Gluten Free Quick Dough Cinnamon Rolls

A quick fix if you need a quick GF cinnamon roll fix.

I made these as a smaller batch than their gluten cousins because they really are best eaten when very freshly baked and still warm. Now obviously I could have eaten 8 within a couple of hours but even I have my limits. The structure for this dough comes from egg rather than gluten, I did test a couple of versions without and with extra xanthan gum but there wasn’t enough substance for them survive the oven intact. A better alternative, if you’re looking for plant based cinnamon rolls would be a yeasted dough and you could do no better than check out The Loopy Whisk’s GF cinnamon rolls recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Makes 4

The dough:

175g gluten free self raising flour

2 pinches salt

1 large egg + full fat yogurt - to make up to 120g (probably 60 to 65g)

20g sunflower oil - or any flavourless oil

The filling:

40g granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

50g salted butter

The topping:

25g icing sugar

100g full fat soft cheese / cream cheese

1  tsp vanilla

HOW TO:

• Set the oven to 175ºc, the dough will need to bake as soon as it’s shaped into rolls.

• Make the filling: add the sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl and mix then add the softened butter and work it in to make a spreadable paste.

• Make the dough: weigh a large egg into a bowl and add enough full fat yogurt to make up 120g. You’ll probably need about 60 to 65g of yogurt. Then add the oil and mix well together.

• Weigh the flour into a separate bowl and add a pinch of salt

• Pour the wet onto the dry, mix together with a table knife or spatula until you get ragged clumps of dough. Use your hands to pull the clumps together to form a ball of dough.

• Lay a large sheet of baking paper on your work surface and flour it well. Pat the dough into a vague oblong on the paper and then roll it out to 18cm wide by 35cm long.

• Spread the butter / sugar filling over the dough, go up to the edges.

• Roll the dough up tightly along the short edge, use the baking paper to lift and roll the dough as it is quite fragile. When you have formed a 18cm long roll lightly mark with a knife the 4 rolls. Use a thread or plain dental floss to cut into 4.

• Place the buns into a lined 6 inch square tin. Make sure the outer ‘tails’ of each bun face inwards so when they expand they’ll be anchored by their neighbour rather than unravelling in the heat.

• Lightly squash each bun to flatten them slightly and fill the tray. Tuck the baking paper carefully around the rolls, so they don’t expand too far in the oven and fall apart.

• Bake straight away in the middle of the oven for 17 to 18 minutes. Over baking these rolls will quickly turn them into biscuits so err on the side of under baking them if your oven tends to bake things quickly.

• While they are baking make the topping, weigh the icing sugar into a bowl, add a spoonful of cream cheese and mix together to a smooth paste. Fold in the remaining cream cheese, being careful not to overwork it and turn it runny. When smooth mix in the vanilla.

• As soon as the buns are out of the oven top them with the cream cheese mix but leave them in the tin for 10 minutes before lifting them out - they are fragile when hot.

• These are best eaten warm or within a couple of hours. But that shouldn’t be a hardship.

Tat x