
The Best Keto Cinnamon Rolls
OK. Let's get this straight. YES I have posted Keto Cinnamon Rolls in the past… have they been the BEST? No.
Have they been decent enough to share? Well, yes.
But have they truly filled the void when I've been craving gooey, soft cinnamon rolls with delicious cream cheese frosting..?
Not quite.
That's why I am here with fantastic news. I'VE FINALLY FIGURED OUT KETO CINNAMON ROLLS.
As I know your time is valuable, so I've done all the frustrating trial and error for you.
I'm made almond flour cinnamon rolls, protein cinnamon rolls, oat fibre cinnamon rolls, cinnamon rolls with baking powder alone, cinnamon rolls with a combination of almond and coconut flour, disaster cinnamon rolls that didn't even make it to the blog…you name it I've tried it.
I just could NOT get cinnamon rolls right and it was driving me INSANE.
I'm serious guys. When I can't get a recipe idea of mine to work, I just keep trying and trying and trying because I re-fuse to fail or settle for “meh, it's okay”.
So when I had a sudden cinnamon roll epiphany at 2:00am while watching pointless youtube videos, I knew I had to get to work straight away. (No joke, I stayed up writing my recipe over and over and didn't sleep, lol).
My epiphany was the fact that cinnamon rolls are meant to be LIGHT and FLUFFY and GOOEY.
Not crumbly, dry and tough.
I needed yeast to make proper cinnamon rolls.
This meant immediately almond flour was out of the question for me. As much as I love the taste of almond flour in baked goods, it's super high in fat, it's dense not only in calories but in weight when you use the proper amount to account for the change from regular white flour. It's not absorbent enough to create fluffy light rolls.
I also decided to ditch and super high fibre ingredients like oat fiber, ground flax meal and psyllium husks. As much as I love them in my bread, I don't need to cinnamon rolls to taste “whole grain”.
I then chose to increase the butter content and swap out water for 18% cream. Doing so would make a more tender, moist keto cinnamon roll dough.
For the “flour”, I chose to use a combination of Vital Wheat Gluten and coconut flour,
Why?
Coconut flour is light, it's absorbent and you don't need to use nearly as much of it to get the same consistency as you would with almond flour.
Then the Vital Wheat Gluten as many of you who follow my recipes will know, creates the gluten strands necessary to create the stretchy, chewy structure we are familiar with in traditional dough. If you are unfamiliar with Vital Wheat Gluten, I highly recommend you read my article discussing what it is and why it's such an amazing little ingredient.
Finally for this recipe I added two eggs instead of the traditional one egg found in most cinnamon roll recipes since coconut flour needs a little extra leavening to act similar to white flour.
Add a few more ingredients…and there you have it. The perfect Low Carb Cinnamon Roll Dough.
This dough rises well, it's not super difficult to work with (see my tips below).
And it bakes into beautiful, fluffy, ooey, gooey cinnamon buns. (okay let's be real.. they aren't the prettiest cinnamon rolls out there but they're tasty and that's really what counts).
The Best Keto Cinnamon Roll Ingredients
– Coconut Flour I use this brand of coconut flour for these coconut flour cinnamon rolls. As I’ve noted in many of my past recipes, the brand of coconut flour can affect the final outcome of the recipe because absorbency can vary depending on how the flour has been processed.
– Powdered Monkfruit Erythritol Sweetener – I use the SoNourished brand for both granular and powdered sweetener and love it! The powdered is the best option for no-bake goods and desserts where you want a very smooth final product. I used the powdered in this recipe for the dough along with part of the filling as sometimes the granular can remain a tad “crunchy” in slightly undercooked/very soft bread or roll recipes such as this one. I also used it in the frosting as it acts just like powdered sugar and makes a PERFECT icing that sets and hardens!
–Xanthan gum This is used to create a batter more similar to that of white flour. It helps give the muffins a chewier texture with a crispy top.
–Sukrin brown sugar sweetener – I didn't include this in the recipe below but IF you happen to have it or can purchase it, it makes a fantastic cinnamon roll filling! If you don't have it then you can use the molasses substitute I mentioned below or skip it all together.
Low Carb Cinnamon Roll Tips
- I used a dough hook and Kitchen Aid Mixer to knead my dough. You can do it by hand as well, it just may take a bit longer!
- Let your dough sit somewhere warm to double in size. My recipe says one hour but I recommend watching it yourself because sometimes different environments can cause the dough to rise faster or slower!
- I place my dough by our gas fireplace that is warm still or in a previously heated oven or microwave to rise.
- When making your cinnamon roll filling, in this recipe I have you mix the butter, cinnamon and sweeteners together prior rather than using melted butter and adding the sweetener/cinnamon separate. This just makes for a much neater filling that's even throughout and there is WAY less chance of the rolls leaking during baking.
- For this recipe your dough SHOULD be quite sticky but it shouldn't be wet to the point that you can't touch it without it sticking all over your fingers. You SHOULD need to roll it out between parchment paper.
- If you find your dough is too sticky still, add 1 tbsp of coconut flour as needed until you reach your desired consistency
- If you find your dough too dry, add an extra 1 tbsp of cream as needed until you reach your desired consistency.
- These rolls will harden up slightly after baking so be careful not to over-bake. They are best served warm!
- Double the cream cheese frosting if you like extra icing!
Can I Freeze Keto Cinnamon Roll Dough?
- Yes, you can freeze it! I would recommend freezing it wrapped in parchment in a ziplock bag BEFORE rising then remove it ahead of time and follow the rest of the recipe as usual once the dough has thawed.
- You can also place the dough in a bowl, wrapped, in your fridge prior to rising and let it slowly rise there for 2-3 days then follow the recipe as you left off.
- You can also freeze the rolls between parchment in an airtight container once baked and re-heat them in the microwave or oven when you want a quick snack!
Tools I used to Make Coconut Flour Cinnamon Rolls
—Kitchen Aid Mixer – My favourite tool especially for low carb bread and roll recipes! The dough hook attachment is a must.
–Low Carb Substitution Guide – This is totally optional but if you like my recipes, I now have a $5 guide available with all of the substitutions I use to create every recipe on my site. You can use this to convert old traditional recipes and create new keto recipes! You can purchase it here and/or read more if you are interested. 🙂 I appreciate your support so much guys!
– Nutritional Food Scale – AKA my best friend. This little buddy has been with me for over 4 years and never fails. Perfect measurements and only needs the batteries replaced maybe once a year!
The Best Keto Cinnamon Rolls
Serves: 10 large rolls
Ingredients:
Dough
- 2/3 cup Vital Wheat Gluten, 100g
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp coconut flour, 105g
- 5 tbsp sweetener of choice, I used powdered monkfruit erythritol sweetener
- 1 pkt. quick rise yeast, 1 tbsp
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup warm cream, 250ml, I used 18%
- 1/4 cup butter, melted, 60g
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- 6 tbsp butter, softened, 90g
- 1/2 cup sweetener of choice, 96g, I used half “golden” granular monkfruit/erythritol sweetener, half powdered monkfruit erythritol sweetener
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp molasses, optional – adds a brown sugar flavour with minimal carbs
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 tbsp cream cheese, softened, 30g
- 1 tbsp butter, softened, 15g
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp powdered monkfruit erythritol sweetener
- 2 tbsp 18% cream or any milk
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, add all of your dry dough ingredients including yeast.
2. Whisk your eggs separately and then add them to the dry ingredients along with the rest of the wet ingredients. (Make sure your cream is warm to the touch by microwaving it beforehand for a roughly 30-40 seconds).
3. Mix the ingredients until a dough forms. Then move this dough to a stand mixer and knead for roughly 5-8min OR knead for ~8-10min by hand.
4. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl, covered and let it rise somewhere warm for 1 hour or until doubled in size. (See tips above)
5. Place the dough ball between two large pieces of parchment and roll it out into a large rectangular shape.
6. Combine your filling ingredients in a bowl and spread them out evenly over the dough.
7. Roll the dough starting from one long side and rolling to the other.
8. Press the seam together to seal it and then cut the dough into slices using dental floss or a very sharp knife.
9. Place the slices, cut-side up in a round dish (you may want to use two as these grow A LOT) lined with parchment paper.
10. Cover the dish with a towel or saran wrap and allow the keto cinnamon rolls to rise again for 45min – 1 hour.
11. During this time you can pre-heat your oven to 350*F.
12. Once it's come to temperature, place the rolls in the oven and bake them for 25-28min or until the outside is set and the inside is still slightly gooey. (The will cook a bit more once removed).
13. Meanwhile, mix together your frosting ingredients in a small bowl until smooth (add more or less cream depending on how thick you want your frosting).
13. After the cinnamon rolls have cooled for ~5min you can frost them and serve warm! Since the rolls puff up so much I like to just bake them in a medium pan and cut slabs like one giant cinnamon roll cake! But feel free to separate the rolls into proper pieces if you prefer.
14. Store in an airtight container on the counter for 1-2 days or freeze for a future snack (see freezing instructions above). Enjoy your keto cinnamon rolls !
Nutrition for 1/10th of recipe with frosting: 267 calories | 19g fat | 6g NET carbs | 12g protein | 5g fibre
The Best Keto Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 2/3 cup Vital Wheat Gluten 100g
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp coconut flour 105g
- 5 tbsp sweetener of choice I used powdered monkfruit erythritol sweetener
- 1 pkt. quick rise yeast 1 tbsp
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup warm cream 250ml, I used 18%
- 1/4 cup butter melted, 60g
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- 6 tbsp butter softened, 90g
- 1/2 cup sweetener of choice 96g, I used half "golden" granular monkfruit/erythritol sweetener, half powdered monkfruit erythritol sweetener
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp molasses optional - adds a brown sugar flavour with minimal carbs
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 tbsp cream cheese softened, 30g
- 1 tbsp butter softened, 15g
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp powdered monkfruit erythritol sweetener
- 2 tbsp 18% cream or any milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add all of your dry dough ingredients including yeast.
- Whisk your eggs separately and then add them to the dry ingredients along with the rest of the wet ingredients. (Make sure your cream is warm to the touch by microwaving it beforehand for a roughly 30-40 seconds).
- Mix the ingredients until a dough forms. Then move this dough to a stand mixer and knead for roughly 5-8min OR knead for ~8-10min by hand.
- Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl, covered and let it rise somewhere warm for 1 hour or until doubled in size. (See tips above)
- Place the dough ball between two large pieces of parchment and roll it out into a large rectangular shape.
- Combine your filling ingredients in a bowl and spread them out evenly over the dough.
- Roll the dough starting from one long side and rolling to the other.
- Press the seam together to seal it and then cut the dough into slices using dental floss or a very sharp knife.
- Place the slices, cut-side up in a round dish (you may want to use two as these grow A LOT) lined with parchment paper.
- Cover the dish with a towel or saran wrap and allow the keto cinnamon rolls to rise again for 45min - 1 hour.
- During this time you can pre-heat your oven to 350*F.
- Once it's come to temperature, place the rolls in the oven and bake them for 25-28min or until the outside is set and the inside is still slightly gooey. (The will cook a bit more once removed).
- Meanwhile, mix together your frosting ingredients in a small bowl until smooth (add more or less cream depending on how thick you want your frosting).
- After the cinnamon rolls have cooled for ~5min you can frost them and serve warm! Since the rolls puff up so much I like to just bake them in a medium pan and cut slabs like one giant cinnamon roll cake! But feel free to separate the rolls into proper pieces if you prefer.
- Store in an airtight container on the counter for 1-2 days or freeze for a future snack (see freezing instructions above). Enjoy your keto cinnamon rolls !
Notes
- 6g is the NET carb total for 1 roll
- I used a dough hook and Kitchen Aid Mixer to knead my dough. You can do it by hand as well, it just may take a bit longer!
- Let your dough sit somewhere warm to double in size. My recipe says one hour but I recommend watching it yourself because sometimes different environments can cause the dough to rise faster or slower!
- I place my dough by our gas fireplace that is warm still or in a previously heated oven or microwave to rise.
- When making your cinnamon roll filling, in this recipe I have you mix the butter, cinnamon and sweeteners together prior rather than using melted butter and adding the sweetener/cinnamon separate. This just makes for a much neater filling that's even throughout and there is WAY less chance of the rolls leaking during baking.
- For this recipe your dough SHOULD be quite sticky but it shouldn't be wet to the point that you can't touch it without it sticking all over your fingers. You SHOULD need to roll it out between parchment paper.
- If you find your dough is too sticky still, add 1 tbsp of coconut flour as needed until you reach your desired consistency
- If you find your dough too dry, add an extra 1 tbsp of cream as needed until you reach your desired consistency.
- These rolls will harden up slightly after baking so be careful not to over-bake. They are best served warm!
- Double the cream cheese frosting if you like extra icing!
Nutrition
Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links
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