Words have been failing me lately. I’m staring at this blank screen, with the cursor pulsing, taunting. With any luck, you’re staring at a screen full of words. Perhaps they’re lyrical and poignant, or comforting and simple. I can’t be sure yet, but you will find out soon. My mind has been bouncing around quite a bit. From Japan to Libya, possible elections to upcoming birthdays, biology to social studies, tonight’s homework to decisions about the future. I’m tired. Overwhelmed. Undoubtably ready for spring break.
With so much going on, the night before last was a great break. No homework, no stress. Perfect time to bake something sweet. Someone asked on twitter if the recipe for these cinnamon rolls, which my dear friend Tessa posted, could be made gluten-free. I jumped on it. They are simple. I know I use that word probably way way way too much, but it’s true. No yeast to deal with, no rising time, none of that. Whisk dry, add liquids, stir. Press into a rectangle on a silpat and sprinkle the topping on top. Roll up. Cut. Bake.
Crank up some good music and take an hour to make these. It’s a perfect escape, a perfect comfort. With so much going on in the world, and surely lots going on in your life too – it’s so nice to make something like this and get back to the basics. They don’t have to look like a million dollars. Maybe some of the filling will leak out, maybe you’ll get a couple of cracks. It’s about the process. Some easy stirring, rolling and cutting. Then, when they’ve been hanging out in the piping hot oven for awhile, the cinnamon sweetness seeps out of the oven auspiciously. Curling into each edge of the house, the scent brings everyone to the kitchen.
I didn’t even bother to drizzle any icing on top (though you certainly could!), letting them simply be. We didn’t mind, not even a tiny bit. They made me slow down and breathe. I’m sure they aren’t perfect – little things I could surely tweak, but they were perfectly timed.
I asked my mom if they were ready to be posted (as I do with pretty much every post) and she firmly and quickly said yes. They’re good. I hope you enjoy them too.
Quick Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar (3.15 oz / 90 g)
1/4 cup sugar (1.80 oz / 51 g)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup sweet rice flour (2.00 oz / 57 g)
1/2 cup tapioca starch/flour (2.15 oz / 61 g)
2/3 cup millet flour (2.85 oz / 81 g)
2/3 cup brown rice flour (3.25 oz / 92 g)
1/4 cup quinoa flour (1.00 oz / 27 g)
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1-2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
Steps
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Take an 8 by 8 inch square pan, line with aluminum foil and grease. The foil should have an overhang on two opposite sides.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the filling ingredients; brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, salt and cloves. Set aside.
Whisk together flours, xanthan gum, 2 tbsp sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Once uniform, pour buttermilk and melted butter in. Stir together until incorporated.
Flour a silpat (or parchment/wax paper, but I think that a silpat is the way to go here) and your hands with sweet rice flour. Dump the dough out and pat into a 9 by 12 inch rectangle. You want the long side to be facing you, to make it easy to roll. Brush the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the filling on the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edge. It will be thick, you may wish to press it in a little. I even sprinkled a touch of butter over top, just to hold the powder in place a bit.
Using the silpat as an aide, roll the dough into a spiraled log. Roll it carefully and press to seal the edge when rolled up.
With a serrated knife, cut into nine pieces. Place the rounds into the prepared pan, lightly shaping as you place them. Some of the filling may fall out, but you can scoop that up and sprinkle it on top.
Cover with a piece of aluminum foil and bake for 12 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 14 to 18 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then lift the rolls in the foil out, onto a wire rack. Let cool for a few more minutes. If putting on a glaze, do so now. Enjoy!
The unbaked rolls. Beautifully imperfect. Extra (spilled) filling powder sprinkled on top. A couple of cracks. Loads of flavour soon to be developed and fostered.
All baked, with the delightful daylight savings time light streaming through the window.
This one had a heart in the centre. It was a beautiful breakfast, reheated slightly.
If you flipped it over, you see this. The filling becomes a sweet, sticky loveliness. It collects at the bottom, happy and welcoming.
So, yes. Take a bite of comfort. That’s precisely what these were to me.
xoxo
Lauren
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
lauren, these look utterly delicious. wish i had one right now!
These are lovely and look so comforting!
Baking and eating these look like the perfect way to escape the troubles of the world! Amen.
Hi Lauren, They look delicious and great post!. I was reading on one of the copy posts the other day that if you sit still and look directly at something just slightly above your eye level for 5 min you’ll have a flood of ideas. It seemed to do the trick when I was working on my website. Hope you’re all well!
I just found your blog and love it! Your photos are all gorgeous! I love all the gluten free recipes on your blog!
Hi Lauren!
Thank you sooooo much! I CAN’T WAIT to make these little lovies!!!! And cranking up some music and taking an hour away from it to bake these is a fantastic idea! I think I’ll play some music from one of your fellow Canadians, Ron Sexsmith. Do you know him? He’s one of my favorites!
Thanks again! I LOVE this recipe idea and it’ll push me to experiment with butter substitutes (my son is dairy-intolerant), which I’m not all that excited about….I like natural products!!! But it MUST be done if one is to enjoy homemade GF cinnamon rolls!!!! -Brooke
those sound wonderful.I will definately be making them.thanks for sharing.
Lauren, thank you so much for sharing your recipe. It looks delicious!
I am so inspired! I was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease about 6 months ago, and what you’re doing through this blog is my passion as well. If you could possibly help me out a bit with some advice for what I do, that would be lovely! Thanks greatly for all you do!
I think these look terrific and I bet they taste great too.
Hi Lauren! I stumbled across your blog and it looks great! I haven’t had cinnamon rolls in a long time! I went g-free back in November and have a new blog about my findings! It’s http://www.megmacswan.com/. I linked yours on mine 🙂
Hi Lauren, someone told me about this, and god they look yummy mmm…! 🙂
You never cease to amaze me with both your cooking AND your writing. It is the teacher in me! 🙂 I cannot help it. What a great challenge you have risen to, and once again, accomplished a lovely baking powder biscuit like cinnamon bun, gluten free. You are truly a gem!
YUM!
🙂
Valerie
Lauren they are absolutely scrumptious looking – who would have guessed that they were gluten free! Love your inventiveness!
Fantastic job… they look terrific!
Those look wonderfully delicious, Lauren! Especially the upside-down one. 😉
I’ve found myself feeling overwhelmed and at a loss for words a lot in the past month as well. I’m finding that the more time I spend in the kitchen (ie the more ‘normal’ my life is), the easier everything that follows, including writing, is. I hope you get back into your groove soon, my friend!
Yum! I made these today, the only substitution I made was to use coconut flour instead of quinoa. They turned out pretty good, but mine were a little dry, and it seemed like they needed more filling as mine don’t have the gooey bottom. Next time I’m adding more butter to mine 🙂
Hi Jen, it makes sense that they were drier and less gooey, as coconut flour sucks up any liquid it can find, much more than quinoa. Either way, so glad you enjoyed them! Extra butter, liquid or even just less coconut flour would likely help. 🙂
I just made these and they were delicious! Thanks so much for sharing!
Lauren, you never seem to amaze me. These are truly wonderful. Cinnamon buns are one of my favorites and my husband has not had these since he was diagnosed. He thanks you already.
These are amazing! One of the things I miss most are cinnamon rolls and these were perfect. I made them to eat with the rest of my class before our AP Exam and they were super filling. Definitely going to make them again.
The only problem I had was that mine didn’t cook all the way through, so I had to tack on about 15 min of extra cooking time. But other than that, they were great!
Emily, I’m so glad you enjoyed them! However, that’s odd it took so much extra time – you might want to get an oven thermometer (they’re about $5), and it can really help to make sure your oven is at the right temperature :). Our old oven ran incredibly hot – when it said it was 350, the thermometer sometimes read 425, which certainly changes each recipe!
Hi there,
I work with Geoff @ Paramount, which is how I heard about your blog. My best friend is celiac and I wanted to make her something since she just had a baby. It floored her when I brought these over because she had huge cravings for cinnamon buns while she was pregnant but couldn’t find GF ones anywhere! So thanks for posting this recipe!!! Also my husband tried them and said they “just taste like really good cinnamon buns, not like gluten-free”. I gave the husband four to give to his celiac co-worker too…the co-worker ate all four at once. :0) So yeah, a big hit!!!
I totally printed this out. Mom is coming for a visit this week, and she’ll be so excited to have cinnamon rolls. Thanks for the recipe!!
These look amazing! I don’t have all of the different gluten-free flours on hand…too time consuming with kiddos and work. Have you ever used Pamela’s baking mixes? I’m wondering how I could use her mix for this recipe.
Thank you!!! My 4 yr old daughter was just diagnosed with severe wheat allergies and I always make cinnamon rolls on Christmas (which is also her birthday) morning! I was sad thinking it wasn’t possible. Thank you, thank you!
Dana, I haven’t. I much prefer mixing my own flours when making recipes. I’m not sure what’s in Pamela’s, so I certainly couldn’t guarantee the results, but it might have additional ingredients after the flours, so you may have to adjust some of the other ingredients in the recipe to get a similar result. If replacing any of the flours though, I would make sure to do it by weight rather than volume, if at all possible. That should help, but I can’t vouch for Pamela’s in this recipe.
I’m getting ready to make these! I can’t wait to pop one in my mouth and see how they taste!
Will these work with a GF Flour Mix like Jules or Pamela’s? We are new to gluten free and seems like it would be easier than all the seperate different flours?! Thanks!
Deanna, as I said to Dana above, I don’t know. I’m a big fan of mixing my own flours and tailoring the flours to each recipe (I know it seems like a lot of flours- I felt the same when I first went GF, but now I can’t imagine my pantry with less than 5, but often more like 10 or 12! In terms of ease, when using a scale, it just takes an extra minute or two. It doesn’t have to be a big deal!). Some mixes also contain leaveners, so that changes what you have to replace in the recipe. You’re welcome to try, but I can’t vouch for the results.
Lauren,
I have just stumbled upon your blog and am happy I did. I am so proud of what you are doing. You are a talented young lady! I am also gluten intolerant, with multiple allergies including milk and cane sugar. Finding your blog while searching for a GF cinnamon roll recipe has truly inspired me. I will bake them tomorrow morning.
Keep writing, cooking, and updating us through your blog.
Best wishes,
Lilly
I just made these:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/lawnbeaver/photobucket-1808-1332906772518.jpg
I used soy milk with apple cider vinegar instead of buttermilk. I also used wrf instead of srf and used coconut flour to dust them for rolling. Also skipped the cloves.
They are cooling, but look and smell fine, I believe they will taste as well.
Thanks!