Puff Pastry Cinnamon Twists are a fun and easy dessert pastry that pairs well with coffee or tea. They're filled with cinnamon flavor and come together quickly with the use of frozen puff pastry dough.
Puff pastry dough is a staple in my freezer. It is easy to work with, thaws in just 30 minutes, and makes baking at home a breeze.
These Puff Pastry Cinnamon Twists are no exception. They're fun, whimsical, and surprisingly easy to make. Plus, they look like something you'd find in a bakery window.
Puff pastry is sliced into thin strips, coated in brown sugar and cinnamon, then twisted up before baking. The perfect pairing for a cup of coffee or tea.
Twisting your puff pastry
I tested this recipe multiple times before coming up with the most perfectly twisted pastry. What I found is that you want your pastry to be as long and thin as possible. Shorter and thicker pastries did not hold their twists well at all.
I sliced my puff pastry into 12 thin pieces, but I bet you could go even thinner if you want to give it a try. If you cut them any thicker, your twists will unravel as they bake. I also tried a half-length cinnamon twist. These also unraveled more than their longer version.
Long story short? If you want a twisty pastry, cut your pieces long and thin!
Another tip - twist the cinnamon side inside, leaving the plain pastry on the outside of the twist. This also helps reduce mess when handling the baked cinnamon twists. (This will make more sense once you start twisting your pastries up!)
Serving cinnamon twists
Serve these with coffee, tea, or as a fun appetizer at your next party! They make a fun and easy handheld treat.
These twists can be served warm or at room temperature - so they can be made several hours before a party.
Puff Pastry Cinnamon Twists
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry thawed
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Unfold puff pastry sheet onto a sheet of parchment paper or a lightly floured surface. Using a pastry brush, brush melted butter over the entire surface of puff pastry sheet.
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and ground cinnamon. Sprinkle sugar mixture evenly over dough and pat to adhere with butter.
- With a sharp knife, slice pastry sheet from top to bottom into 12 thin strips. Twist each strip about six to seven times around, with the cinnamon layer facing inward and the plain (underside) of the pastry facing outward on the twist.
- Place twists 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets (they will spread and untwist slightly when baking, which is why I space them out onto two sheets). Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Serve cinnamon twists warm or at room temperature.
Good recipe, but the bake time was very off for me. My oven tends to run hot, and even set to 400, my twists needed about 25 minutes total. They were still raw at 15. But once finally baked they were very good!
This recipe appealed to me because it took just a few ingredients and a few minutes to put together. No matter how I twisted the strips, however, the cinnamon sugar was always on the outside. So I folded each strip in half lengthwise, hiding the sugar, then twisted it. The twists were shorter, and just as delicious.