This recipe is really a case in point. I have long despaired of having anything really resembling a good cinnamon roll after being diagnosed with diabetes. I made one early attempt, with a combination of almond flour and coconut flour, back in the early days of this blog. They were…okay. At the time, I thought maybe they were the best I could do using low carb and gluten free ingredients. A little later, I did attempt a sweet roll using carbalose flour, but that does contain gluten and I am moving further and further away from using any gluten products at all. So for the time being, I gave up. I was very pleased with my Cinnamon Roll Scones and thought that they were an excellent replacement in taste, if not exactly in appearance and texture.
And then, when I was making another recipe altogether, I recognized something about the dough I was working with that I thought might make a good cinnamon roll. It was the way it both rose and spread during baking that caught my eye, and I thought that if I rolled it out carefully and filled it with melted butter, cinnamon and granulated erythritol, it might just do the trick. Now I will tell you that these are cinnamon rolls of the biscuit dough variety. I have never attempted a yeast dough with almond flour, or with any gluten free flour at all. But traditional wheat flour biscuit dough makes wonderful cinnamon rolls and I knew that if I could just nail an almond flour biscuit dough, I could make a decent low carb cinnamon roll. And so it was, a few weeks back, that a biscuit-y type recipe turned out well enough for me to think it might just translate.
The Results: I really loved these. They were tender and moist and perfectly cinnamon-y. Again, they aren’t like yeast dough, but very similar to cinnamon rolls made with biscuit dough. They don’t rise and spread all that much, but I am not sure I really care because flavour and texture were spot on. And my kids loved them too, which is always worth some bonus points in my eyes. To be able to have a cinnamon roll with my coffee in the morning was just heavenly.
Almond Flour Cinnamon Rolls – Low Carb and Gluten-Free
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 3 tbsp granular Swerve Sweetener, or other granulated erythritol
- 3 tbsp unflavored whey protein powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Filling:
- 1 tbsp butter, melted
- 2 tbsp brown sugar substitute, I used Ideal
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Cream Cheese Icing
- 2 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener, or other powdered erythritol
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease an 8-inch round cake pan with butter.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, Swerve, whey protein, baking powder, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum.
- Stir in eggs and butter until dough comes together. It will be quite sticky.
- Turn out dough onto a large piece of parchment, and then pat into a rough rectangle.
- Top with another piece of parchment and roll out to about 10x8 inches. Peel off top piece of parchment paper.
- Brush dough with melted butter, then sprinkle with brown sugar substitute and cinnamon, going almost right to edges.
- Starting with the far, longer edge of your dough, gently lift away from the parchment and roll up tightly towards you. Pinch the seam to seal.
- Using a sharp knife, carefully cut into 8 equal portions. Place in prepared cake pan, just barely touching each other, and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until just golden brown. Remove and let cool 10 minutes.
- For the Frosting, beat all ingredients in a medium bowl and then pipe or spread onto warm rolls.
Notes
Nutrition
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These were great! But mine were a bit dry. couple things I will experiment with next time: extra egg for structure, letting dough rest 30 min to better hydrate almond flour, 350 instead of 325 for fast rise, reduce baking time, allulose based sweetener over erythritol for dough, pan of water in oven to help steam, sifting dry ingredients for more air pouches, mixing a bit of of ACV with baking powder to help activate it more for more CO2 bubbles. Personal preference: triple the icing to get it in all the crevices and way more cinnamon
Tried many cinnamon roll recipes that ended in disappointment until I discovered this recipe. As usual, Carolyn’s recipes turn out perfect every time.
Love these! Made them two days in a row and my family loved them. Two things tho,
1) baked at 350° and then spread out more and looked prettier the 2nd day
2) you have listed 28 calories per roll and i think that’s way off, came up with 294 per roll. Almond flour alone is 1,440 alone (total) minimum 180 per roll. Just wanted to let you know
Would this sugar work instead of the swerve you called for in this recipe (Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener, 1:1 Sugar Substitute, Keto, Non-GMO (Classic White)? Also have you used any other almond flour other than Bob’s in this recipe (like the Kirkland’s almond flour)? Maybe mine was a hot mess today because of one of these 2 ingredients not being exactly your brand but it all stuck to the parchment paper and would not let me easily roll into a roll and cut into rolls. I am used to baking gluten-free and vegan (I actually run a bakery) but doing sugar free for my 12 year old daughter just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is really challenging me as there are so many variables with the recipes I’ve tried. Yours is the 3rd recipe I’ve tried and I’m trying not to cry but I’m really feeling discouraged that I have not yet found success. I’m hoping today it is just due to the particular brands I used? I appreciate advice.
Lakanto works fine too.
What about using an alternate almond flour? I wish they would all work equally but I tried kirkland’s almond flour from costco and maybe it doesn’t work the same as the Bob’s you used?
It’s definitely more coarse. I tried it when visiting my sister and wasn’t impressed.
Have you tried honeyville? Do you think that brand would work okay in the recipe? Thank you!
Carolyn have you seen the trend all over Tik-Tok using canned cinnamon rolls and heavy cream? The premises you take a can of Pillsbury grand and bake them with a half to full cup of heavy cream and then ice as normal. I wonder if this recipe would work because it’s of the biscuit variety and those in the can or of the biscuit variety. What are your thoughts do you think you might try it for us?
I actually began reading this recipe to see how I could make orange rolls instead of cinnamon. While reading through your blog I noticed where you said it had more of a biscuit texture. My mind lit up at the thought of a LC biscuit! I left out the sweetener in the dough, scooped it out into mounds and baked per the instructions. Yay! It was as good as I hoped! Thank you for all the effort you put into your recipes.
Great recipe! As a dedicated cinnamon roll lover, for the cinnamon filling I added 2 Tbsp peanut butter (plus the 1 Tbsp butter-though I used ghee) and increased the cinnamon to 1 Tbsp. DELICIOUS! Thank you!
Can I use this instead of the whey? I was looking for a dairy-free keto option for the whey and wasn’t sure if that is even possible? Unflavored version of this Iso plant vegan plant based protein powder? : https://www.ketoshop.com/products/iso-plant-vegan-plant-based-protein-powder?variant=39585917436003
Yes but that’s pretty high in carbs for a protein powder.
I wonder if I could just substitute powdered coconut milk. I may try that instead.
These were fantastic! I added an extra egg and an additional tbsp of the Isopure and they were soft and chewy! Not biscuit like at all. Loved this so much ! My husband was in heaven as he thought he’d never eat cinnamon rolls ever again.
Can I use chocolate flavored whey? That is all I have for now.
I guess.
I can’t wait to try this out! Is there anything I can use to substitute the whey protein?
Egg white protein should also work.
Thanks
I was very excited about this recipe but I’m really wondering how the nutritional information was calculated?? After making these (and thoroughly enjoying them), I entered the recipe into MyFitnessPal so I could log it. Much to my dismay, the calorie count alone came to 294 calories (plus 15.4g carbs and 24.8g of fat) for one little roll!! So then I did some calculations of my own. 1/4 cup of almond flour has 180 calories. This recipe calls for 2 cups of almond flour. That’s 1,440 calories alone or 180 calories per roll (without any filling or frosting)!! How are you coming up with 28.4 calories???
Hi Jackie… I am not coming up with that. This is an EXTREMELY old recipe and the recipe plug in I use added a random amount because I never specified the calories on this, I only specified the carbs.
I think I’ve found a couple discrepancies. I tried to follow your ingredient list brands as closely as possible since I haven’t baked with these sugar free sweeteners in the past. But some items I had trouble finding and I now see they are not all alike. I used Truvia brown sugar blend which I see has more carbs than Ideal. Also, I used a vanilla protein powder since I already had it. A few more carbs than the unflavoured. The almond flour really threw me for a loop though. Had no idea there were so many calories packed in there! Thanks for the response.
Oh yes, Truvia baking blend has a lot more carbs and if I am not mistaken, it even includes some sugar?
Almond flour is hefty but keep in mind it is far more filling than wheat flour. So these will be more satisfying AND they won’t give you a horrible blood sugar surge.
Carolyn I realise this is an old posting…and am looking forward to trying these…but please update the nutrition. I think the calories are 284 rather than 28.4? Otherwise I think you’re brilliant!
No, they aren’t either of those things. My recipe card inserts weird numbers when I don’t put any nutritional info in. It shouldn’t be there at all.
Hello,
Thank you for all your experimenting to make sure these cinnamon rolls were as tasty as they are. They were devoured by even my non-low-carvers in the house. Definitely going to make these again. Awesome job, thank you again.
Does the dough freeze well? Hoping I can make a week ahead and freeze.
I’ve never tried freezing it, sorry. I think so?
Love!
Easy recipe. I substituted granulated erythritol for brown sugar as I had none on hand. Also used vanilla flavoured whey.
I think I’ll use a silicon muffin pan next time so they’re not lopsided.
Great taste. Very much a biscuit type of roll vs the cinnamon bun. No complaints just statement. I love both types (:
I will make these again. Very calorific but worth it!
Thank you.
Glad you liked it!
This recipe is a phenomenal hit!!! I made a few substitutions to lower the amount of dairy: Egg white protein powder for the whey, coconut cream for cream and Kite Hill dairy free cream cheese! These are so good!
Great recipe. My wife developed an allergy to Almond Flour while on Keto. So, I used Sunflower Seed Flour/Meal instead, 1:1 ratio. Cut out the baking soda and augment the Xanthum Gum to 2 tsps (so as to avoid a greenish glow due to chemical interaction from sunflower seed flour and baking soda) and it is good to go. I also double the butter and cinnamon sugar for the filling and can cut out greasing the 8×8 pan that I used. Wife and mother-in-law absolutely loved them. So hard to not eat more than two in a sitting though. 😉
I just made these because I didn’t have the blanched almond flour that the cinnamon roll recipe called for in your cookbook (sweet mozzarella dough). I actually had extra dough after cutting a 10×8 rectangle and slicing eight rolls so I rolled out the extra dough again and got four more small rolls which I placed in a greased muffin pan. I liked how those four turned out in the muffin pan! They were a perfect round shape whereas the ones in the cake pan were misshaped triangles. They all tasted good, but I think next time, when I make the cinnamon rolls from the cookbook, I’ll use the muffin pan. Thanks for all your great recipes!!