AIP Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls

This post contains affiliate links.

These AIP gingerbread cinnamon rolls are made with sweet potato dough and are totally grain-free! They’re soft, pillowy, and have the perfect flavor.

There’s nothing quite like a cinnamon roll, especially on Christmas morning! Making them grain free can be a serious challenge, but this version is virtually perfect… in my opinion 😉 It’s soft, sweet, and tastes just like the real deal with some added holiday flair, while also being…

• Gluten and Grain-Free
• Dairy-Free
• AIP and Paleo

What makes these gingerbread cinnamon rolls?

The filling! The filling is gingerbread flavored which is honestly perfect for cinnamon rolls. The molasses makes the filling absolutely perfect and the added spices gives it a little kick. It’s so gooey and sweet and just…. perfect. I can’t believe I’ve never thought to make gingerbread-flavored cinnamon rolls until now.

The Ingredients

• Japanese Sweet Potato. I took this idea to use Japanese sweet potato in the dough from Grazed & Enthused as I’ve been making her stromboli recipe for years. Guys, it just works! It gives the dough so much structure without adding an overpowering flavor. You really don’t taste it, you just taste a cinnamon roll! You can try other varieties of sweet potatoes, but the starchiness of the Japanese sweet potato tends to work best. Other varieties of sweet potatoes may make the dough too wet.
• Tigernut Flour, Coconut Flour, and Arrowroot Starch. This is the flour blend that I found works best for this recipe. I haven’t tried subbing any of them out as it would take a lot of tweaking. The only one you can swap 1:1 easily is arrowroot for tapioca starch.
• Baking Powder.
• Palm Shortening. This makes the cinnamon rolls cakey! You can try to use coconut oil, but I haven’t tested it.
• Coconut Sugar, Blackstrap Molasses, Cinnamon, and Ginger. 

How to make Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls

• Combine the wet ingredients and the dry to form a dough. 

• Roll out the dough onto a piece of parchment paper. 
• Combine the gingerbread filling. The molasses may clump the sugar a bit, but that’s okay! Pour the sugar onto dough and evenly spread with your hands.

• Roll up the cinnamon rolls and cut. Use the parchment paper to assist you in carefully rolling up the dough into a cylinder. Roll slowly, and use your fingers to patch any holes along the way. The cylinder should be about a 2.5″x9″ log. Use unflavored floss to cut the log into cinnamon rolls. You should have about 8.
• Bake until golden brown and ice with coconut butter! 

Tips & Tricks

• Stick with the Japanese sweet potato. I haven’t tested this with other sweet potato varieties, and those may make a dough that’s too wet.
• Use Anthony’s Coconut Flour if possible. Other coconut flours can be more or less absorbent, but I’ve tested this particular recipe with Anthony’s!
• Make sure you use unflavored floss to cut the cinnamon rolls. Definitely don’t want to use mint-flavored floss to cut these!

How to prep these ahead of time

This recipe isn’t quite like other cinnamon rolls where you can leave them raw in the fridge overnight and bake them in the morning. These will dry out if you do that, so here are my recommendations for prepping ahead so you don’t have to do it from scratch in the morning!

• Prep the mashed sweet potato ahead of time. That’s actually the most time-consuming part of this recipe. As long as the sweet potato is cooked, the dough and filling come together quite quickly for you to have fresh cinnamon rolls in the morning!
• Cook them the night before and serve them the next day. They also stay fresh in the fridge overnight! I just wouldn’t bake them several days ahead of time.

You’ll also love…

• Classic AIP Cinnamon Rolls
• Paleo Sweet Potato Gingerbread 
• AIP Gingerbread Cookies

AIP Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Michelle
• Yield: 8 cinnamon rolls 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

For the cinnamon rolls

• 1/4 cup palm shortening
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 & 1/2 cup mashed Japanese sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup arrowroot starch
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup tigernut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• 1 tsp cinnamon

For the filling & topping

• 5 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp coconut butter, melted

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F and line a large baking sheet with lightly greased parchment paper.
2. Using a large bowl, cream the palm shortening and maple syrup together. Add the sweet potato and stir to combine.
3. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and pour into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Stir to combine until a dough forms.
4. Set out a large piece of parchment paper and lightly flour it with arrowroot starch. Add the dough to the sheet and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a large rectangle with the dough about 1/4″ thick.
5. Combine the coconut sugar, molasses, ginger, and cinnamon in bowl and stir to combine. The molasses may clump the sugar a bit, but that’s okay! Pour the sugar onto dough and evenly spread with your hands.
6. Use the parchment paper to assist you in carefully rolling up the dough into a cylinder. Roll slowly, and use your fingers to patch any holes along the way. The cylinder should be about a 2.5″x9″ log.
7. Use unflavored floss to cut the log into cinnamon rolls. You should have about 8.
8. Add the cinnamon rolls to the baking sheet and evenly space. Lightly brush or spray with coconut oil and transfer to the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Top with melted coconut butter as icing if desired.

---

Notes

All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Estimations do not include optional ingredients.

---

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cinnamon roll
• Calories: 249
• Fat: 10.4g
• Carbohydrates: 38.7g
• Fiber: 4.5g
• Protein: 2.6g