Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls


Created in the midst of a blizzard here in New England, these cinnamon rolls were just the ticket.

Moist and delicious with gooey filling and rich icing, but not overly sweet and still full of nourishing ingredients,  these rolls are baked next to each other in a cozy nest, similar to a coffee cake or monkey bread, but they will come apart individually, especially once cooled.

Don’t let the long list of ingredients or steps fool you, they really go together quite easily.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
by Amy Love, Real Food Whole Health

This recipe is done in three parts- dough, filling and icing. Prepare the dough and filling first, then the icing can be prepared about 5 minutes before the cinnamon rolls are done baking.

Dough:
1 cup blanched almond flour
1 cup brown rice flour (sprouted, preferably)
¼ cup finely ground coconut flour
1 TBL arrowroot powder (or non-GMO cornstarch)
1/4 cup sucanat or coconut/maple sugar
Scant ¼ tsp unrefined sea salt
2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1 TBL ground cinnamon
1 cup raw, grassfed cream (or coconut milk)
2 pasture-raised, organic eggs
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
3 TBL organic, grassfed butter, melted and cooled slightly

Mix your dry ingredients first- put flours, arrowroot, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in a large glass mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together cream, eggs, vanilla and melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to incorporate. Set aside while you prepare your filling.

Filling:
2 TBL organic, grassfed butter
2 TBL sucanat or coconut/maple sugar
1 TBL pure maple syrup
½ tsp cinnamon
1 TBL arrowroot powder
1/4 cup chopped nuts- I chose pecans (soaked/dehydrated nuts are best)

In a medium saucepan (NOT non-stick) melt the butter slightly over low heat. When melted, add sucanat, syrup and cinnamon. Mix well. Add arrowroot powder, stir well, and then add the nuts. Remove from heat and stir to mix. The filling mixture should be fairly thick, like a very soft paste.

To prepare the cinnamon rolls:
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Prepare your dish. I used a glass deep dish pie plate.  A Pyrex or similar would work as well. Simply grease well with butter or coconut oil to prevent any sticking. Set aside.

Take a large spoonful of dough into your hand and flatten into a disc shape roughly the size of your palm. Take a spoonful of filling and spread it over the disc. Then roll up the edges of the disc around the filling (sort of like a little pouch or purse). There is really not a wrong way to do this, you are just making a small pouch/pocket of dough with filling inside. You could also roll like a tortilla. Place in prepared dish and continue until all the dough and filling is gone.

If your dish is round, make a ring of rolls around the outside with one or two in the middle. You want them to touch slightly. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until slightly browned on top and solid.

When cinnamon rolls are about 5 minutes away from being done baking, you can prepare your icing:

Icing:
2 TBL organic, grassfed butter
2 TBL sucanat or coconut/maple sugar
1 TBL maple syrup
½ tsp cinnamon
Splash of cream

The icing is basically the same process as the filling, although we are looking for a smooth pourable consistency. In a medium saucepan (NOT non-stick) melt the butter slightly over low heat. When melted, add sucanat, syrup and cinnamon. Mix well. Remove from heat. Add cream to thin to desired consistency. If it gets too thin or won’t thicken, heat slightly, stirring constantly (it won’t take long) to desired thickness. Remember you want to be able to drizzle it on.

On top of finished/baked cinnamon rolls, drizzle warm icing to your liking.

Enjoy!

  • Drat! I just used up my almond flour making Monster Cookies (we’re also in the midst of this weather). I suppose I could grind up my crispy almonds… would this work with an egg substitute? i.e. flax & water?

    • Hey Alicia! Thanks for your comment- we like Monster Cookies too- I used to make them all the time and then we sort of forgot about them. Maybe I’ll whip up a batch soon! 🙂 You could definitely grind up the almonds. I think you could probably make it with all brown rice flour instead of using the almond meal, but I went included it for 1) texture and 2)to lower the carb count, up the fat and the protein. However, I bet it would work fine. I am not experienced at cooking with egg subs, but this recipe seems forgiving. I can’t swear it’d work, but I’d be more inclined to just say give it extra milk/cream for the liquid. Maybe sprinkle in about a Tblsp of arrowroot powder or tapioca starch for extra binding? Bet it’d work- let me know what you do and how it works- I know some of our readers will have to make some substitutions as well and personal experience is ALWAYS welcomed!!

  • Drat! I just used up my almond flour making Monster Cookies (we’re also in the midst of this weather). I suppose I could grind up my crispy almonds… would this work with an egg substitute? i.e. flax & water?

    • Hey Alicia! Thanks for your comment- we like Monster Cookies too- I used to make them all the time and then we sort of forgot about them. Maybe I’ll whip up a batch soon! 🙂 You could definitely grind up the almonds. I think you could probably make it with all brown rice flour instead of using the almond meal, but I went included it for 1) texture and 2)to lower the carb count, up the fat and the protein. However, I bet it would work fine. I am not experienced at cooking with egg subs, but this recipe seems forgiving. I can’t swear it’d work, but I’d be more inclined to just say give it extra milk/cream for the liquid. Maybe sprinkle in about a Tblsp of arrowroot powder or tapioca starch for extra binding? Bet it’d work- let me know what you do and how it works- I know some of our readers will have to make some substitutions as well and personal experience is ALWAYS welcomed!!

  • At our house, we can’t do eggs or dairy. i would substitute coconut milk for the milk, I’m pretty siure that would work fine. If anyone tries the egg sub, PLEASE post!

  • At our house, we can’t do eggs or dairy. i would substitute coconut milk for the milk, I’m pretty siure that would work fine. If anyone tries the egg sub, PLEASE post!

    • Hey Sarah,

      Absolutely! Thanks for stopping by- I hope you love them- you could even make smaller ones for bite sized treats for the party. Enjoy!!

    • Hey Sarah,

      Absolutely! Thanks for stopping by- I hope you love them- you could even make smaller ones for bite sized treats for the party. Enjoy!!

  • This was the perfect snow day breakfast 🙂

    I ended up using 1.5 c brown rice flour and.5 c coconut flour and subbing two tbls flaxmeal mixed with water for the eggs. It was a delicious way to fuel our sledding expedition.

    • Alicia- Great!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it- we warmed the leftovers this morning in the oven and they were just as good. So happy the egg sub worked out for you! I know another reader was dying to try that too. Hope you had fun sledding- we’ve got tons of snow here too!

  • This was the perfect snow day breakfast 🙂

    I ended up using 1.5 c brown rice flour and.5 c coconut flour and subbing two tbls flaxmeal mixed with water for the eggs. It was a delicious way to fuel our sledding expedition.

    • Alicia- Great!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it- we warmed the leftovers this morning in the oven and they were just as good. So happy the egg sub worked out for you! I know another reader was dying to try that too. Hope you had fun sledding- we’ve got tons of snow here too!

  • Hi there, this looks like a yummy recipe.
    Just wondering what would be a suitable substitute for the brown rice flour and I am low carb/grain-free.

  • Hi there, this looks like a yummy recipe.
    Just wondering what would be a suitable substitute for the brown rice flour and I am low carb/grain-free.

Comments are closed.