PicoBlog

Being asked for air fryer timings for my original recipe started out as a great excuse to make yet more quick dough cinnamon rolls. What larks! Easy peasy larks! Because air fryers, well they’re just small ovens, right? Nope. They’re small grills. And cinnamon rolls tend to be baked rather than grilled so…

But after many (many, many) batches with burnt tops and raw bottoms and many towels about to be chucked in, I have finally reached a set of quantities and temperatures that yield a set of buns good enough to make the exercise worthwhile.

Oh the sacrifice!

Makes 6

The dough:

100g plain flour

100g strong flour

2  tsp baking powder

2 pinches salt

160g full fat yogurt - dairy or plant based

35g sunflower oil - or any flavourless oil

The filling:

50g granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

60g salted butter

The topping:

35g icing sugar

135g full fat soft cheese / cream cheese

1 1/2  tsp vanilla

• Set the air fryer to 200ºc pre heat if needed - the dough will need to cook as soon as it’s shaped into rolls.

• Make the filling, add the sugar and cinnamon to a bowl and mix. Add the softened butter and mix with the sugar into a spreadable paste.

• Mix the yogurt and oil together in a small-ish bowl.

• Make the dough: mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

• Pour the wet onto the dry, mix together with a spatula or spoon.

• Pull the dough together with your hands, a few lights kneads will help it form into a rough ball.

• Place it on a well floured surface and pat it into an oblong and then roll out to 22cm x 40cm

• Spread the butter sugar filling over the dough.

• Roll the dough up tightly along the short edge so you have a 22 cm long sausage

• Cut equally into 6 buns - using a thread to cut is the easiest way.

• Place the buns two by two into a lined 16 x 20cm air fryer basket or if your air fryer drawer is a similar size just line it with baking paper. If you have a circular air fryer arrange the buns around the edge, leaving the middle empty to allow the hot air to flow.

• Place the outer ‘tails’ of each bun inwards so they touch the opposite bun, this way they won’t unravel as the expand in the heat. Lightly squash each bun so they flatten out slightly.

• When you put them in the air fryer cover them loosely with a single layer of foil to stop the intense downward heat burning the tops of the buns

• Bake at 200ºc for 18 minutes.

• Remove the foil, lower the temperature to 180ºC, bake for 2 more minutes uncovered to colour the tops.

• These timings are based on my Ninja Speedi, in other machines they may need more or less time. If you have probe thermometer, test one of the middle buns as they will cook slower than the corner ones, the internal temperature should be 85 to 90ºc to ensure the dough is cooked.

• While the buns are baking, make the topping, weigh the icing sugar into a bowl, break up any lumps with a spoon. Add a small amount of the cream cheese and mix with the icing sugar until you have a smooth paste then gently mix in the remaining cream cheese then the vanilla.

• After baking spread the topping over the rolls and you can eat them straight away and enjoy!

Tat x

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