A cinnamon roll is like a warm, buttery, sugary, comforting hug. For your mouth. Honestly, what a flavor combo: brown sugar, butter, cinnamon – just a bowl of that alone can instantaneously turn off all of the stress of another work-from-home-during-a-pandemic morning and transport you to a cozy, blanketed couch next to a roaring fire with a few dozen kittens napping peacefully at your side. The down side is the prep time and baking time for cinnamon rolls – when you’re already late to the 5th zoom call in a row, baking a cozy breakfast is the last thing on your to-do list. So, these gluten free cinnamon roll cupcakes are here for you. They’re fast, they’re easy, and they’re wayyyy too addicting. And you can eat an entire batch while on mute as you listen in to yet another How-To-Do-Business-During-COVID webinar (not that we recommend this because a blurry, cupcake-induced coma is inevitable – but hey, you’re already still wearing your pjs so why not!).
Comfort food, in general, has played a huge roll in preserving sanity and calm in uncertain times like these. Whether it’s cinnamon rolls, shrimp and grits, ramen, hot cocoa, pizza, chocolate chip cookies, corn bread, pho, huevos revueltos with handmade tortillas, or just a big pot of chicken noodle soup, make and eat what keeps you sane because honestly, peace of mind is worth a million bucks (as an ER doctor once told me). What makes comfort food comfort food? Simplicity, nostalgia, ease to make and eat it, so many elements that just melt together into an edible hug.
What’s also great about centering our lives around the local and available ingredients is the plethora of newly-minted bakers across the country. If we had a graph of the number of loaves of sourdough bread baked from Jan 2020 to now, it would be steeper than a cow’s face (which, apparently, is actually a saying, so let’s start using that delightfully bizarre phrase). All the more power to you, sourdough bakers – that’s one gluten free project I’ve yet to try my hand at. If you’re feeling a bit down with everything going on, this might be the best recommendation I have for you: make these cinnamon roll cupcakes and sit back in a cozy outfit and watch or read your favorite thing. It’ll do the trick. Let us know how your baking goes! And if you’re looking for more comforting recipes, try out our pumpkin cinnamon roll Swiss roll, or these nutter butter cookies, or these browned butter and pecan shortbread cookies, or even just these key lime pie tarts!
Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Cupccakes
Equipment
- Cupcake pans
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 2 Cups gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum included (if the mix does not have xanthan gum, add 1 tsp of xanthan gum)
- 1/4 Cup almond flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 Cup white sugar
- 3/4 Cup canola oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 Cup sour cream
- 1/4 Cup milk
For the cinnamon swirl:
- 2/3 Cup salted butter melted
- 2/3 Cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp gluten free 1-1 flour mix (same as above)
For the cream cheese buttercream:
- 2 Cups salted butter at room temp
- 1 8 oz pack cream cheese
- 2 Cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit, and line two cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners. Then, make the cupcakes! In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt, then set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, sour cream, and milk until smooth. Add in the whisked dry ingredients and stir together until combined.
- Then, make the cinnamon swirl. In a cereal bowl or other small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and flour until smooth and fully combined.
- To layer the cupcakes, spoon only two teaspoons of the plain batter into each cupcake cup, then spoon about 2-3 teaspoons of the cinnamon swirl mixture on top of that base. Then, finish filling up the cupcake cups with the plain batter (there will be a layer of the cinnamon swirl inside). Cupcakes should be about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 17-22 minutes or until the top bounces back when touched.
- Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting. While cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting! In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the room temp butter and the cream cheese until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until creamy and smooth. If you want to make dual-colored frosting, spoon out 1/2 of the frosting mixture in a line onto a large piece of plastic wrap, and then roll it into a log. Then, for the remaining frosting, add in the brown sugar and cinnamon and beat until combined. Then spoon out the cinnamon frosting onto another piece of plastic wrap and roll into a log. Snip off the ends of both logs and then put both logs into a piping bag and shake down until the two are parallel next to each other and will pipe out together in a swirl. Pipe on cooled cupcakes and then serve!
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your cupcakes!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
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