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
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
Free Bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
Sign up for your favorite recipes delivered straight to your inbox plus get our FREE bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
Thank you for a great recipe. I made these today and they turned out better than I expected. Great flavor and texture. Biscuit like and with a good quality cinnamon they have great flavor. I did double the cinnamon in the filling.
Can you tell me if these would fall in an S or a meal on the trim healthy mama plan? What could they possibly be a crossover due to the Allmond flour?
S recipe. Most almond flour recipes are because they are low carb and high fat.
Made two batches. The first rolled off the parchment paper just fine. Second batch not so much. It was much more sticky and stuck to the parchment. I ended up scraping up the dough and putting it in the cake pan as one big scoop. flattened it out and baked. Icing is delish so will let you know how everything worked out — I am sure it will all be good if it tastes like it smells! I didn’t have any xanthan gum which might have added to the stickiness. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks
Weird how one worked and one didn’t. Sounds like the second batch could have used a bit more almond flour. Don’t be afraid to dust it with almond a few times to see if you can get the dough to work better.
I have followed you for several years now and am in awe of your ability to bake with the nut flours. I have tried lots of recipes and have had the most success with your recipes. I do have some favorites! What I want to know is if you have any experience with using yeast just for that yeasty flavor in baked goods. I want to try your cinnamon rolls and thought a bit of yeast might enhance the flavor but I haven’t a clue how to do it without messing it up. Could you comment please on using yeast?
Thanks!
I think you can add a little yeast if you want. I might let it sit in some water for a bit to activate…
When you measure out the almond flour do you pack it, or just spoon it into the measuring cup like you would regular flour?
Scoop and level, always. No packing.
Carolyn, Has anyone tried that mozzarella-based dough to make cinnamon rolls? I have to admit I am eager to perfect a low carb dough that can be used in a recipe calling for yeast. Hey if yogurt can be considered low carb again because the lactose is metabolized by the yeast and the actual yogurt has much less sugar than what is in the milk used to make the yogurt, then should not the same idea be true about a yeast dough. The amount of sugar used in many yeast based recipes is small. I wonder how much sugar is actually needs by the year to make the dough rise,etc. Just the meanderings of my mind trained in science which also loves baking! Think on this, Carolyn! your fans are many!!
I’ve been thinking what to bring with me when I visit my family over Christmas. These are definitely ringing Christmas morning!
These ended up so good! They didn’t roll very well, I kind of ended up squishing them together to form a roll. Not sure why. Maybe refrigerating the dough would have helped or maybe because I didn’t have protein powder and just added a bit of coconut flour to compensate. Whatever, they worked. I found them much tastier cold but I find most low carb things taste better cold. These must be eaten with icing in my opinion (not sad about that!) Thanks for the treat!
The flavor of these were great! Just made them tonight. I felt like, though, the dough cracked a little too easily, and that it was a little too textured looking on the outside compared to yours. Is that okay? Otherwise they turned out great, although my outside ones overbaked a little and not sure the inside ones cooked completely properly. Also I think next time I’ll use a tad more sweetener. Plus, I used granulated swerve, not sure if that makes a difference. In the past I found it dissolves and works okay, but maybe the powdered is more concentrated and sweeter? I haven’t tried it yet.
What kind of almond flour were you using? That might be part of the difference too.
Where do you get your Ideal Brown? I’m not seeing it anywhere, not even on Amazon.
It doesn’t exist anymore. I recommend Sukrin Gold.
Carolyn, I bought the sukrin gold. Thank you so much for tha trecommendation. However it is saying on the pacakge 8 grams of carb per 2TBS. Is this correct??? I think it is wrong. Your thoughts.
My thoughts are: it’s erythritol carbs which don’t affect most people’s blood sugar, they are excreted directly into the urine. I don’t count those carbs because I test my blood sugar.
it looks like the Ideal brown sugar has been discontinued – is there another product you would recommend or some substitution? Thank you!
Well, Swerve is in the process of developing a brown sugar sub, but in the meantime, try Sukrin Gold. http://amzn.to/2cyFpi4
Hi! I would really love to make this recipe. I use liquid sucralose, so what amount should I use for this recipe in the dough, filling and icing? Please, I really want to make these rolls!! Thank you so very much.
Use however much liquid sucralose equals my amount of sweetener in sugar. I don’t use it so I don’t know how much that is but there are charts that will tell you. Swerve is as sweet as sugar so I use it cup for cup.
Woke up Easter morning wishing we had cinnamon buns. Thanks to a quick search I found these. Missing xanthan gum, I added an extra egg yolk. Not really sure what it does but I guessed help with consistency..
Also being lazy I dropped 1/2 the batter into muffin cups – using the melted butter on clean fingers you can tap it down. I then added the extra melted butter, cinnamon, sugar. Topped with the rest of the batter. And baked. Timing should be slightly less.
The frosting added a lovely holiday taste and made a welcome breakfast! Thanks!
Wonderful!
hi,
thanks for the great recipes!!!!
i wanted to know how i caan simplify this recipe.
i try to minimize carbs but i don’t have a problem with eating gluten.
what could i replace the whey protein powder (regular gluten?) and the xanthan gum with?
thanks again!!
I really have no idea if that would work. this recipe is created for the ingredients I use.
I made these, really enjoyed them and the next morning, I put them in a baking dish and poured a mixture of egg, cream, vanilla and sweetener over them. Baked them for about 20 minutes at 350 and had a cross between french toast and bread pudding. I served it with LC syrup and butter. Thank you Carolyn, for the great recipe!
That sounds amazing!!!
Just made these. Awesome!! I’m so glad I went ahead and splurged on the finely ground almond flour. They came out perfect and look just like your pictures.