Recipe: Easy Cinnamon Swirls

When I was little my mum used to drag me out shopping every Saturday, it was very much the thing to do. We would go to the local market and pick up some bargains, mostly pig’s ears for our dog to chew on. Oh how I miss my doggy. The best part of our Saturday market trips was a visit to the bakery. I would always be treated to a cake and if I’m honest is the reason why I was still going shopping with my mum well into my teenage years.

Real bakeries just don’t seem to exist any more and the one I went to as a child closed a long time ago. Cooking sweet pastry at home recently reminded me of the delicious smell of that bakery and how I used to love my weekly baked treat. It’s not that I would always get a cinnamon swirl, but cinnamon is strangely so evocative of my childhood and these super simple cinnamon swirls are a hit of nostalgia. And they really couldn’t be easier.

Makes 12

What you need:

1 sheet of puff pastry
70g butter, melted and cooled
150g soft light brown sugar
cinnamon, to taste
2 tbsp icing sugar

What you do:

Lay your sheet of puff pastry out on a piece of greaseproof paper and brush the melted butter all over., leaving a little behind for later.
Crumble the soft brown sugar evenly over the pastry, making sure there are no gaps and the sugar is nice and even. On top of that, sprinkle some cinnamon straight from the jar. How much you use is up to you, I used enough to be able to see the thin layer of cinnamon sitting on top of the sugar.
Now roll up the pastry carefully lengthways using the greaseproof paper to help you form it into a log shape. Cut the log into 12 evenly sized slices then put them flat side down onto a lined baking sheet leaving plenty of space in between. Brush the tops with a little extra butter and cook the swirls in an oven at 200°c for around 15 minutes, until the swirls have expanded and are golden and puffy.
Leave the cinnamon swirls to cool on a rack whilst you make the icing. Mix the icing sugar in a bowl with a couple of drops of water to make a runny icing. Drizzle this over the cooled pastries and leave them to set. You are then ready to eat!

These are incredibly sweet but the perfect size to enjoy as a treat with a nice cup of tea or coffee and can be whipped up so quickly whenever you need a little something. Oh how I wish the bakeries of my childhood still existed!