Air Fryer Crescent Roll Baby Cinnamon Rolls
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The holidays are in full swing and the year 2022 is almost over. Where has the time gone? I feel the year just started! It went by so fast!
I hope you’ve had an incredible holiday season, but we’re not done yet! Are you searching for the ultimate New Year’s Eve party treat? These Air Fryer Crescent Roll Baby Cinnamon Rolls are for you! We’ve got the goodness of some awesome Cinnabon cinnamon rolls made with ease with Pillsbury canned crescent rolls!
Not only do the crescent rolls speed up the process by A LOT, but using an air fryer speeds things up too compared to baking in an oven!
If you’re short on time but want to serve a crowd-pleaser for your holiday parties, you gotta give this air fryer baby cinnamon roll recipe a try! As I discuss more in my free guide Make Cooking Fun!, my top 5 tips to explore your potential in the kitchen, you really should use up what you have! I actually had a second can of canned crescent rolls after I had made my Air Fryer Mini Pigs in a Blanket, since I thought I was going to need two cans but I ended up only needing one! Furthermore, I had making cinnamon buns on my bucket list Live to Cook one-month challenge!
Don’t forget to watch the video at the bottom of this post to see how easy these Air Fryer Crescent Cinnamon Rolls are to make, even if it’s a last-minute decision! If you’re not already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell button so you receive all of the notifications when a new video recipe goes live! I love to share the video recipes to give you a tangible view of the recipe that will guarantee you success! Let’s get baking!
Why You’ll Love Air Fryer Crescent Rolls Baby Cinnamon Rolls
Few ingredients: We save so many ingredients by using the canned Pillsbury crescent rolls to make the buns themselves! Otherwise, the vanilla icing and the brown sugar mix each don’t need many ingredients either!
Beginner-friendly: This is an awesome recipe excellent for cooks of all levels! You still get the experience of making your own cinnamon sugar filling and your own frosting, but you won’t have to stress about making the dough. You can test that out on another occasion!
Budget-friendly: Cinnamon rolls made with the crescent rolls are very cheap! Probably the priciest part of the recipe will actually be the crescent rolls themselves, and even then they will not make the slightest dent in your wallet! All other ingredients in this recipe are typical commodities that you probably already have on hand so you won’t have to go out of your way to buy them!
Fast: This probably is the selling point for this recipe in my opinion! If you want a dessert that looks like you’ve spent tons of time on it but it actually was prepared in a flash, then this is the recipe for you! The crescent rolls bake so well in the air fryer and you save tons of time not having to make your cinnamon roll dough from scratch!
What air fryer are you using?
For this recipe, I used the Ninja Foodi 6-in-1 2-Basket Air Fryer. I like that it has the following six settings:
Air Fry
Air Broil
Reheat
Dehydrate
Bake
Roast
To be fair, I did purchase the air fryer to mainly use the “air fry” setting, but on occasion I do find the other settings quite handy! The two baskets are also very convenient if you’re making two different recipes in the air fryer. For instance, if you want to have air fryer donuts with your cinnamon buns, you can bake the donuts in one basket and these in the other. There’s a smart setting to ensure that they finish baking at the same time, holding the one basket with the item that is ready sooner. No need to wait on anything!
To get a detailed review of my first impressions upon purchasing this air fryer, check out this video.
Ingredients for Air Fryer Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls
Scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD with all ingredient quantities and instructions to save for later. You can also adjust the recipe based on how many cinnamon rolls you’re craving - whether it’s just for an easy treat or you’er making a lot for a major New Year’s Eve party, everything will automatically adjust for you!
For the Cinnamon Sugar
For the vanilla icing
For The Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls
Grands! Crescent rolls
Butter
How to Make Air Fryer Crescent Roll Baby Cinnamon Rolls
For the Cinnamon Sugar
Mix together 1 part cinnamon, 2 parts white granulated sugar and 1 part brown sugar. Set aside until needed later.
For the icing
Mix together the confectioners sugar, corn syrup, vanilla extract and a splash of water using a whisk. Add the water 1 Tbsp at a time to ensure you can control the consistency - you can go for a thinner icing or a thicker kind at this stage.
For The Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls
Open the packaging for the crescent roll and roll out one of the dough portions over a clean baking sheeting, lined with parchment paper.
Grab a pastry brush and apply butter all over the surface of the dough. Then grab a generous portion of the cinnamon sugar from earlier and sprinkle/spread all over.
Starting from the shorter edge of the pastry, start rolling the dough into a thick, tight roll. Repeat the same for any remaining portions of the crescent roll dough. Cut the prepared rolls into smaller portions but cutting them into 6 equal portions.
Preheat the air fryer at 360 F for 3-7 minutes. Bake until the pastry has puffed and is golden brown all over.
Pour the icing over the prepared cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
I don’t have an air fryer! How do I make these in an oven?
To bake in the oven, set the temperature to 375 F and bake for 12-15 minutes.
Tips for Soft & Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls
There’s not much you can do wrong to result in these crescent roll baby cinnamon buns not soft and fluffy. Just keep an eye on that golden brown colour that you see up there and you will be set.
In terms of the spirals and adding the cinnamon sugar, be patient and spread well, going edge to edge and roll into a tight even cigar.
For the frosting, you can adjust the consistency to be as thick or as thin as you want by adjust the amount of liquid used in the frosting. Instead of water, you can easily use milk or buttermilk.
Serving suggestions
These Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls with Crescent Rolls are totally satisfying enough on their own for a breakfast, snack or dessert!
However, I really recommend them as part of a magical holiday brunch. To make these part of a wholesome meal for a special occasion, you could pair them with a savoury egg dish. Some ideas include a Classic French Omelette, a Cheesy Egg Souffle or an Authentic Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame! If you want to have a spread of finger food, I recommend a Homemade McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin, McDonald’s Breakfast Bagels, Deviled Eggs, a Tim Horton’s Farmer’s Wrap, or even Pepperoni Pizza Bagels!
For beverages, you can’t go wrong with coffee or hot chocolate! If you’re like me and you love chocolate, a simple Cafe Mocha will be awesome with these! You could even have White Hot Chocolate or a Pumpkin Spice Latte for more cinnamon goodness! If you want a cold beverage, try my Iced Eggnog Dalgona Latte to keep the holiday theme or for the chocolate lovers, try out my Chocolate Cream Cold Brew!
Storing Leftover Air Fryer Crescent Roll Baby Cinnamon Buns
This Air Fryer Crescent Roll Baby Cinnamon Buns recipe will totally make an amount of cinnamon buns that are perfect for a party! However, if you’re just making these for yourself or for two, one crescent roll will yield plenty that you probably won’t be able to eat in one sitting (but if you do… I won’t judge!). All you need to do is simply transfer the leftover baby cinnamon buns into an airtight container in the refrigerator.
I recommend you reheat in the air fryer for best results. If you don’t have an air fryer, you can reheat in the microwave, but I found that it made the cinnamon buns too soft and they lost their crispiness on the edges and they just became doughy.
If reheating in the air fryer, simply heat at 350 F for about 2-3 minutes or entirely warmed through.
More Holiday Treats!
Watch How to Make Air Fryer Crescent Roll Baby Cinnamon Rolls here:
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cookingwithanadi. Thank you!
Air Fryer Crescent Roll Baby Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Cinnamon
- 1/4 Cup Brown sugar
- 1/2 Cup white granulated sugar
- 1 Cup Powdered/Confectioners sugar
- 1-2 tsp Corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- water, as needed
- 1 package Grands! Crescent rolls
- Softened butter, as needed
Instructions
- Prepare the cinnamon sugar by mixing together 1 part cinnamon, 2 parts white granulated sugar and 1 part brown sugar. Set aside until needed later.
- Open the packaging for the crescent roll and roll out one of the dough portions over a clean baking sheeting, lined with parchment paper.
- Grab a pastry brush and apply butter all over the surface of the dough. Then grab a generous portion of the cinnamon sugar from earlier and sprinkle/spread all over.
- Starting from the shorter edge of the pastry, start rolling the dough into a thick, tight roll. Repeat the same for any remaining portions of the crescent roll dough. Cut the prepared rolls into smaller portions but cutting them into 6 equal portions.
- To bake in the oven, set the temperature to 375 F and bake for 12-15 minutes. For the air fryer, preheat the air fryer at 360 F for 3-7 minutes. Bake until the pastry has puffed and is golden brown all over.
- While the cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare the icing by mixing together the confectioners sugar, corn syrup, vanilla extract and a splash of water using a whisk. Add the water 1 Tbsp at a time to ensure you can control the consistency - you can go for a thinner icing or a thicker kind at this stage.
- Pour the icing over the prepared cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Calories
173.52Fat (grams)
4.48Sat. Fat (grams)
1.93Carbs (grams)
35.26Fiber (grams)
2.62Net carbs
32.65Sugar (grams)
25.52Protein (grams)
0.87Sodium (milligrams)
154.35Cholesterol (grams)
0.9Nutrition info is an estimate.