The Best Gluten Free Whole Grain Cinnamon Rolls

The soft savoring smell of gluten free whole grain cinnamon rolls baking on a Sunday morning is something I hope my girls never forget. 

Until I became an adult and had my own kitchen, I had never even had a cinnamon roll. Being gluten free since I was young, there was not any options of making them gluten free. 

Eight years ago when I changed the way I ran my kitchen, I decided it was high time I learn how to make a good cinnamon roll and make it gluten free. I succeeded and I continued to make this cinnamon roll recipe on special occasions and the random Sunday morning. 

About a year ago, I was ready to re-vamp my skills with gluten-free cinnamon rolls. I wanted something with a less starchy flour, since my original recipe uses a gluten-free flour blend, and that actually had some health to it. 

But it had to taste as good or even better then my recipe before. 

That’s when I came up with these gluten free whole grain cinnamon rolls and they have far surpassed my expectations!

What kind of flour to use.

One of the main differences in my previous cinnamon roll recipe to now, is the gluten-free flours.

While I used an all purpose flour blend before, in this recipe I “build” my flour. Using a gluten free flour blend works, but I do find that when I build the flour, the rise and texture comes out better.

Also, when you build your flour you get to choose what type of binding agent you use. Most gluten free flour blends use xanthan gum as their binding agents. That works on a lot of things like cookies, muffins, and cakes….. but not on cinnamon rolls.

When you are forming a dough to roll out and work with you want it to get the texture that is most like an all purpose flour. That is not possible with xanthan gum. So I use psyllium husk as the binding agent. Gluten-free baking can be challenging, and knowing what each binding agent is good for which products, helps in this process.

Make sure to check out my post on binding agents and when to use them. 

Along with getting to choose the binding agent, you also get to choose the flours you use when building your own flour.

In this recipe I am using brown rice flour, sorghum flour, and tapioca starch. They make up the perfect taste and texture of grain and smoothness for your gluten free whole grain cinnamon rolls. I buy all my grains and flours on Azure Standard.

You will notice in the recipe below that the gluten-free dough looks a whole lot like my gluten free whole grain bread dough. That’s because it is! 

Why re-invent the wheel, when we have a perfectly good dough to work with? You will find that I take this same recipe and turn it into a number of products. Sometimes with a substitution and sometimes I leave it just as it is!

You can find recipes like hamburger buns, fry donuts, and pizza pinwheels that use this same recipe and make a different delicious dish!

Can I make gluten free whole grain cinnamon rolls in advance?

You certainly can make these ahead of time! 

That’s the beauty of it. You can take the time weeks ahead of time to whip up a batch of cinnamon rolls and then have a slow start with company or on a special occasion enjoying these hot cinnamon rolls. 

In fact, I plan to do that here in the next week or so to be ready for all our family coming in the week of Thanksgiving!

To make them a day ahead of time, you will simply whip up the dough, roll them out, add the filling, and cut them into cinnamon rolls. Put them in the pan you will bake them in and cover tightly with plastic wrap or foil. 

Now place them in the fridge over night. Remove them the next morning, let them come back to room temperature, and bake per the instructions. 

I only recommend putting them in the fridge if you are making them one day ahead.

If you want to make them even farther ahead of time, I would then freeze them.

Freezing the cinnamon rolls.

In order to freeze your cinnamon rolls, follow the below recipe all the way through until the icing stage.

Yes, you will bake the cinnamon rolls weeks ahead of time. 

Once they have cooled down completely, wrap the pan with foil tightly and place them in the freezer. 

Make sure to label them so you don’t forget what they are!

When you are ready to eat them, take them out of the freezer and let them defrost slightly. It is ok if they are not defrosted all the way. Place them back in the oven at 250 degrees, still covered, and let them heat up. You want to keep them covered so that they don’t get too brown in the oven, since they are already baked. 

Once they are warmed back up to your liking you can add the frosting and enjoy!

This makes for a very quick breakfast, that is still homemade for your company. I always like to have my homemade foods prepared before guests arrive so I can enjoy the company and not spend all my time in the kitchen getting meals on the table. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm water, you may not use all of this
• 1 TBSP active dry yeast
• 4 TBSP honey, you can use cane sugar if you want
• 30g psyllium husk powder
• 280g brown rice flour (I start with brown rice and mill it fresh)
• 100g sorghum flour (I start with sorghum grain and mill it fresh)
• 120g tapioca flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 room-temperature eggs
• 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted. To make this dairy free use 5-6 TBSP of avocado oil or olive oil
• more warm water as needed

For the filling:

The filling ingredients are all to taste. I have put estimated measurements below but feel free to add more or less of everything to get it to your liking. 

• 1/4 cup softened butter, you may need more or less 
• 2 TBSP ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 4 oz softened cream cheese
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1-2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 tsp vanilla extract

How to make gluten free whole grain cinnamon rolls:

1.  First, you will want to mill your whole grains into flour. If you don’t have a mill, you can skip this step and buy your flours. However you will miss the fantastic health benefits of milling your own grains at home. I love using my Nutrimill to mill my grains into flour. I start with 2 1/4 cups of brown rice and mill it into flour. Next I mill about 1 cup of sorghum grains into a separate bowl. I keep my freshly milled grains separate, so I can weigh out what I need of each. 
2. Start by putting about 1 3/4 cups of warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in yeast and honey or sugar and turn your mixer on for about 10 seconds just to mix. Let it sit to proof.
3. Using a digital kitchen scale, weigh out all your flours in a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and baking powder to your flours. Set aside.
4. Once your yeast is proofed, measure the psyllium husk to your stand mixer bowl. Whisk it for a second or two until it is smooth and becomes a ‘gel’. Let it sit for 3-5 minutes. 
5. Add your dry ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer, where you wet ingredients are.
6. Crack the room-temperature eggs into the bowl. Add in apple cider vinegar and melted butter.
7. Turn your mixer on and let it run for 2-3 minutes. Add in splashes of water as needed to get the right consistency. 
8. You want your dough to come together but to be slightly sticky. This can be tricky, so be careful not to add too much water. Let your mixer do the work of incorporating the flour into the water. The consistency for this gluten free dough is different then a regular dough. You will have to read your dough.

Rolling out the dough and adding the filling:

1. Lightly flour your counter with some brown rice flour. Dump your cinnamon roll dough out and sprinkle a little more brown rice flour on top. Let it rest for a few minutes. This will help the dough to stay together when you are shaping it.
2. Using a knife or dough scraper, cut your dough into two equal pieces. This makes it easier to work with. Set one aside and place the other in front of you to work with first. You can make cinnamon rolls out of both halves, or I like to take one half and make cinnamon rolls and use the other half for something different like pizza crust or hamburger buns.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to a large rectangle, about 1/4″ thick. It doesn’t have to be exact. 
4. Take soft butter and spread over your rectangle all the way to edges with a butter knife. Sprinkle on brown sugar and cinnamon all the way to the edges. This is all to taste. I don’t measure any of this. 
5. Using a pizza cutter, or knife, cut out 1 1/2″ thick strips from your dough (see video below for further explanation). Roll each strip up into a cinnamon roll and pinch the dough at the end, to keep it tight. 
6. Place each cinnamon roll in a buttered baking dish or cast iron pan, leaving a little space in between each one for rising. 
7. Set cinnamon rolls in a warm spot to rise for 15 minutes.

Baking your cinnamon rolls:

1. While your cinnamon rolls are rising, set your oven to 425 degrees to pre-heat. 
2. After about 15 minutes your cinnamon rolls should have rose a bit and are ready to bake.
3. Place them in your pre-heated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them to not over bake them. You want your gluten-free cinnamon rolls to be slightly golden brown along the edges. They will rise even more while baking. 
4. Remove your hot cinnamon rolls from the oven and let cool while you make the cream cheese frosting.

Adding the cream cheese Frosting:

1. Add cream cheese, softened butter, and vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or medium bowl with a hand mixer. Beat together until creamed and smooth.
2. Add in powder sugar, 1 cup at a time, until you reach the right consistency. This may take more or less then what the above ingredients call for. 
3. Take your warm cinnamon rolls and frost the top of each one with the cream cheese frosting. 
4. Serve these gluten free whole grain cinnamon rolls warm with a glass of whole milk!

The best way to store gluten free cinnamon rolls.

For best results, you want to eat these gluten free whole grain cinnamon rolls within the first 2 days. If you know you will eat them all that quickly, simply leave them on the counter. To reheat them, place them in a warm oven, I usually set mine to the warm setting, and let them heat through. 

If you place them in the fridge, it will draw out moisture and dry them out. 

After a day I would not leave them on the counter. 

See above how you can make these ahead of time to freeze!

Enjoy this gluten-free cinnamon roll recipe on any special occasion, Christmas morning, or just a random week day. I promise your family won’t complain about it!