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There’s nothing like a delicious, warm cinnamon roll, but the layers of buttery, flakey dough, brown sugar and glaze are far from keto-friendly! This Keto Cinnamon Rolls recipe is super easy to make and allows you to have this treat without guilt. Like my keto garlic bread and keto bagels, this recipe cuts carbs by using a modified fathead dough. I top it with an easy keto cream cheese frosting glaze.
Why make Keto Cinnamon Rolls?
- Cut Carbs: Cinnabon is the king of all things cinnamon rolls. However, few low-carb and keto-eaters enjoy these because each roll has nearly 900 calories, including 127g of carbs! This Keto Cinnamon Roll has 5g net carbs per serving.
- Grain-free & Gluten-free: Besides cutting carbs, this recipe is perfect for cinnamon roll lovers who are cutting grains. I use almond flour, which is naturally gluten-free.
Ingredients Needed
This recipe uses a few common keto pantry staples to make the dough, filling and glaze.
Keto Cinnamon Roll Dough
- Mozzarella Cheese: you’ll need the shredded, low-moisture kind.
- Cream Cheese: I used full-fat cream cheese.
- Almond Flour: I use superfine, blanched almond flour.
- Baking Powder
- Keto Granular Sweetener: this gives the dough a sweet taste
- Egg: I beat these to make them easier to mix in
Keto Brown Sugar Filling
- Keto Brown Sugar: When I first shared this recipe, it included what was the only keto option for brown sugar, a product from Sukrin USA. Since then, there are several other options available. You can use your favorite in this recipe.
- Pecans: I used chopped and unsalted pecans. But, you could also use keto spiced nuts or keto candied pecans
- Butter: I used melted and salted butter
- Maple Extract: this helps to give the dish a maple taste. You can substitute vanilla extract if you don’t have this on hand.
Cream Cheese Frosting Glaze
- Keto Powdered Sugar
- Cream Cheese: I made sure this was softened
- Butter: I melted the butter
- Heavy Cream: this keeps the glaze creamy, but also helps it have a pourable consistency.
- Maple Extract: again, you can use vanilla or another extract if you wish!
How to Make Keto Cinnamon Rolls
Make The Dough
Since this is a fathead dough recipe, then it’ll be important to make fathead dough.
I prefer to mix the fathead cinnamon roll dough by hand with a mixing bowl and a silicone spatula. But, you could also use a stand mixer.
To make dough keto cinnamon rolls, you:
- Melt the cheeses in the microwave
- Mix the dry ingredients for the dough and add the melted cheese
- Add the beaten egg
- Mix until the dough forms and chill it before rolling it out
Make the Filling & Roll
- Add the ingredients for the filling to a bowl
- Mix and stir to combine
- Roll out the dough and spread the filling evenly
- Roll the dough into a log and cut the cinnamon rolls
Top Cooking Tips & FAQs
Fixing Sticky Keto Cinnamon Roll Dough
What happens if my dough is too sticky? Different almond flour brands mix differently.
If you make the dough as listed in the recipe and it sticks to your hands, then you’ll need to add more almond flour. I recommend adding 1 tbsp of almond flour and kneading the dough a little more.
Continue to add almond flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough can easily release from your hand.
Don’t attempt to roll out the dough until it can release from your hand.
As a rule of thumb, if the dough is too sticky to lift up, then it’ll be too sticky to roll out.
How to Get A More Circular Shape
When I first made these, I was not quite concerned about whether they’d be super circular like regular cinnamon rolls.
In fact, after making my roll, I cut my dough and sat the cinnamon rolls next to each other in a pie pan. This meant that some of these were not as circular and had uneven shapes.
If you want this to be picture-perfect, then you can place each cinnamon roll in the cup of a muffin tin. The muffin cups will force the rolls to hold their shape as they cook. I use this silicone muffin pan that is microwave and dishwasher safe.
Recipes to Enjoy this with:
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Keto Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
Use DRDAVINAHS at checkout to save on some equipment & ingredients!
Ingredients
Sweet Fathead Dough
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, low moisture
- 2 oz Cream Cheese
- 1 1/4 cup Almond Flour
- 2 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 cup Granular Sweetener
- 2 Eggs, beaten
- 1 tsp Maple Extract, you could use Vanilla Extract, but you’ll be missing the rich maple flavor
Cinnamon Pecan Filling
- 1/4 cup Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Keto Brown Sugar Replacement
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Pecans, chopped
- 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
Maple Cream Cheese Icing
- 3 oz Cream Cheese, softened
- 3 tbsp Butter, softened
- 1/2 tsp maple extract
- 1/4 cup Powdered Sweetener
- 2 tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk, You can add more if you’d like it to be less thick
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
- Mix the almond flour, baking powder and Sukrin:1 in a small bowl and set aside.
- Add mozzarella and cream cheese to a large microwave safe mixing bowl
- Heat the cheeses in the microwave for 45 seconds
- Use a mixing spatula to incorporate the cheese
- Heat the cheese mixture again for 45 seconds
- Add the almond flour mixture, the beaten egg, and the maple extract
- Mix until well incorporated and a ball of dough forms. When I first tried this recipe, I used the normal amount of almond flour for fathead dough (~3/4 cups), but the dough was too sticky. If yours is sticky just add a tablespoon of almond flour at a time until you can pick up the dough without it sticking to your hands.
- Cover the ball of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 5-10 minutes. This allowed the dough to firm up a bit more and cool down.
- Place the dough in between two baking pan sized pieces of parchment paper. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
- Make the Cinnamon Pecan Filling by combining all of the ingredients. Use a baking spatula to spread it over the rolled out dough.
- Create the roll by starting at one end of the dough and rolling it toward the other end
- Use a knife to cut the cinnamon rolls.
- Place the cinnamon rolls in a pie pan or place each roll in the cup of a jumbo muffin tin.
- Bake the rolls for 15-17 minutes or until the tops of the tops of the rolls are golden
- Create the cream cheese icing by combining all of the ingredients. Top the cinnamon rolls with the icing immediately. Enjoy!
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
Jimese says
I haven’t tried the recipe yet but I plan to soon. Can you substitute the sweetener for swerve sweetener?
Davinah says
Hi! Yes – you can definitely substitute for your favorite sweetener.
Amanda Slade says
Just made these wonderful cinnamon rolls with a friend who just started Keto about a month ago. I am on maintenance now for almost 2 years. She was shocked at how amazing the rolls tasted. I will definitely make these again. To me, they taste even better than carb loaded cinnamon rolls. Very grateful for Sukrin products and your expertise in creating these beautiful rolls. Thank you so much!!!
Davinah says
Wow, Amanda! Thanks so much for taking the time to review this recipe! We love these rolls in my house and can’t believe they’re keto & low carb. Congrats on reaching maintenance and sharing this dessert as an option with your friend!
Thanks,
Davinah
Paula R Stump says
Hi, I tried this recipe the other night and never saw in the instructions when to add the teaspoon of Maple Extract (for the fathead dough)… also i used the exact amount of almond flour you listed (1-1/4 cup), and when I tried to mix it into the mozzarella and cream cheese mixture, everything went flying upward into a blob and globbed around and into the top of the beaters… a complete mess. I probably wasted half the dough trying to get it out of the spines of the beaters… and off my fingers. Also, the stuff was near impossible to roll out (I used two sheets of parchment paper like you said), but it stuck to the paper and i lost even more dough that stuck to the paper when I tried to roll the whole thing up. I must say, however, the finished product was delicious, and my husband asked if I would consider making them again…but I am reluctant to do so, unless you can offer better suggestions (and also answer the question of when to add the maple extract to the dough). Thank you.
Davinah says
Hi Paula,
Thanks so much for sharing that feedback. I’m happy that you enjoyed the finished product. Here are some thoughts about the process:
I adjusted the instructions so that it’s clear to add the maple extract when you add the eggs. I must have overlooked that. Thank you!
Also, I’ve never made this dough using a stand mixer. I always mix fathead dough in a bowl. If you prefer to use a stand mixer, then you can place the almond flour/dry ingredients on the bottom. This way, it doesn’t fly up because it will have the cheeses on top. Another option is to add it to the mixer slowly, use the guard, and set the mixer speed on low.
Lastly, one of the recipe notes mentions how to make adjustments for flour that is too sticky. I’ve found that the dough stickiness really depends on the brand of almond flour that you use. So, adding a tbsp of almond flour to the dough at a time until you can lift it is really the best way to prevent the mess that you mentioned – if it’s too sticky to lift, then it will be too sticky to roll it out. To make this clearer, I’ll add some of these notes into the body of the blog post.
I really appreciate your feedback.
Best,
Davinah
Nicole says
I also had problems with very sticky dough and how to mix it. On my second attempt, I used a glass bowl to microwave the cheeses, then I kind of chop/stirred them with a very sturdy spoon. I just piled all the other ingredients right on top in the same bowl and chop/stirred again, mostly to stick everything together but didn’t wear myself out trying to get it really mixed well. Lastly, I scraped it into my KitchenAid mixer and mixed it thoroughly with the regular mixing paddle, adding about two tablespoons more almond flour. I thought it rolled out great after this on the parchment paper. It was worth washing the extra bowl 😉 They tasted so good the first time I had to try again, glad I did! Thank you for the recipe.
Davinah says
Hi Nicole!
Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this review. I also find that making fathead dough takes more than one try. Happy that the tip to add 1-2 tbsp of almond flour to sticky dough worked out for you. Unlike traditional flour, almond flour results can vary by brand. Hope that you’re continuing to stay safe at home.
Best,
Davinah
Tammy says
Can I make them without baking the day before and bake them in the morning?
drdavinahseats says
Hi Tammy,
I haven’t tried this. The only problem that I see is that the dough includes baking powder. If you leave it in the refrigerator overnight, the benefits of using it to help them rise will probably not work. I’d recommend making the icing, mixing the dry ingredients for the filling, and mixing the dry ingredients for the dough as a way to prep.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! 🙂
MaryJ says
Can the almond flour be replaced with coconut flour?
drdavinahseats says
Hi! I haven’t tried this, but you can substitute coconut flour. However, it isn’t a one-to-one substitute. Typically, you’d only use 1/4 cup of coconut flour for every 1 cup of almond flour in a recipe.
Mary J says
Thank you!