The warming scent and taste of cinnamon brightens up any winter morning, and so when Lauren from Hello Charmmie saw a recipe for cinnamon twists in Jamie magazine, she just had to make them – and of course share the recipe with us!
One of the best winter scents and flavors is cinnamon! It’s so warming and cozy feeling so it just felt appropriate to bake these beautiful flaky, buttery cinnamon twists.
These are perfect with a cup of coffee for a mid-morning pick me up.
Cinnamon Twists
Makes 12 |
Time 2+ hours prep 15 min baking |
DifficultyMedium |
Ingredients
- 250g strong white flour
- 75g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 25g caster sugar
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 250g cold, unsalted butter. 50g diced (leave the rest in a block)
- 7g fast action dried yeast
- 200ml full-fat milk
- 1tbsp ground cinnamon
- 125g caster sugar
Method
- Tip both of the flours into the bowl of a free-standing mixer, add the caster sugar (25g) and salt, and using your hands, rub the diced butter (50g) into the dry ingredients until there are only small pieces of butter still visible. Add the dried yeast and mix to combine.
- Warm the milk either in a jug in the microwave or in a small saucepan over a low heat until it’s quite warm but not too hot to the touch.
- Attach the bowl to the mixer and fit a dough hook. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the warm milk into the well and mix with a dough hook for 2-3 minutes until silky smooth and combined. If you don’t have a dough hook, once you’ve added the milk, use two fingers to pull in the flour mixture from the sides until it comes together. Keep kneading it against the sides of the bowl until all the flour is incorporated. Turn it out onto a clean work surface and knead for 1 more minute until you have a smooth ball of dough.
- Place the dough into a clean mixing bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature until doubled in size (this will take 45-60 minutes depending on how warm the room is).
- Chill the dough in the fridge for about 20 minutes – you need the dough to be the same temperature as the chilled block of butter. Using a rolling pin, flatten the butter between two sheets of baking paper until you have a 13cm square. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, until ready to use.
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour, place the dough onto it and flatten it out a bit with your hand. Then roll it neatly into a 45x15cm rectangle and place it so one of the shorter sides is closest to you. Take the butter out of the fridge and place it in the middle third of the rectangle. Fold the bottom third of the dough up and over the butter to cover it. Use a clean, dry pastry brush to flick any excess flour off the dough, and then fold the top third down over the middle section, so that the butter is completely encased in pastry.
- Turn your pastry parcel 90-degrees anti-clockwise and gently, using short, sharp tapping movements roll the dough into another neat rectangle – this time 50x15cm. Fold the top half of the dough down to the middle of the rectangle and the bottom half up so that the top and the bottom edge are now meeting in the middle. Dust off any excess flour again and fold the rectangle in half another time, so you are left with a neat rectangle four layers thick. Wrap the pastry parcel in cling film and pop in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes.
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour again, then repeat the roll and fold steps once more. Cover with cling film and chill again for 30-40 minutes.
- Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to another neat rectangle, slightly smaller than before. Sprinkle the top with an even layer of the cinnamon sugar and use the rolling pin to press it into the dough.
- Fold the dough like a book again, sprinkling with more cinnamon sugar before you complete the final fold. Cover and return to the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle the work surface with the cinnamon sugar and roll the dough out, this time into a 40cm square, about 3mm thick. Trim the edges and cut the dough into 3cm wide strips. Arrange on baking trays lined with baking paper, twisting both ends of each strip 2 or 3 times, then sprinkle them with the remaining cinnamon sugar. Cover the pastries loosely with cling film and set aside at room temperature for about 20 minutes while you preheat your oven to 190C/gas 5.
- Bake the cinnamon twists in batches (refrigerate any that are waiting to go into the oven). Place them on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Leave to cool slightly before serving.
Per Serving:
310 calories, 18.4g fat (10.8g sat fat), 3.9g protein, 34.6g carbs, 14.4g sugar.
These turned out really good, slightly crispy, flaky, buttery...! They were very indulgent and time consuming, but so worth the effort! I think these would be amazing to have on a cold, wintery morning with a cup of hot chocolate for breakfast -who doesn’t indulge in the winter?!
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