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If you follow my Facebook page, you saw a picture of one of the flopped versions of this recipe. Let’s just say that it’s been in the making for a LONG time, and once I finally got the dough right, I couldn’t get it to roll out without its sticking to everything! Thankfully that problem is now fixed, so here is a healthy cinnamon roll recipe that actually tastes like real cinnamon rolls. To get the “real bread dough cinnamon roll” effect, I knew I had to use flour of some sort – and I don’t mean coconut flour or my baking mix. I mean flour. Like white flour, only wheat because we’re going healthy here (and of course I wanted this recipe to be approved for Trim Healthy Mamas). However, I don’t buy sprouted wheat flour because of the price. Therefore, I knew I would need to cold ferment the flour before making the cinnamon rolls (like I do in my homemade bread recipe). Sound scary? It’s not. Basically you just mix up some flour, yeast, and water before making the cinnamon rolls (I have instructions for this in the recipe below), put it in the fridge for 7 days so the yeast can eat the sugars in the flour, and then you’re ready to proceed! So yes, there’s a week-long lag time there that some people aren’t going to be happy with, but I’m really happy with this recipe because it a) tastes like cinnamon rolls and b) doesn’t use sprouted flour! If you have sprouted flour and would like to use it to make cinnamon rolls, try my friend Cindy’s recipe! Her caramel sauce/icing recipe would be great on my cinnamon rolls as well (although you’ll need to scale the batch down quite a bit or multiply my cinnamon roll recipe to match it).
If you’d rather not have a crossover, try this cinnamon roll recipe that is an S for Trim Healthy Mamas! It’s gotten rave reviews!
Speaking of frosting, I’ve given two frosting options in the recipe below. One is a cream cheese frosting that I used on these rolls. The other is a white buttercream that I haven’t posted yet. I was intending to keep it a cookbook exclusive, but then I decided that I would include it here because I know some people don’t like cream cheese frosting on cinnamon rolls. So there ya have it – and don’t freak out at the length of the recipe. It includes a cinnamon roll recipe plus two frosting recipes, and I separated the cinnamon roll recipe up into sections so it’s easier to keep things straight.
In case you’re wondering why I don’t come up with a more traditional cinnamon roll frosting…it’s because I like to use ingredients that I have on hand, and it’s not easy on the budget to buy powdered alternative sweeteners that add lots of bulk to frosting recipes.
In the recipe, you will find detailed instructions to help you create a proper cinnamon roll without the dough sticking to everything. This has happened to me. Through many trials (“…toils, and snares…”), I have found that the best way to roll out sticky dough is to use oat fiber to dust everything: the dough itself, the countertop, and the rolling pin. Greasing the countertop does not work. Neither does wax paper. And nonstick spray + wax paper + sticky dough = almost unsalvageable mess. Some people think that I am extremely experienced in the kitchen, but I’m only 20 years old and there are lots of things I don’t know yet. Like the fact that wax paper will “melt” when it gets damp. And it will cling to your cinnamon roll dough for dear life. That’s where this picture came in….
PS – here is a video tutorial about how to use sewing string or dental floss to slice perfect cinnamon rolls. It’s not my video, but I just thought I’d share it for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about in the recipe below.
As always, please check out the Notes section of the recipe below for answers to FAQs and troubleshooting advice. Check out the “Suggested products” section below the recipe to find links to the products that I use and recommend.
You may also enjoy:
- my Cinnamon Roll recipe that is an S for Trim Healthy Mamas
- my Homemade Bread recipe (that also uses the cold fermentation technique and doesn’t use sprouted flour – PS – I recently updated this recipe, so please check to see if you have the updated version printed for your files)
- Cindy’s cinnamon roll recipe
- Cindy’s caramel sauce/icing recipe
- my Starting THM page
- my picture recipe index
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
- ¾ tsp. instant yeast
- ¾ cup water
- -
- 1 T very hot tap water
- 1 tsp. instant yeast*
- ½ tsp. honey**
- -
- 2 tsp. Knox gelatin
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ⅛ tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- -
- 2 oz. cream cheese, soft
- 2 T salted butter, soft
- 1 egg
- -
- Oat fiber for flouring the table
- 3-4 T softened/melted butter
- Cinnamon
- THM Super Sweet Blend or other granulated sweetener of choice
- -
- YOU HAVE TWO FROSTING OPTIONS:
- 2 oz. cream cheese, soft
- 2 T unsalted butter, soft
- 1 T unsweetened almond milk
- Dash of vanilla extract
- 1 doonk THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- 8 T salted butter, soft
- 2 T THM Gentle Sweet
- 4 tsp. oat fiber***
- Hearty dash of vanilla extract
- Dash of maple flavoring, optional
- 6 T full fat sour cream (I don't suggest substituting this with Greek yogurt)
- 2 T heavy whipping cream
- ⅛ tsp. xanthan gum
- Mix the flour, yeast, and water together (all ingredients need to be at room temperature or warmer). Let this mixture set out on the counter for two hours, then cover it (I use a sealable plastic container). Refrigerate for 7 days.
- When you’re ready to make your cinnamon rolls, get the flour mixture out of the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature.
- Mix the hot water, yeast, and honey together and let it proof for 5 minutes (it will foam up if the yeast is active).
- Whisk the gelatin, baking powder, salt, and stevia together.
- Knead the flour mixture, yeast mixture, dry ingredients, cream cheese, butter, and egg together – either in a mixer with a dough hook or just with your hands – until smooth.
- Use the oat fiber to dust your counter so the dough won’t stick. Do not attempt to roll the dough out onto a greased surface; it will stick. Place the dough on the floured surface and roll all sides of the dough ball in the oat fiber. Re-dust the counter with oat fiber. Dust your rolling pin with oat fiber as well. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 14 inches wide by 12 inches high. Brush the melted butter onto the dough. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and the granulated sweetener of your choice. Roll the dough horizontally to form a log. Use a piece of sewing string or dental floss to slice the log into 12 sections (see link below the recipe). Place all 12 sections into a greased 9-inch cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (or until they feel done in the center). Remove from the oven and let the cinnamon rolls cool down before frosting.
- I enjoy these cinnamon rolls warm or cold. Feel free to reheat for a few seconds in the microwave if you prefer them warm. Store in the refrigerator. Yields 12 cinnamon rolls.
- You can definitely make a larger batch than this if you like. I’m sure these cinnamon rolls would store just fine in an air-tight container in the freezer.
- CREAM CHEESE FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS: Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth. Use an offset spatula to frost the cinnamon rolls or put the frosting in a plastic bag and cut a small hole in one corner to pipe the cinnamon rolls with the frosting.
- WHITE BUTTERCREAM INSTRUCTIONS: Beat together the butter, Gentle Sweet, oat fiber, vanilla, and maple flavoring. Beat in the sour cream and whipping cream. Sprinkle the xanthan gum in slowly while beating the frosting (so the xanthan gum doesn't clump). Continue beating until the frosting becomes smooth and peaks form. Your frosting is now ready to use! If you refrigerate it, it will harden, but if you let it sit out on the counter for a few hours it will return to a spreadable consistency. Yields a little over a cup of frosting, so you'll have some left over for another use.
**Honey is usually frowned upon for weight loss on the THM plan, but this is an extremely small amount spread out over many servings and the yeast eats up some of the sugars.
***When using oat fiber in frosting, you definitely want to use a brand that you will not taste. NuNaturals brand is very strong in flavor and I don't recommend it. I use life source brand from Netrition.com (link below), and I've heard good things about the THM brand as well.
Click here for a video tutorial on how to use sewing string or dental floss to cut perfectly-cut cinnamon rolls.
Suggested products:
- Instant Yeast
- Knox plain bulk gelatin or THM Just Gelatin
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- Oat Fiber or THM Oat Fiber (gluten-free)
- THM Sweet Blend
Hi Brianna, I mixed together the yeast, water and flour for the flour mixture (the cold fermentation mixture) . I ended up kneading it until it was a ball of dough. Does this sound right? Will it ferment like this?
Yes, that’s fine.
Hey Brianna! I am wanting to make these ahead of time and freeze for a tasty, easy breakfast during the week after I give birth. Should I cook them first, then freeze? Would that work? If so, how would you go about reheating? Thanks!
Hi Sarah! I’ve never done it, but I would bake first, then freeze. I would freeze the frosting separately and thaw it when you thaw the cinnamon rolls. Reheat the cinnamon rolls for a few seconds in the microwave, then frost.
These are so, so good!! Mine ended up looking more like a cake than cinnamon rolls, but when you have healthy and delicious, who cares how they look?!
Would it work the same with white flour?
Yes, but the flour measurement would be different. I haven’t tried it with white flour so I’m afraid I don’t know how much you would use.
Hi Briana, I’m wondering if there is a way to use sourdough starter instead of yeast. Do you have any ideas on how I would try this? Thanks for any advice you have!
Hi April! If you tried to use a starter you would need to adjust the flours and liquids in this recipe, so I’d just stick with making it as written. I think there are some recipes for THM cinnamon rolls using sourdough starter out there though! Try searching Google or Pinterest? I’ve been getting into sourdough myself recently and hopefully sometime in the future I can post a sourdough cinnamon roll recipe using starter. 🙂
My kids were already asking me to make another batch before I even took my first bite! They were a hit in my house of 6! Everyone gobbled them up! And my favorite unhealthy cinnamon rolls are Rhodes cinnamon rolls. These were great for being healthy.
I was a little concerned about the dough at first as the ingredients were not mixing well in my kitchen aide, but it eventually mixed enough.
I’m so glad they were a hit!
Can I stillake this recipe if I have only three days to let the yeast started sit in the refrigerator?
You can, but you might not get as much carb reduction.
Hey so I made the flour starter…not sure if it’s supposed to be a hunk of dough or more soupy?
It’s very thick. 🙂 You don’t want it too wet because you want the cinnamon roll dough to be thick enough to roll out when you’re ready to assemble.
Hi Brianna!! I want to make these for Christmas morning! I’m so excited bc I can’t find sprouted flour around my town and this is going to be perfect! Question: can I form the dough and have them in the pan the night before (kept in the refrigerator) so I can place them in the oven Christmas morning while opening gifts? Thanks so much!
Hi Mindy! I’ve never tried that and I don’t know if it would work or not. These rely on baking powder for a lot of their rising ability, and a prolonged time in the fridge might ruin the effect. I would personally try it as an experiment, but if you don’t want to be experimenting on Christmas Day, I recommend that you make a test batch ahead of time. 😉
Just a note that I appreciate the fact that links in your content open into a new page. That way I can keep up the original post but also flip back and forth with your other posts!
Thanks! I’ve actually been wondering if people like that or find it annoying, so I’ve experimented with doing it different ways. I’ll keep that in mind!
I just made these & took them out of the oven. I misunderstood the step about rolling the dough ball on the counter. So I ended up spreading the dough out with my fingers & a spoon. UGH… I wish I would’ve read it right the first time. Needless to say, my rolls are more like swirled blobs… LOL! I think I will be able to do it just right the next time!
They smell delicious & the cream cheese icing is yummy… I added a little salt to the icing to take that stevia bite out of it–I added a little too much because mine isn’t as strong as THM’s. Great Recipe!!
Made exactly as recipe was written. Good, but not great. Next time I will use A LOT more cinnamon, and a little more sweetner. My 18 year old are 2, but he sprinkled a little sugar on top ?
Yep, the cinnamon and sweetener on the dough are entirely up to your personal taste and can really make or break the result. 🙂
Oh, okay, maybe I should have mixed it for awhile longer then, but eventually I just added some sprouted whole wheat flour that I had on hand until it formed a formable dough, and went on from there. 🙂
I just took them out of the oven, and topped two with some delicious cream cheese frosting….they are AMAZING!! Thank you, Briana! 🙂
Good save! I’m so glad they worked out for you, and I’m glad you enjoy them!
Sorry, it’s me again. I am just a bit confused. I have all the ingredients in a bowl getting mixed by my dough hook…but it looks more like a batter than a dough. What should I do? As far as I remember, I followed the recipe. 🙂 Thanks!
It’s a fairly soft dough, but usually if you mix it long enough it comes together and is able to be handled. If you have to, add a little oat fiber, just a little bit at a time.
My dough has been sitting for double time…or more (my mistake). It smells fermented…is that normal? I am debating whether or not to use it. It was already starting to smell that way in less than a week of sitting. Thanks! 🙂
It’s normal for it to smell somewhat fermented – whether the taste will be strong or not due to sitting an extra week…I can’t promise one way or the other. 😛 I would personally try it and eat the results so as not to waste it.
Okay, that’s what I’ll do…though one extra week has turned into two extra weeks. 🙂 I’ll give it a go today. Thanks!
I made them…… oh they are soooo good!
I topped mine with the buttercream, yummy! Thank you so much!
Woohoo! I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for letting me know.
Great! Thanks!
These look amazing! I was so excited to make these, I immediately mixed up the starter when I saw your post last Wed. But I just realized that I forgot to let it sit on the counter for two hours and just stuck it in the fridge without thinking. Do you think it will still work? Should I start over? My other question is, Does it have to be in the fridge for exactly 7 days or could I leave it a couple days longer? Thanks so much!
Hi Hannah! The purpose for letting the dough set out on the counter for 2 hours is to give the yeast time to activate before putting it in the fridge and slowing down the fermentation process. I think you’ll probably still be OK, but next time to be safe I would let it set out on the counter. A few extra days shouldn’t hurt too much, neither would a few less days. If you leave it in the fridge for too long, you’ll have a stronger flavor.
Wow, these look so yummy! I’m a bit confused about the flour though. Here’s what I have at home: Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour (from the store), Whole Wheat (ground at home in a heavy duty machine grinder into flour), and Sprouted Spelt Flour. Do any of these work? Thank you so much for this recipe Briana!! I have been missing cinnamon buns, and am so excited to try these! 🙂
Hi Bekah! This recipe calls for whole wheat flour, so your whole wheat flour should work just fine. 🙂 If you would like to use your sprouted flour, I recommend you try my friend Cindy’s recipe that I linked in the post.
Okay, sounds great! Thank you Briana! I will try my home ground stuff. I am so excited to try this recipe!! 🙂
Oh Briana.. They look scrumptious..?
Why is this a crossover? Is it the carbs remaining in the flour?
Yes.
Requires a “little” Prep time. A Week, seems a tad longer than a “little” prep time.. LOL
Darling, don’t publish this comment – I just wanted to tease you.
Always enjoy reading your blogs, your honesty and humor are refreshing.
Grateful to benefit from your God given gifts. (determination included!)
Warmly,
Dawn
Haha…but you’re not actually spending hardly any time during that week prepping. The dough just sits there! 😛 You’re very sweet, Dawn. Thank you for your kind words.