You may be thinking, “What’s a 52 Minute Gluten Free Cinnamon Bun”? I’m so glad you asked! It’s quite possibly the most incredible recipe you’ll have tried all year. Maybe even longer. I mean, when’s the last time you had really amazing gluten free cinnamon rolls, and it only took you 52 minutes to make a whole pan of them?
Allow me to explain. You may have seen my grandma’s Gluten Free Cinnamon Sticky Buns recipe or Mindy’s Famous Cinnamon Rolls recipe or my gluten free pie crust cinnamon rolls recipe. They’re all wonderful in their own right. But the rolls with yeast necessarily take longer because the yeast has to have time to … you know, to rise.
Baking gluten free means that we don’t need to spend hours kneading and waiting and punching down and resting our gluten free cinnamon bun doughs (yay!), but when baking with yeast you still have to give the little yeasties time to wake up and create those lovely air pockets that give yeast doughs that iconic puffiness we all identify as the way cinnamon buns are supposed to be.
But then one day a reader sent a link to me for a wheat flour cinnamon buns recipe without yeast. She wanted to know if she could make these into gluten free cinnamon rolls with no yeast using my gfJules Flour. Of course!
My gfJules Flour is so empowering because you should be able to take any kind of recipe you find and make it gluten free with a simple switcheroo of the main ingredient. Sometimes (as with yeast breads) there are some changes to the method, but the ingredients should be a fairly simple one-to-one changeover when you use my flour. (for more information on converting recipes to gluten free, hop to this article)
But I was intrigued when I saw this recipe and wanted to try it for myself. So I did, and if you know me, you know I can never leave a recipe alone, so I changed it (I think for the better). But the first time I made it, I tried it their way and while it was good, it was slightly too biscuit-y, if you know what I mean.
I wanted more cinnamon-sugar goodness and less dough; more sweet and a little more moist; and icing! Of course the icing!
So my fast and easy gluten free cinnamon bun recipe is my spin on the original wheat flour recipe changed only by using my gfJules Flour instead, and cutting out all the extra directions for gluten that we don’t need.
Oh, and changed by adding a little maple syrup and cream cheese to the dough and extra cinnamon & sugar topping and icing! Of course the icing!
I use my Blendtec* Blender and Twister Jar and set my Blendtec to the Salad Dressing setting to make whipping up this icing extra quick and easy, which is rather perfect for this quick and easy recipe, don’t you agree?
![gluten free cinnamon buns in pan ready to bake](https://gfjules.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/gluten-free-cinnamon-rolls-in-pan.jpg)
![gluten free cinnamon buns in pan ready to bake](https://gfjules.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/gluten-free-cinnamon-rolls-in-pan.jpg)
I also rolled the dough much thinner so I’d have lots of spirals of yummy cinnamon and sugar and less dough in between. I tried different shapes and sizes with the dough too; they actually all turned out pretty in their own way.
The end result is a soft, tender, moist and sweet roll that doesn’t taste at all biscuit-y and you’d never miss the yeast, or the gluten, or the eggs.
I’ve given you brands in the recipe below so if you need to make this recipe dairy-free like I do, you’ll know what ingredients to look for (check my Post on Dairy Free Ingredient Recommendations for more!). Otherwise, feel free to just use butter and regular cream cheese and whatever milk you like, although I never recommend baking with skim.
I also would not recommend trying this recipe with just any gluten free flour blend. My award-winning gfJules Flour is formulated to be light, soft, not gritty, and to add stretch to doughs like these so it’s easy to roll the dough out thin and to roll without cracking or breaking.
Trying this recipe with a brown rice flour-based mix, a bean flour mix, or one without the special ingredients that add s-t-r-e-t-c-h will just wind up being frustrating and I don’t want that for you.
Make it once and make it right!
![gluten free cinnamon roll with no yeast bite](https://gfjules.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/gluten-free-cinnamon-roll-with-no-yeast-bite-731x1024.jpg)
![gluten free cinnamon roll with no yeast bite](https://gfjules.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/gluten-free-cinnamon-roll-with-no-yeast-bite-731x1024.jpg)
I called this deliciousness a 52 Minute Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll recipe because I know you can do this in under 52 minutes. How? Because I timed it and I can do it in 37 (yes, they can be made start-to-finish in THIRTY-SEVEN minutes!). Remember: they’re gluten free cinnamon rolls, NO yeast!
So I gave you 15 minutes of wiggle room so you can appropriately budget your time and know how long you have to wait patiently for your soft, warm, ooey, gooey cinnamon rolls. (not long, right?)
Just mix the dough …
Follow my directions for rolling the dough out and covering it with cinnamon-sugar deliciousness …
Then tuck the ends under each roll and place into an oiled muffin pan.
After that, the hardest part is waiting!
By the way, what’s the difference between a cinnamon bun and a cinnamon roll?
I digress ….
I’m so excited to share this new recipe with you. It will never replace my grandma’s cinnamon sticky buns recipe and I’ll always love a good yeasted gluten free cinnamon roll, but it sure is nice to know you can whip up these scrumptious gluten free cinnamon rolls in 37-52 minutes. 🙂
With or without icing, I’m sure you’re going to love these gluten free cinnamon buns/cinnamon rolls. And be sure to leave a comment if you can beat my 37 minute time!
![gluten free cinnamon buns with without yeast in pan with server](https://gfjules.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/gluten-free-cinnamon-rolls-without-yeast-in-pan-with-server-720x720.jpg)
![gluten free cinnamon buns with without yeast in pan with server](https://gfjules.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/gluten-free-cinnamon-rolls-without-yeast-in-pan-with-server-720x720.jpg)
52 Minute Gluten Free Cinnamon Bun Recipe
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 1/4 cups (304 gr) gfJules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- 1 Tbs. baking powder
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom (or cinnamon)
- 9 Tbs. cold butter or vegan butter (Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
- 2 Tbs. cream cheese or vegan alternative (Tofutti, Kite Hill, Follow Your Heart®; Go Veggie®) OR 2 Tbs. extra butter (in a pinch)
- 3/4 cup milk of choice (I use almond, coconut or soy)
- 1 Tbs. pure maple syrup
Filling:
- 2 Tbs. melted butter or vegan substitute (Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
Icing:
- 8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese style spread (Tofutti, Violife, Follow Your Heart®; Go Veggie®) or dairy cream cheese**
- 5 Tbs. butter or vegan alternative (I use Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)*
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 F (375 F convection).
Butter or oil large muffin cups.
Whisk together dry ingredients for dough. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a bowl and a pastry blender, add cold butter and cream cheese (each cut into small chunks before adding).
Once the mixture looks pebbly, stir while adding milk and maple syrup. Continue mixing just until integrated and the dough is holding together but still somewhat sticky (don't over-mix).
1- Form the dough into a loose ball and roll in gfJules Flour to keep it from sticking to the counter or pastry mat.
2- Pat dough out flat, then roll in all directions until it is quite thin -- 1/8 inch at most.
3- Melt butter for filling, then spread across the top of the dough evenly.
4- Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle across the top.
5- Cut down the middle of the dough with a butter knife or bench scraper. Peel up one edge of the long side of dough and begin rolling up tightly until you have one long log of rolled dough. Repeat with other half of dough.
6- Cut each log in half and then in half again. You should wind up with 10 or so rolls, more if you'd like smaller rolls.
7- Unroll each until the end of the dough can be tucked under the bun so that the cinnamon-sugar mixture won't leak out of the bottoms during baking. Place one bun in each buttered muffin cup.
8- Cover the muffin pan loosely with oiled foil to prevent the tops from becoming hard. This covering can be removed after 10-15 minutes of baking.
9- Place pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a bun comes out clean (not wet). Do not over-bake.
10- Remove to cool before frosting. After 5 minutes of cooling in the pan, run a butter knife around the muffin cups to release any stuck areas and turn the buns out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
To make the icing, hop to the directions here.
Notes
Recipe is easily doubled.
**My preference is Tofutti or Go Veggie brand for best results. Many vegan brands of cream cheese tend to make this frosting too watery, and the frosting will need to be refrigerated or frozen while frosting in order to keep it from being too thin.
* Do not use "Melt" brand vegan butter or the frosting will be watery and will "melt!". My preference is Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (not the spread in a tub!).
Recommended Products
I may earn a small amount from qualifying affiliate purchases; this amount goes to fund this blog and does not cost you anything additional.
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GO Veggie!, Dairy Free Cream Cheese Alternative, Classic Plain, 8 oz
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gfJules All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
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Earth Balance Vegan, Lactose Free, Non-Dairy, Gluten Free, No MSG, Non-GMO Buttery Sticks 16 ounce (Pack of 6)
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Blendtec Twister Jar (37 oz), Professional-Grade Blender Jar, Thick Blends, Spectacula Spatula, Twister and Mini Gripper Lid, BPA-free, Clear
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*I am a Blendtec Ambassador because I love and believe in the quality of their products. I use my blender for everything from daily smoothies to cinnamon roll icing! As always, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more information. Working with select brands I love allows me to keep bringing you free recipes, and I hope that in the process, you’ll learn about some of the safe gluten free products I choose for my family. Thanks so much for your support! (Enter code GFJULES at for 20% off at https://www.blendtec.com)
![52 Minute Gluten Free Cinnamon Buns recipe. Start to finish, this magical recipe produces soft, sweet cinnamon buns without gluten, yeast, dairy or eggs. See? Told you it was magic! gfJules.com](https://gfjules.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/52-Minute-Gluten-Free-Cinnamon-Buns-recipe-gfJules.com_.jpg)
![52 Minute Gluten Free Cinnamon Buns recipe. Start to finish, this magical recipe produces soft, sweet cinnamon buns without gluten, yeast, dairy or eggs. See? Told you it was magic! gfJules.com](https://gfjules.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/52-Minute-Gluten-Free-Cinnamon-Buns-recipe-gfJules.com_.jpg)
Can shortening be used in place of the butter in the dough? We love these and would like to make them for a family member who can’t tolerate vegan butter (or actual butter)
Hi Kate, yes you can use shortening. If the dough is too dry though (if it seems crumbly at all, or it’s not holding together well), add another tablespoon or two of cream cheese.
~jules
Quick question regarding the muffin tin. Is the standard cupcake tin ok or do you recommend the larger size? Thank you.
Hi Noreen, it all depends on the size buns you want, but I used standard size!
~jules
Hi! Planning on making these for Easter. I would like to use an egg in the recipe as no one in my family has issues with eggs. Have you tried using an egg? Wondering what would happen to the consistency?
Thanks,
Melanie
I’m looking forward to making your gluten free cinnamon buns. I the past 2 days I made 2 different batches of cinnamon buns and neither recipe really turned out. I was very careful with my measurements following every step of the recipes. The end results weren’t good causing the buns to be like rocks. Can’t figure where I went wrong. Looking forward to trying your recipe.
Hi Anne, so sorry to hear about those other recipes, but very glad to hear you haven’t given up hope! I have several gluten free cinnamon bun recipes and they’re all very different, so I hope one of mine will become your favorite! <3
A few tips with gluten free cinnamon rolls/buns that might explain what happened with other recipes. Most contain yeast (this particular one of mine does not, but my others do). It's important to shape THEN rise gluten free doughs, rather than the reverse. Also, make sure that you're using my gfJules Flour so that you have the best results — light and airy, not gritty and no funky tastes. Plus the stretch from my dough will make these a joy to make, rather than enduring crumbly doughs! Here’s more information on baking gluten free with yeast in case you want to make another recipe with yeast next time. Let me know how it goes!
~jules
I enjoyed making these and haven’t done any cinnamon rolls in years. My husband doesn’t like sweets normally but seemed to like the taste of these. I used only 1/4 of sugar and chose to bake them in the same pan which resulted in a slightly longer baking time but delicious and all done in less than hour from bowl to bake & eat! 😀 Thanks!! I’ll make these again.
WONDERFUL to hear, Valerie! SO happy that even your hubby enjoyed these! They sure looked pretty and very cool that you used the same pan for less clean-up — brilliant!!!
~jules
Any chance these can be made grain free using a combination of almond flour, arrowroot and coconut flour? They look delicious but my daughter is grain free. Trying to find something to replace our traditional Monkey Bread that we have had on Christmas morning in the past.
Hi Julie, that is a tough one, as those flours are so completely different and behave so totally differently. I’m afraid the outcome would disappoint. Check out this article on gluten free flours and their differences. I think I would steer you towards a recipe that was actually developed with those flours in mind. Best of luck and happy holidays!!
~jules
Jules, your recipes never disappoint. These are in the oven as I sit here typing. I showed them to my celiac husband before they went into the oven and his jaw dropped. They just came out and we split one that was hot. OMG. How does anything dairy free and gluten free have any business being this delicious?! They taste even more delicious with a few pecans on top. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!!!!
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe but don’t see where the video is. Can you help me out?
Hi Christie, no problem! It should be just above the recipe card itself, right below the words, “View this recipe below”. Hope the helps!!
~jules
These turned out so great! I even overworked the dough. I used just powdered sugar, milk & vanilla for the icing. Yum.
This is a silly question but my sister was so impressed with my pictures, she wants to try making with gluten flour. Would it be good enough for her? She doesn’t live near me.
Hi Susan, I’m so happy that these turned out so well for you, Susan! I think that the recipe would work with gluten flour — of course I haven’t tried it myself! Just tell her to make sure the dough is workable (not too wet or too dry) because she’s going right from the mixer to the rolling surface. I’m super curious, so be sure to let me know how it goes!
~jules
OMG, just watched the entire video and can’t wait to make these. I try to follow a low carb diet because that just seems to work for me but you and all your delicious recipes make it really difficult. Looking forward to this splurge!
I’m so glad you took the time to watch the video and now feel EMPOWERED to make these super easy, super yummy cinnamon buns! They are a worthy splurge, indeed!!! ENJOY!
~jules
I want to try your recipe, but I’m on WW, so I’ll substitute the sugar and maple syrup with maple flavored sweetener and monk fruit granules, which are both 0 calories. Do you have any idea how I would figure out the WW points for this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Caren, those sound like good ideas as subs for sure (I LOVE maple!!). I’m sorry that I don’t have any idea how to compute the WW points though; would anyone there be able to help if you shared the recipe with them? They may appreciate having the recipe themselves!!! If you come up with points, please feel free to come back and share them in the comments, as I’m sure others would love to know, as well!
~jules
Can you make this with sorghum flour to reduce the carb count for keto?
I usually buy some gf cinnamon rolls for two of my family members because I spend all the time making regular ones on Christmas Eve, for Christmas morning. Is there a way to make these ahead of time and freeze/refrigerate? Thanks. 🙂
Hi Malinda, these are yeast-free, so they literally take less than 52 minutes to make from start to finished baking. If you still want to make them in advance, you could put them in the pan and cover them well and refrigerate overnight to bake the next day. Happy Christmas Cinnamon Buns!
~jules
Everything worked perfectly but they didn’t rise at all. I did use the gfjules flour too. What could be wrong? 🙁
Hello
I am going to buy your flour but I don’t have it on hand is there something I can use to substitute it? What are the ingredients in your all purpose flour ?
Hi Krista, you can find the ingredient listing on my gfJules Flour Product page, but that won’t really help you to make your own blend, as the various flours I blend to make my formula aren’t available to consumers or on any store shelf. I would recommend you read this article on gluten free flours and see my homemade blend recipe there for the next best thing. I know you’ll love this recipe with my gfJules Flour so I do hope you are able to get it sometime soon – makes the rolling out of the dough so easy and also helps the rolls to stay fresh longer (if there are any left!).
~jules
This recipe is great! I stumbled across it and didn’t have Jules flour, so I used Cup4Cup multi purpose and added about a tbs of extra xanthan gum. It stayed just flexible enough to do the roll but was definitely finicky when it came time to tuck the extra at the bottom of each roll. They are delicious and almost gone!
Hi Kelly, so glad you went for it! I’ll be eager to see what you think if you get a chance to try them again with my gfJules Flour, but good to know they are at least worth the effort with Cup4Cup (though it is a pretty quick and easy recipe!!). Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review! Happy baking!
~jules
Wow, this recipe works GREAT. I am taking a cooking class, and this week we needed to make something that rises. My boyfriend, however, cannot eat gluten, yeast, or eggs, so making tradition cinnamon roles was out of the question. He has tried for years to find a recipe that works for him, but is usually disappointed. I made these today, and they were a HUGE hit. He loves them, and I expect we’ll be making these many more times in the future! Thank you for sharing!
Oh I’m so happy to find this site and your recipes. I cannot wait to try them!
So happy you’re here, Susan! There are 440 free, searchable gluten free recipes here at your disposal, and also of course, the shop where you can find the #1 voted gluten free products!
Happy baking!
~jules