or until light golden in colour and cooked through.
- Remove the baking tin from the oven and allow to cool.
- In a separate small bowl, mix the icing sugar with the 2 tablespoons of milk to make a smooth, not too runny icing.
- Drizzle the icing over the cinnamon swirls and serve!
Frosting variations
- If you prefer a cream cheese frosting for cinnamon rolls and swirls then my favourite recipe is this one from Kerry Cooks, it is no fail!
- If you’d prefer not to use icing (powdered) sugar in your frosting then this frosting based on a roux is another option.
Freezing
You can freeze these swirls un-iced. Let them cool after baking then wrap well in clingfilm or a freezer bag and freeze for up to 6 weeks. To defrost, thaw them overnight in the fridge. Reheat in a low oven for 5-10 minutes then ice before serving.
More to try
If you love cinnamon you might also like:
Recipe
Easy Cinnamon Swirls
Ingredients
- 450 g (3 ½ cups) self-raising flour
- 110 g (½ cup) butter I prefer unsalted
- 60 g (⅓ cups) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 300 ml (1 ⅓ cups) milk I use semi-skimmed
For the filling:
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2.5 tsp (2 ½ tsp) ground cinnamon
For the frosting:
- 85 g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) icing sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees℃ / 350℉.
- Sift the self-raising flour (450 g) into a large bowl.450 g self-raising flour
- Cube the butter straight from the fridge.110 g butter
- Rub it into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the caster sugar.60 g caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- Pour in the milk and stir with a spoon until it comes together as a dough.300 ml milk
- Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and bring it together in a ball so you can roll it out.
- Roll the dough into a large rectangle using a rolling pin.
- Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon for the filling in a small bowl.4 tbsp granulated sugar, 2.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- Sprinkle it all over the dough, spreading it equally around so it covers it evenly.
- From the long side of the rectangle, roll up the dough carefully and tightly into a large roll, as if you are making a Swiss roll.
- Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces.
- Grease your baking tin with a little oil, ensuring you cover all sides and edges, to prevent sticking.
- Arrange the swirls in 4 rows of 3, leaving a little room between each roll as they will rise as they bake.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until light golden in colour and cooked through.
- Remove the baking tin from the oven and allow to cool.
- In a separate small bowl, mix the icing sugar with the 2 tablespoons of milk to make a smooth, not too runny icing.85 g icing sugar, 2 tbsp milk
- Drizzle the icing over the cinnamon swirls and serve!
Notes
Disclosure: Divertimenti sent me a cake pan for the purposes of a review. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this post.
Mrs Wren says
I made these cinnamon swirls today for my husband and we both loved them.
Thank you so much for sharing your yummy recipe.
bakingqueen74 says
Great, thanks so much for letting me know!