There’s nothing quite like fresh baked cinnamon rolls in the morning. For many families, mine included, it is another one of our Christmas morning traditions.
While they are delicious, they are not the healthiest breakfast item. If you have family members with health concerns or allergies, they might not be able to enjoy them with you. This is why I have created this recipe with some simple swaps for traditional sugars so that they fit into a diabetic diet. You could use these sugar alternatives with a traditional cinnamon rolls recipe for a lower sugar version, or use my recipe below for a gluten-free alternative.
Simple Swaps for Traditional Sugars
Monk Fruit Brown Sugar
You can use Monk Fruit instead of sugar and you can also make brown sugar alternative using monk fruit and molasses. This is a lot more cost effective than buying brown sugar monk fruit and it works perfectly in the recipe.
Monk Fruit Powdered Sugar
You can do something similar to make a powdered sugar alternative. Add 1 tablespoon of arrowroot powder with ½ cup of monk fruit sweetener and blend for 15 seconds and you will have a powdered sugar alternative. Monk fruit is a better sugar alternative because it does not cause the blood sugar spikes that come from eating traditional sugars.
Allergy-Friendly Sugar Cookies
If you are looking for another sweet treat to enjoy this holiday season and have family members with allergies, these sugar cookies would be perfect! The full recipe is on my blog and it has alternatives for flour, eggs, butter, and sugar.
My hope is that with this recipe, everyone, no matter their dietary restrictions, can enjoy this delicious Christmas morning tradition.
Low Sugar, Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- Parchment paper
- Measuring Spoons
- Measuring Cups
- Rolling Pin
- 9" x 13" Baking Dish
- Blender
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 1 c. Warm water (not hot)
- 4 tsp. Yeast
- ¼ c. Monk Fruit
- 2¾ c. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour
- ¼ c. Protein Powder
- 1 T. Flaxseed Meal
- 1½ T. Xanthan Gum
- 2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1¾ tsp. Salt
- 4 Eggs
- ¼ c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
For the Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 3 T. Butter, melted
- ¼ c. Monk Fruit Brown Sugar (See Notes for instructional video)
- 2 T. Cinnamon
For the Glaze
- 4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 T. Vanilla
- ¼ c. Powdered Monk Fruit (See Notes for instructional video)
Instructions
- Mix together warm water, yeast, and ¼ cup monk fruit sweetener and let sit for 7-9 minutes to proof which means the bubbles will start to rise and the yeast is activated.*Note: It takes longer for monk fruit to activate the yeast, if you use maple syrup or honey instead of monk fruit, it will only take 5-7 minutes to activate.
- While waiting for the yeast to activate, mix together flour, protein powder, flaxseed meal, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt in the mixer.
- Once the yeast is activated, add yeast mixture, eggs, and oil to the dry ingredients. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Place the dough hook on your mixer and knead on medium speed for 5 minutes. Or you can knead by hand for 5 minutes.
- Lay parchment paper on your counter and lightly flour the paper and your rolling pin before rolling out approximately 9” x 16” of dough.
- Melt butter and use a pastry brush to spread melted butter on dough.
- Sprinkle ¼ c. monk fruit brown sugar and 2 T. cinnamon on top of dough.
- From the longer side roll up the dough, lifting the parchment paper to help it roll.
- Cut into 1.5” inch rolls and lay flat in a baking dish.
- Let rise for 90 minutes before baking.
- After the rolls have risen for 90 minutes, preheat the oven to 350° and bake for 20 minutes.
- While the cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare the frosting by mixing the cream cheese, powdered monk fruit, and vanilla. You can microwave it for 30 seconds if you prefer it to be more of a glaze.
- Remove cinnamon rolls from the oven and glaze while hot.
Video
Notes
- How to Make Monk Fruit Brown Sugar
- How to Make Powdered Monk Fruit
- Tip on what to do with your Cinnamon Roll scraps
- If you are looking for a lower sugar recipe but can still consume gluten, you can use the monk fruit powdered sugar and brown sugar alternatives outlined in this blog post.
- If you do not want to use protein powder, substitute another ¼ cup of gluten-free flour.
- You can freeze these after letting them rise and then take them out of your freezer when you want to bake them. This allows you to enjoy fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls without having to clean up the mess that morning.
- The Cross Legacy provides estimated nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is collected from the USDA database via Spoonacular, when available. If not available, nutrition information is pulled from other online calculators. Ingredients can vary and The Cross Legacy can make no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Nutrition
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