Low Carb Keto-Friendly CInnamon Rolls
Since childhood, there have been exactly two things that are pretty much guaranteed to wake me up in the morning. One is the smell of bacon frying, and the other is the smell of cinnamon rolls baking. Now obviously that first one hasn’t changed post-keto (if anything, I love the smell of bacon even more now), but it had definitely been a while since I had gotten to enjoy waking up to freshly baked cinnamon rolls.
Sure, I can get a taste of those same flavors by making a batch of low carb cinnamon roll pancakes or cinnamon doughnut holes, but that isn’t quite the same. For months now, I’ve really wanted to nail down a recipe for a keto version of an actually cinnamon roll. This is the closest I’ve gotten so far.
Now to be honest, I’m still not 100% happy with this recipe. It’s certainly tasty, and it does hit that cinnamon roll craving, but I’ll probably keep searching for tiny improvements here and there until it’s juuuust right. But until then, I figured tasty-but-not-quite-perfect low carb cinnamon rolls are better than no cinnamon rolls. Hopefully you agree!
Low Carb Keto Cinnamon Rolls
Low carb cinnamon roll pancakes are tasty, but sometimes I want something even closer to the real thing. This is a recipe for a more classic keto cinnamon roll that fills that craving.
- Prep Time: 30m
- Cook Time: 25m
- Total Time: 55m
- Serves: 8
- Yield: 8 rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 1/4 cups (5 oz., ~142g) shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 ounce (~28g) cream cheese
- 4 tablespoons (2 oz., ~56g) butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon granulated sweetener (such as Swerve)
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon psyllium husk powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons vanilla (or unflavored) whey protein powder
- 1 dash salt
- 1 heaping teaspoon (1/2 envelope, ~3.5g) active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons water or almond milk, warmed (110°F-115°F)
- 1 large egg
Filling
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sweetener (such as Swerve)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 dash nutmeg (optional)
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar OR sugar free maple syrup (optional)
- 1 teaspoon coconut flour
Cream Cheese Glaze
- 1 1/2 ounces (~42g) cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon (~14g) butter
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- powdered sweetener to taste
Instructions
Dough
- Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare a baking dish by greasing lightly with coconut oil or butter (or lining with parchment paper).
- In a small bowl, add yeast and warm (110°F-115°F) water (or almond milk). Allow yeast to dissolve over the course of a few minutes, stirring as needed to dissolve clumps.
- Meanwhile, combine dry dough ingredients (almond flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, sweetener, psyllium powder, baking powder, and salt). In a separate bowl, combine mozzarella, butter, and cream cheese.
- Microwave cheese mixture on high for 60-90 seconds, or until cheese and butter are melted. Add vanilla extract and stir to combine.
- Add egg, yeast mixture, and dry ingredients to cheese mixture and stir until ingredients are combined and dough forms a ball.
- Turn dough onto parchment paper and knead gently 15-20 times or until well combined. Add additional nut flour as needed if dough is sticky. Return dough to bowl and cover with a damp cloth or paper towel; set in a warm place to rise while you make the filling and frosting.
Cinnamon Filling
- Combine all ingredients (except coconut flour) in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Stir occasionally until butter is melted and ingredients are well combined.
- Add coconut flour and stir to combine. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
Cream Cheese Glaze
- Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring as needed.
Making the Rolls
- Once dough has roughly doubled in size, return to parchment paper and roll into a rectangle. Spread filling over the surface of the dough, leaving a small amount uncovered near one of the shorter edges to prevent it from spilling out when you form the rolls.
- Starting at the other short edge, lift the parchment paper and use it to assist as you roll the dough into a log.
- Using a pastry cutter or sharp knife, cut dough into 8 (or 6, for larger rolls) equal slices. Place slices cut side up into your prepared baking dish without overcrowding them.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Top with cream cheese glaze and serve warm.
Notes:
- I like adding that little bit of coconut sugar or sugar free maple syrup to emulate some of the molasses flavor you might get from brown sugar in traditional cinnamon rolls. You can also try something like Sukrin Gold. It’s totally optional though!
- The yeast adds to the flavor as well as helping the dough rise, but you can make these without it if you’d like. Leave out the yeast and water, leave out 1T. of coconut flour, and add an extra teaspoon of baking powder.
- Psyllium husk powder is one of those “specialty” low carb ingredients that I think is worth having on hand if you plan on doing low carb baking regularly. I get mine from Amazon.
- When baking with whey, I generally go for something minimalist like Isopure. This reduces the chances of some ingredient having a weird reaction in the oven.
- You can either frost them all right out of the oven or just keep the frosting separate and add it right before eating. They reheat fine either way.
- Want a thicker “frosting” instead of the cream cheese glaze? Cream together 2oz. cream cheese, 1T. butter, and 1/2t. vanilla extract, adding sweetener to taste.
Keep the yummy recipes coming!
So, just to be clear. If making the recipe without the yeast, you’d use 3Tablespoons of coconut flour, instead of the 1/4cup and you’d still use the 1/4cup of almond flour..? Thanks.!
Exactly! 🙂
If I’m using Sukrin Gold, what would the swap be?
You should be fine using the same amounts listed for the dough and filling. You can probably leave out the coconut sugar/maple syrup in the filling, since you will already have molasses flavor from the Sukrin Gold. I’m not sure how well Sukrin Gold will work for the frosting, though.
Ahh I love this, it will be next on my list to bake! I’m about 1.5 weeks into this new keto lifestyle and I’m so stoked to be baking. Thank you so much for making these recipes! Is there a mailing list I can be added to?
Can I substitute anything for the coconut flour? Hubby is allergic… TIA
Flax meal might work, but it would change the taste/texture.
Hey KetoGirl!
Your recipes look AMAZING! I too am new to the keto lifestyle and was wondering if I could still try this recipe w/o the almond flour? I’m allergic =(
Flax meal might work as a substitute.