A low carb Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread that does the original justice! Enjoy this naturally sweet and healthy treat for your holiday brunch or breakfast. This post is sponsored by the California Raisins Marketing Board.
Many moons ago I was asked by a long time reader to try my hand at creating a low carb, gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread. I replied happily that I would give it a go but that recipe creation kept getting pushed to the back burner by other ideas and projects. I will admit, part of my hesitation was that I didn’t really think I could do cinnamon raisin bread justice. I thought I’d essentially be creating a quick bread flavoured with cinnamon and studded with raisins. That would be good unto itself but it wouldn’t have all the chewy, bready texture one desires of a true cinnamon raisin bread. So I just kept the request in mind and mulled it over and let it keep slipping back as I created other recipes. But the request niggled and naggled at me for ages and I always felt that I was doing my reader a disservice by not managing to fulfill her cinnamon raisin dreams.
And then two things happened that spurred me on. The first was that I discovered the joys of psyllium husk powder. Yes, yes, I know it’s been on the low carb circuit for ages and I am late to the party. Not an unusual occurrence, really. As with anything, we tend to get into our comfort zones in cooking and baking and psyllium husk was outside of my comfort zone. I was perfectly happy with my repertoire of almond flour and coconut flour and things of that ilk, and figured I was pretty good at working with those ingredients. But I procured some psyllium husk powder one day and decided to play around with it. I made Judy Barnes Baker’s recipe for flatbread with a few minor changes and made my Caramel Bacon Monkey Bread with Maria Emmerich’s dough recipe. It’s a very interesting ingredient with lots of potential. It gives things the chewiness of a conventional yeast bread and you can also get a nice crust. But it can also make things overly moist and chewy so there is a fine line to be tread there. I’ve been quietly experimenting behind the scenes to try to get it right for my purposes. I found a recipe for Paleo Dinner Rolls from Low Carb Ella and found that with some modifications, it made really great loaf bread.
The second thing that happened was that California Raisins asked me to come up with a healthy low carb holiday recipe that included raisins. My mind went instantly to my old promise to create cinnamon raisin bread. So many people love to have a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread on the holiday table and it can be sorely missed on a low carb diet. I felt with my newfound ability to create a chewy, bread-like texture, I might be able to pull off a really great low carb cinnamon raisin swirl bread. I think raisins are a great natural and nutritious source of sweetness. I can’t eat a handful on their own anymore but I love to work them into low carb recipes to give it an added feeling of being a real treat while still being nutritious. And the holidays are the perfect time to treat ourselves while still keeping our overall dietary needs in mind. Done right, you can enjoy some of your favourites without consequence. That is always my goal in creating and recreating recipes for this blog. Controlled indulgence, if you will!
I really loved this bread and I hope you and yours enjoy this #sweetnaturally Low Carb Cinnamon Raisin bread over the holidays. For more information about all-natural, no-sugar added California raisins, please visit www.loveyourraisins.com, or get social with us at www.facebook.com/californiaraisins, www.pinterest.com/calraisins, or www.twitter.com/caraisins.
I worked together with the California Raisin Marketing Board to create this recipe and was compensated for my time. The opinions below are mine and mine alone and do not represent those of the California Raisin Marketing Board.
Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread
Ingredients
Filling:
- 1 tablespoon Swerve Sweetener
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Bread:
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- 6 tablespoon psyllium husk powder
- ¼ cup California raisins chopped fine
- 2 tablespoon Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups egg whites (liquid egg whites work well but you can also measure out whites from regular eggs. It will be 8 to 12 whites, depending on the size)
- 4 tablespoon melted butter divided
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup hot water (almost boiling)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Grease 2 large pieces of parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sweetener and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, almond flour, psyllium husk powder, chopped raisins, sweetener, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- Add egg whites, 3 tablespoon of the melted butter and the apple cider vinegar. Stir to combine. Slowly stir in hot water until dough expands.
- Turn dough out onto one of the pieces of greased parchment and pat into a rough rectangle. Top with other piece of parchment and roll out to about 8x 12 inches. Brush with about half of the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon filling. Roll up tightly and place seam-side-down in prepared loaf pan.
- Brush with remaining butter. Bake 60 to 70 minutes, until golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and tent with foil. Let cool in pan (this will help keep it from deflating). Once cool, transfer it to a cutting board or serving plate.
Notes
Saturated fatty acids: 3.27g
Total fat: 6.58g
Calories from fat: 59
Cholesterol: 10mg
Carbohydrate: 12.36g
Total dietary fiber: 6.02g
Protein: 6.28g
Sodium: 283mg
Desiree says
Thank You for all your great recipes
I am new to your channel and website. I have made three of your recipes so far. I enjoyed the fathead pizza crust and the peanut butter muffins. I made the cinnamon raisin swirl bread yesterday. I have to say that I am not a fan of the psyllium husk powder. The texture of it in the bread puts me off a bit. Soooo I was wondering if substituting it for protein powder would work in this recipe?
Thank you for your site and all your hard work in developing these recipes. I intend to try many many more. Yumm
Cristina Pena says
I tried this the other day, The whole family enjoyed it. It was on the wet side, should I leave it in the oven for longer?
Carolyn says
Yes. Psyllium husk is tricky, it’s really hard to know when it’s done. Wish I had more to say than that!
Mira says
Do these cinnamon rolls have a Psyllium Husk flavor since they use 6 Tbsp. of PHusk?
I have made several recipes from other sites where Psyllium Husk Powder was an ingredient (Naan bread, for one). Once the Naans were cooked, the flavor had a psyllium husk undertone, which I didn’t like and I ended up throwing them in the garbage. Ugh. (FYI: I have a seed cracker recipe made with psyllium husk that I love, but you cannot taste the psyllium.)
Carolyn says
I don’t taste a particular flavor from the psyllium and no one else has told me that they do but I can’t promise that you won’t.
Anne Ambuhl says
Can you make it without psyllium husk?
Allergic to it.
Carolyn says
No, this is a psyllium based bread.
Linda says
Hmmm…this is the first recipe using psyllium husk powder that has tempted me to buy some. Maybe it’s time to try it in order to make one of the recipes I miss. Thanks for this one. 🙂
Joi says
Love this recipe! We’ve made it so many times and just discovered it freezes well, too! So tempted to put the dough into donut molds…what’s the worst that can happen? 😉
Carolyn says
You will get cinnamon raisin bagels, yum!
Joi says
Exactly! They turned out to be delicious- thank you!
Sladana Redner says
Bob’s Red Mill.
Sladana Redner says
I’m trying to figure out what went wrong with my bread. I followed the recipe and baked it for 70 minutes, looked great from the outside, but when I cut into the bread, it was wet and raw. Had to throw away, unfortunately.
Any idea what could have happened.
Side note:
I once attempted focaccia bread (not sure where I found the recipe), and before baking the texture was exactly the same like this cinnamon bread. I had the same result: good on the outside, complete raw from the inside after more than hour baking.
Carolyn says
It’s really hard to say, it could be any number of things. What brand of psyllium did you use?
Shari Champagne says
Carolyn, so happy I found this recipe. I made it today and it is fantastic! Will be making this again soon. Thanks for sharing!
Carolyn says
Wonderful to hear!
Terri W says
Is there a particular reason you use only egg whites, and not whole eggs? Will whole eggs work just as well? Thanks.
Carolyn says
No, it won’t, it makes it much to heavy and your bread won’t rise very well.
Dayla Dee says
Always enjoy your recipes, Carolyn! Thanks for bringing this one to my attention again from pinning it on Pinterest.