The Best Gluten Free Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Ooey gooey cinnamon rolls are a thing of the past when you have to eat gluten free…. until I made these gluten free homemade cinnamon rolls.

Now we get to enjoy cinnamon rolls on all the special occasions.

Or just go ahead and enjoy them on any day of the week! Don’t worry there is no judgment here.

In our family, Sunday mornings are a time I like to make something sweet for the family to enjoy for breakfast. The girls love waking up on Sunday mornings and strolling into the kitchen to see what sweet treat I made for breakfast that day!

Some of our favorite things are gluten free coffee cake, chocolate chip mini muffins, or even donut hole muffins.

But, cinnamon rolls were not something I never felt brave enough to give a try.

Partly because I thought they would be too hard to make and partly because I just couldn’t find a recipe that was not so labor intensive. I also am very picky with my gluten free baked goods. I don’t want to waste my time if they are not going to be great in both texture and taste. I’m not interested in just ok products, only the great ones!

Then I found a recipe that I was able tweak to my liking and also make them gluten free. I was so thrilled to be able to make an ooey gooey pan of hot cinnamon rolls for my girls. A treat they had never ever had before!

And to be completely honest I had never had them before either.

Now, I won’t say this is the easiest recipe ever, but it definitely isn’t the hardest one I have tried. However, I definitely recommend saving this recipe for a weekend when you are not in a rush and can enjoy it!

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Here is what you need for the gluten-free dough:

1.5-2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour, plus more for rolling out (I make my own blend which I share in my Gluten Free Homestead Pantry E-Book. I also recommend the brand Cup 4 Cup or Better Batter)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 TBSP granulated sugar

1/2 cup cold butter

1 eggs (at room temperature)

1/4 cup warm milk

1 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 TBSP sugar

Here is what you need for the filling:

1 cup light brown sugar

2 TBSP ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

4 TBSP melted butter and then cooled down slightly

Here is what you need for the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar (See below for how to make your own powdered sugar!)

1 TBSP milk (add more by the ¼ tsp if needed)

½ tsp vanilla

Directions to make gluten free homemade cinnamon rolls:

1. Add gluten-free flour blend, baking powder, salt, and sugar to a large bowl. If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t have xanthan gum you will want to add 1 tsp. Whisk together so that all your dry ingredients are well combined.
2. Add your warm milk, 1/2 TBSP sugar, and yeast to a small bowl and whisk. Set aside to proof. You know it’s ready when it gets foamy and bubbly!
3. Take your cold butter and cut it into small cubes. Add the cubes to your dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have small pea size pieces in your flour.
4. Once your yeast mixture is nice and foamy crack your egg into the warm milk and yeast and whisk it to combine.
5. Pour the egg and yeast mixture into the flour. Mix until the dough starts to come together. I start by using a spoon but then have to finish mixing with my hands because it gets too hard to use a spoon. At this time the dough should be easy to work with and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. If it’s not pulling away from the bowl and seems too sticky, add more flour by the TBSP and knead it in with floured hands until the dough is smooth and not sticky. If your dough it too crumbly, add warm milk a TBSP at a time. You will have to play with the dough to get the right consistency.
6. Wrap your dough in plastic wrap or you can keep it in the bowl. Place your dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. If you forget about it, don’t sweat! It can stay in your fridge for a day or two.
7. Take a piece of parchment paper and lightly flour it. Turn the dough out onto the lightly floured parchment paper. Sprinkle a little more flour on top of the dough and cover with another piece of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a rectangle. I like to do about a 1/2″ thick. You don’t want to go any thinner than a ¼ of an inch to get good thick cinnamon rolls!
8. Remove the top piece of parchment paper and let your dough sit for a minute in its rectangle shape while you whip up the filling. Add all your filling ingredients into a medium bowl and mix well to combine. Using a spatula spread your cinnamon sugar filling mix out evenly on your rectangle of dough. Leave about ¼ of an inch clean without filling all around the perimeter of your dough.
9. Now roll your rectangle up long ways so you have one long roll of dough and filling. The tighter your roll is the better! Sometimes I need a dough scraper to help roll it up if the dough is sticking to the parchment paper. Pinch the seam as best you can so they don’t come unraveled while baking.
10. Cut your cinnamon roll using a sharp knife into 1 inch pieces and place rolls in a buttered cake pan. You can also use a baking dish or cast iron pan. Just make sure whatever your using is very well buttered or oiled so they don’t stick!
11. Place your cinnamon rolls in a warm spot to rise for 30 min to 1 hour so they are almost doubled in size. This step will give you nice and fluffy cinnamon rolls.
12. Bake your cinnamon rolls at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until they are starting to turn golden brown and the filling is bubbling out of them. Pull your fluffy cinnamon rolls out of the oven and allow them to cool slightly. You don’t want them to cool completely but just enough that your glaze doesn’t melt right off.
13. While they are cooling whisk together all your glaze ingredients in a small bowl. I like to use a measuring cup, so it pours easily. Once they have cooled slightly pour your glaze over them and serve your warm gluten free homemade cinnamon rolls immediately! 

These are best when they are fresh out of the oven and warm…. However, you can always reheat them up and eat later if needed. They are still good that way too!

How to make homemade powdered sugar.

Ever been right in the middle of a baking project only to run out of an ingredient? Like powdered sugar.

I certainly have. I was making frosting for cupcakes to take to a birthday party, when I was halfway through only to run out of powdered sugar. What I had was a runny buttery mess that was nothing close to frosting.

Just when I thought my cupcakes were ruined and I was going to have frostless cupcakes, I decided to google how to make powdered sugar. I thought, what can I lose, it’s either super simple or super complicated. But at that point it was either have frostless cupcakes or try something!

Now before I share this I must admit…. your mind is going to be blown with how simple this is. It always makes me giggle how many years I went buying powdered sugar from the store, or worse yet not making a recipe at all because I was out of powdered sugar. All along not realizing how simple it is to make it right in my own kitchen.

Since that day, I have not bought powdered sugar in years. I simply make up small batches as needed and I never run out!

Ok, are you ready to see how easy this is?

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 TBSP cornstarch

Directions:

1. Add the sugar and cornstarch to a high powered blender and blend on high until you have a fine powder.This can take about 2-5 minutes depending on how powerful your blender is. I use my Vitamix for this project and it works wonderfully!
2. Store in an airtight container. I like to store mine in a glass mason jar with a lid and ring. I love using Denali Canning lids and rings. They are fantastic quality and you can use code stephaniehaglund to get 10% off your purchase!

If you don’t plan to store your powdered sugar for future recipes and just want to make powdered sugar for a specific recipe as needed, you don’t need to add the cornstarch. The cornstarch is an anti-caking agent.

I always use the cornstarch so that I have the option of saving it for later. I have stored it without the cornstarch and not had a problem. You just have a higher chance of getting clumps as it sits without an anti caking agency added to it.

Can you believe how simple that was?

How to make these cinnamon rolls dairy free.

We had to be dairy free for a short time, while I was healing my daughters eczema and we were working on healing our bodies from the inside out. Of course using milk and butter does make these very delicious, but it is very easy to make simple substitutions to make them dairy free.

First, you will want to substitute the butter for a vegan butter. This will give you a product that is most like using butter. However you can try using coconut oil as well. Although I would imagine it would give you a coconut flavor. I would definitely try the vegan butter first.

The other substitution is the milk. Just use your favorite dairy free milk like almond milk, cashew milk, or even coconut milk.

One thing to remember is some gluten free flours have dry milk powder in them. Cup 4 Cup and my homemade blend do have dry milk powder in them. Better batter does not. So if you have to be dairy free I would recommend either making mine with the dry milk powder or using better batter.

If you are using a gluten free flour blend that is different then the ones I recommend, just make sure to check the labels!

3 Tips to make the best gluten free homemade cinnamon rolls.

1. In order to get the best results on your cinnamon rolls, you have to have the right flour. Not all gluten free all purpose flour blends taste the same and give the same product in the end. Depending on what flours your blend is made of will determine what your end result is. You are welcome to try any gluten free all purpose flour blend in this recipe but the ones listed above are the only ones I have tried and recommend.
2. Don’t skip the chilling in the fridge step. This will help the dough to absorb more of the moisture and makes it much easier to roll out. If you are pinched on time, you can skip it but it is a little harder to work with.
3. Make sure wherever you are placing the cinnamon rolls to rise that it is a warm place. If it’s not warm enough it will take a while for your rolls to rise. I like to do all my rising of dough in an oven with the light on. Other options would be by a heater vent, in a dehydrator on the bread rising setting, or even next to a wood stove.

This yummy gluten-free cinnamon roll recipe is so delicious and simple to make. Something as small as a cinnamon roll can really brighten up a gluten free persons day! Enjoy! 

Other gluten-free recipes you may like:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cut-Out Sugar Cookie

Black Bean Brownies

Butter Cream Frosting