Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls

This cinnamon roll recipe is my favorite for a quick breakfast or brunch item and an excellent dish for entertaining. After all, this is not a regular cinnamon roll recipe. This is a recipe for cinnamon rolls with a twist-- a very crisp and flaky twist! Learn how to make a puff pastry cinnamon roll that’s lip-smacking and irresistible in under 30 minutes flat.

Can you make cinnamon rolls with puff pastry?

Yes, absolutely! For this quick recipe, we’ll be utilizing store-bought puff pastry. The beauty of this is we don’t need to deal with the additional time usually needed for proofing (allowing the dough to rise), that’s required for traditional cinnamon roll dough. Totally not necessary with puff pastry sheets. For the mornings especially, I’m a fan of 3 things: easy, quick and satisfying! Only 4 ingredients are required for the cinnamon rolls, including the puff pastry and less than 30 minutes in the oven for this delicious warm, crisp and flaky treat.

Where do I find puff pastry sheets?

Puff pastry sheets can be found in the freezer section of your nearest grocer; usually near the frozen dessert pies and frozen pie shells. They often come two to a box. They can be thawed from the freezer or placed in the refrigerator to thaw overnight-- which is what I would recommend doing so it’s ready to go when you are. Let’s get to baking!

Cinnamon roll puff pastry

Makes 12 cinnamon rolls.

For the filling:

1 box of store bought puff pastry (two 10” x 15” sheets)
¾ cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter, softened and divided

For the icing:

4 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
½ cup confectioners sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparing the cinnamon rolls

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9”x13” pan and set aside for now.

Thaw two puff pastry sheets according to package directions. The puff pastry sheets I’m using are two 10”x15” sheets.

Step 2:

In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. We’ll divide this mixture equally between the two puff pastry sheets we’re assembling.

Step 3:

Dust your work surface with a little bit of flour before unrolling the dough. Make sure they are thawed completely; we don’t want to break the panels during the unfolding or unrolling of the sheets.

Step 4:

Spread 3 tablespoons of softened butter on each puff pastry sheet. Sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture very generously over the two sheets. Sprinkle it all!

Step 5:

Roll each sheet from the bottom up. Don’t worry about tucking it too tight, but we don’t want it to be too loose either.

Step 6:

Cut each roll into six pieces. The easiest way to do this evenly is to first slice down the middle, then make two more cuts on each side.

Carefully place them in three rows of four in the greased pan we prepared earlier. They will expand quite a bit while baking.

Bake for 25-28 minutes or until golden. Allow to sit and cool for a couple of minutes. Serve while warm and top with icing if desired.

Preparing the icing

Using a stand mixer or a handheld mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together in a medium bowl. Add sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until completely incorporated and the icing is smooth.