Cinnamon Roll Muffins

I made these because Hubs got cinnamon rolls this morning and I didn't want to feel left out, but I didn't feel like going through the process of making actual cinnamon rolls. Or Waffles.

All it takes is a small variation of a basic muffin recipe to get that same taste.

Cinnamon Roll Muffins

1 c. GF flour mix
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. milk
2 T. light olive oil (or melted butter)
1/2 t. vanilla

Topping:
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cinnamon.
In another bowl, mix the eggs, milk, and oil.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Pour the batter into muffin pans- with muffin liners or without; if not make sure you grease.
Sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar topping.

Bake 20-25 minutes.
Let them cool.
If you're feeling the sugary need, top with cream cheese frosting. (I used store-bought this time but there's a recipe on the Waffles link.)

Makes 6 muffins. Or cupcakes?

Gluten free cinnamon roll waffles

Thanks to pinterest, lately I've been seeing recipes for cinnamon roll waffles. Basically you take a pre-made cinnamon roll and cook it on a waffle iron. Everyday genius, but not so fun for us gluten free folk who can't just pop open a tube of cinnamon rolls.

As with most things of this nature, we have to make a little more effort.

Thankfully, not much more.

This recipe is no more involved than making a regular batch of waffles. You get cinnamon roll taste without the labor of cinnamon rolls, and you don't have to worry about heating the whole house up with the oven. It's pretty much a win-win situation.

Cinnamon Roll Waffles: Makes 6

2/3 c. brown rice flour
2/3 c. sorghum flour
2/3 c. potato starch
1/8 t. xanthan gum
1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla
2 T. oil
2 eggs, beaten

1 3/4 c. milk, warmed
1 pkg fast-rising yeast

Cinnamon/ sugar mixture:
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 t. cinnamon

Add 1 t. of sugar to the warmed milk and add the yeast. Let it get bubbly while you mix your dry ingredients with a whisk. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, and mix the dry ingredients into the wet. It should be pourable, but not too runny or thick.

Give the waffle iron a good coating with cooking spray in-between each batch. Pour ~1/4 c. of batter into a preheated waffle iron. Spoon some of the sugar mixture on top, and top with more batter. You're basically sandwiching the cinnamon/sugar into the middle of the waffle. Cook for a few minutes- I check to see if they're done when the steaming has calmed down.

Eat them with no embellishments, top them with a dusting of powdered sugar, drizzle them with syrup- or if you're really feeling the sugar rush- cinnamon roll glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 T. milk
1/8 t. salt

Or a cream cheese frosting:

4 oz room temp cream cheese
1 c powdered sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla

Now that we've gotten way too involved with the toppings, I should note that they are fantastic with just a little bit of butter spread on top.

Cinnamon rolls- step by step

Cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately, we can't just pop open a can of refrigerated biscuit or croissant rolls, spread some sugar on it, and call it a day.
Some days cinnamon rolls are worth the extra effort, some days they're not. Today, they are.

I've made cinnamon rolls many times, and have eventually streamlined the process.

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

2/3 c. milk
1 t. sugar
1 pkg fast-rising yeast

1 egg
1/4 c. oil (I use light olive oil. Vegetable or canola oil should be fine)
1 t. vanilla

1 3/4 c. gluten free flour**
1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. xanthan gum
1/2 t. salt

Filling:
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 T. cinnamon

Mix the sugar into the milk. Warm it to 100-110 degrees. I use a thermometer because I have not yet mastered the art of being able to tell otherwise. You can get candy thermometers for a couple of bucks.
Mix in the yeast and set it in a warm place to proof. Meanwhile, grab two bowls: 1 small, 1 big.

Large bowl: Beat the egg. Add the oil and vanilla and mix well.

Small bowl: Mix the flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt.

Prepare your counter space by taping a piece of waxed paper to the counter at each corner. Sprinkle 1/2 c. gf flour onto the surface. You want it covered pretty well.

After about 10 minutes, check the yeast. It should have bubbled up and will smell yeasty. It will look like this:

You can see the original level of milk, and the bubbling from the yeast. If it hasn't bubbled, try it again.

Pour the yeasty mixture into the large bowl with the egg, oil, and vanilla. Mix well to get any lumps from the yeast out. A couple small ones are ok. Add in the flour mixture from the small bowl and combine well to form the dough. The dough will be very soft. It's okay. Don't panic.

Dump the dough onto the floured surface. Spread the dough into a rectangular shape using the back of a wet spoon. Warm water works best. Work slowly. If it sticks, dip the spoon back into the water and keep going.

Take your cinnamon/ brown sugar filling and spread it over the rectangle. Don't worry too much if your sugar has gotten lumpy in the bag; you will get little pockets of melted brown sugar goodness in the cinnamon rolls and, really, that's not a bad thing.

To roll the dough, remove the tape from the corners of the waxed paper. Start lifting one end of the paper, coaxing the dough into a tight roll as you go. I prefer to use this, but a large knife would work too.

If you've floured liberally, the dough should not stick to the paper, and gravity does most of the work.You will end up with a nicely rolled piece of dough.

Slice the dough: start in the middle and cut it in half, then cut each half in half again, etc. This will ensure even-sized rolls.

Place each sliced roll into a greased pan, placing the ends cut-side-down. This is an 8x8 pan, I think. A round pan works well, too.

Cover the pan loosely with a towel and place it in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise. I stick it on top of the preheating oven.

After 30 minutes, remove the towel. They will have risen and gotten fatter and higher.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops start to get golden brown.

For a simple glaze, mix:
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 T. milk
1/8 t. salt

(It makes these rolls very sweet)

Makes 8 cinnamon rolls.

**If you don't already have a flour mix on hand, mix 3/4 c. each brown rice flour, sorghum flour and potato starch. Use 1 3/4 c. in the dough, and use the remainder to flour your surface.

Cinnamon Rolls = love

photo courtesy of my sister Suzy
the small picture doesn't do it justice-
click on it to see the larger view
and soak in the cinnamon sugary goodness

Something made me want cinnamon rolls. And I am SO glad I made these. They're fantastic. Way better than any other recipe I've tried. I never thought of using brown sugar in the filling, and it makes them so gooey and yummy. I used a smallish pan so they aren't as spread out as they normally would be, but I've already had two...

It's Roben Ryberg's recipe from The Gluten Free Kitchen, except I used 1/3 c. millet flour and 2/3 c. corn starch instead of 1 c. corn starch. I've made several things using that book, and I recommend it. My only issue is that the recipes use mainly starches, but you can experiment and substitute with more healthy flours. The recipes themselves are pretty solid.

You can find this recipe in the book or over at I am Gluten Free.

The rest of the pan is calling me... must resist!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

My sweet tooth was going berserk this morning so I modified a biscuit/ morning roll recipe.

Ingredients:
1/3 c. butter
1/2 c. potato starch
1/2 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. sweet rice flour
1 3/4 t. xanthan gum
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1 T sugar
1t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. milk

2 t. melted butter
cinnamon/sugar mixture (I used a container of it already mixed but I think it's about 1/2 c. sugar + 1 T. cinnamon or something like that.)

Cut butter into flours using fork or pastry blender. Add all but milk and cut in some more. Add milk and stir together.

Spread or roll out on floured (tapioca starch) surface in a rectuangular shape and spread the butter over the top. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture liberally over the dough.

Roll up the dough and cut the dough into about 1" disks. Place, cut side down, in a greased pan and bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes, or until the tops begin to brown. Let cool for a few minutes and ice or eat plain.