These low carb and sugar-free cinnamon twists are the perfect keto pastry for breakfast, snack, or dessert. Made with keto fathead dough, they are tender and delicious.
This recipe for Keto Cinnamon Twists was originally posted in July 2016. Now I’ve made them even easier to make, and I’ve got a new video to show you how.
Keto mozzarella dough really is magic!
Oh, oh, this keto mozzarella dough. Honestly, this stuff is a total low carb game changer for me and I am having way too much fun messing around with it to create new keto recipes. There’s nothing quite like it in the world, a stretchy, flexible low carb dough made out of mozzarella cheese.
It’s not perfect for everything but it works like a charm for any kind of keto pastry, and it makes an ideal keto pizza crust. I’ve used for everything from keto garlic knots to braided chocolate-filled bread.
Seriously, though. Who sat down one day and said to themselves “I am going to make keto dough out of cheese and see if it works”? Because while I am incredibly creative and innovative with my recipes, I am also quite certain I never would have thought of this. They deserve my kudos.
But that’s the nice part about the low carb recipe creation world. We can all learn from each other and build on each other’s work. I’ve put my own special twists on fathead dough now, and I think it gets better each time.
Perfecting keto fathead dough
This dough isn’t exactly tricky to make, but there are some tricks to getting it right. And so, at the request of several readers, I have created a video that walks you through the steps. Scroll down to the recipe to see the full video.
There are any number of ways to make fathead dough, and every time I make it, I find I learn something new. I actually have a few different versions of it, including this dough that’s made with both almond flour and coconut flour, and an all-coconut version as well.
I have found that fathead dough that’s made with all almond flour is too soft and spreads too much during baking. While you can indeed make it that way, and it’s good for people with coconut allergies, it’s quite a bit harder to work with. It simply lacks the proper structure.
One reader gave me another little trick that saves one step and one bowl, and that is to melt your butter right in with your mozzarella. Less mess and less to clean up afterward! That worked beautifully for me in these low carb cinnamon twists.
These little pastries make a wonderful breakfast treat. I’ve made them several times and my kids keep asking me to make them again. So if you’ve been itching to try the low carb mozzarella dough, just dive right in. I hope you find my video and all of my tips helpful.
How to make keto cinnamon twists
The video walks you through all the steps but here are some things to remember:
- Silicone mats are easier to work with, as they don’t slide around the counter as much as parchment paper does. If you use one big silicone mat to roll out and form the twists, you can simply slide the whole thing onto a baking sheet at the end.
- The conventional wisdom is that fathead dough turns out best with pre-shredded, part skim mozzarella. Although it does contain a little starch, it’s not enough to really raise the carb count, and it gives the dough more structure.
- You can melt the mozzarella and butter in the microwave, or on the stovetop. If you use the stovetop, remember to take your melted cheese and butter off the heat before adding the remaining ingredients.
- Fathead dough turns out a little differently every time. It can depend on your almond flour, your coconut flour, the size of your eggs, and the brand of cheese. So if it turns out a bit sticky, simply work in more almond flour, a little at a time, until you have a nice cohesive dough.
- I’ve updated the filling of these keto cinnamon twists to include the new Brown Swerve, for more of a cinnamon roll flavor. If you don’t have any, you can still use regular granulated Swerve.
- Let these keto pastries cool at least 10 to 15 minutes, as they are very soft when they are fresh out of the oven. If you want to warm the leftovers up a bit in the microwave, 10 seconds or so is enough for a delicious warm cinnamon twist!
Ready to make some delicious Keto Cinnamon Twists?
More delicious keto fathead recipes
- Keto Fathead Bagels
- Keto Pepper Jack Crackers
- Keto Pretzel Bites
- Keto Spanakopita
- Fathead Pizza Pockets
- Fathead Lasagna
Keto Cinnamon Twists
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 6 ounces shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup butter cut into pieces
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon Filling
- 1 tbsp Swerve Brown
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp butter melted
Glaze:
- 2 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 - 1 tbsp Water
Instructions
Dough:
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a large baking mat with a silicone liner or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, sweetener, and baking powder. In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the cheese and butter. Melt on high in 30 second increments until it can be stirred together. (Alternatively, you can melt the cheese and butter in a saucepan over low heat).
- All at once, add the almond flour mixture, egg, and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Use a rubber spatula to really knead the dough up against the sides of the bowl. It will still have some large streaks of cheese.
- Turn the dough onto a silicone mat or directly onto a kitchen counter and knead until uniform. If the dough is quite sticky, work in another tablespoon or two of almond flour as you knead it.
- Cover the dought with parchment paper and roll out to a 10x10 inch square.
Cinnamon Filling
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sweetener and cinnamon. Brush the dough with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter, then sprinkle with about two thirds of the cinnamon mixture.
To make the twists
- Use a knife or offset spatual to gently loosen the dough from the silicone mat. Fold the dough over in half and cut into 10 strips with a sharp knife or a pizza cutter.
- Hold both ends of one strip and twist gently in opposite directions two or three times. Lay the twists on the prepared baking sheet and brush with the remaining melted butter. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon "sugar".
- Bake about 15 minutes, until golden brown and just firm to the touch. Remove and let cool.
Glaze:
- In a small bowl combine the powdered sweetener, vanilla extract and just enough water to achieve a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cooled twists.
Video
Jean Garard says
I am having difficulty with measuring the 6oz of mozarella. 6oz to me is 3/4 of a cup but I noticed in the video you had a lot more cheese than me. Please explain. Thank you
Carolyn says
No, 6 ounces of shredded cheese is 1 1/2 cups. 4 ounces is a cup – most bags will say this on them.
Kim says
Sorry, I just saw the carbs!!!!
Barbara, The Netherlands says
I know you like silicone mats to roll out the dough, but if you use parchment paper you have the advantage that you can fold the whole cinnamon pizza in half with the paper still attached. Then peel the paper off. Maybe use a silicone mat with parchment paper on top to prevent from sliding over the counter when flattening the dough?
Audrey says
Hi,
These came out wonderful last time I made them except when I twisted, they kind of broke, but I just kind of pinched it together. The flavor was great. I made them again tonight with a few differences. I made the dough the same, but instead of cinnamon put some cooled blueberries that I cooked down with some lemon in it, on the dough, threw on some almonds and folded and cut them but didnt bother twisting. They just look like blueberry bars or a blueberry poptart. I made the frosting using just the powdered Swerve and lemon. These are so good too.
Sonia Armstrong says
Hi Carolyn. Thanks for all you wonderful recipes! I have a question about the fathead dough. I tried looking thru the earlier comments, but there were just too many.
I made the dough a couple of days ago. I had all my ingredients measured out to work quickly. When I added the egg to the hot cheese, it actually cooked the egg yolk slightly. I used the dough for bagels. They were delicious, but did not rise much. I’m wondering if the egg was the problem? How do you avoid this issue of the egg cooking when adding it to hot cheese?
katerina @ diethood.com says
WOW! These low carb cinnamon twists are amazing! I am so excited to try them out!!
Natalie says
Can’t even tell these are low-carb!! So soft & cinnamon-y! Gone in minutes!
Beth says
These look so delicious and yummy! I can’t wait to make these! My kids are going to love this recipe!
Lola Osinkolu | Chef Lola's Kitchen says
My children love cinnamon twists! Thanks Carolyn!
Mehndi says
OMG I cannot stop eating these. They’re so good!
Morgan says
I don’t have any brown sugar replacement on hand. Would classic work fine consistency-wise? I know the flavour might not be as rich.
Carolyn says
Please read the tips in the blog post, as I address that question.
Candace Dornstauder says
Hi! I just made these & they are AMAZING! I love having something sweet with my coffee. I didn’t see in other comments- but I am never sure where is the best place to store keto baking? In the counter in a container or in the fridge? Thank you!
Carolyn says
Depends on the recipe but these are fine on the counter for 3 days (in a covered container).
Sharron says
Hi Carolyn l love your recepies and definitely going to try this one as well . I’m just struggling with the 1/4 cup butter how much is it in weight/ grams ? Here in the UK our butter comes in a bloke of 250g not in fingers size like lv seen a few times you got in the USA
Carolyn says
1 cup is 225g. So 225g divided by 4… When it comes to standard ingredients like butter, this is easily looked up online. I just did it myself to find this information for you.
It’s trickier when it comes to non standard ingredients, like almond flour and coconut flour but I have measured them multiple times. A cup of almond is about 100g and a cup of coconut flour is 110g.
Josie says
Hi, my son is allergic to nuts. Id like to try and make the cinnamon twists and just use coconut flour, do you think this would work without almond flour?
I need some low carb options for my 10yr old son please. I was thinking if these can be made with just coconut flour I could make them into buns for him as he loves cinnamon buns.
Appreciate your help. Thanks Josie
Carolyn says
Hi Josie… please search the blog for my chewy bagel recipe. That’s essentially a similar dough that you can use for these. YOu’d only need half the recipe, and you’d need to add some sweetener into it, about the same amount that I do here.
Virginia Neill says
With my tendonitis, stirring heavy doughs is hard, but I HAD to make this! I filled my Kitchen Aid stand mixer’s metal bowl with boiling water to heat it up, dropped in the dough hook, and let it stand while I melted the mozzarella and butter. I emptied and dried the bowl and hook and attached them. Then I transferred the melted ingredients to my very warm stand mixer bowl and used my stand mixer to make the dough. Worked like a charm! Perfect, smooth dough. My friends ate the whole batch with me, so had to make a second batch right away!
Mary says
I just made these and they tasted very good although mine got flat unlike the picture. I guess i should twist them a bit tighter next time. I couldnt wait so i had mine warm with the drizzle. Very easy recipe. Thank you
Carolyn says
I don’t think it’s a matter of twisting them, it depends more on your cheese and almond flour.