Gluten Free & AIP Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls
These gluten-free gingerbread cinnamon rolls are made with sweet potato dough and are totally grain-free and AIP! 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 😉 I also have a recipe for classic AIP cinnamon rolls, but as someone who loves AIP gingerbread cookies, I knew I had to marry both flavors together.
These gingerbread cinnamon rolls are soft, sweet, and taste just like the real deal, with some added holiday flair. They’re also gluten-free, egg-free, grain-free, and AIP.
Table of contents
Why you’ll love these gingerbread cinnamon rolls
- Gingerbread vibes. 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.
- No rise is needed. These come together quickly without needing yeast.
Recipe Ingredients
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
- 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
Here are the simple steps, with photos, to make this recipe. Find full instructions in the recipe card.
Step one. Combine the wet ingredients and the dry to form a dough.
Step two. Roll out the dough onto a piece of parchment paper.
Step three. 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. The cylinder should be about a 2.5″x9″ log.
Step four. Use unflavored floss to cut the log into cinnamon rolls. You should have about 8.
Step five. Bake until firm.
Step six. Top with frosting and enjoy!
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 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 quickly for 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.
Recipe FAQS
Yes! That’s the beauty of this recipe, that it’s yeast free. The dough is made specifically so you don’t need to rise it for it to be pillowy and soft.
Yes, cinnamon is AIP, making these cinnamon rolls totally AIP.
Other gluten-free cinnamon roll and gingerbread recipes…
- Classic AIP Cinnamon Rolls
- Paleo Sweet Potato Gingerbread
- Gluten-free gingerbread french toast
- AIP Gingerbread Cookies
If you tried these Gluten Free Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls or any other recipe on my blog please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
AIP Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the cinnamon rolls
- ¼ cup palm shortening
- â…“ cup maple syrup
- 1 & 1/2 cup mashed Japanese sweet potatoes
- ½ cup arrowroot starch
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ¼ 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
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- 2 tbsp coconut butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F and line a large baking sheet with lightly greased parchment paper.
- Using a large bowl, cream the palm shortening and maple syrup together. Add the sweet potato and stir to combine.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and pour into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Stir to combine until a dough forms.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Top with melted coconut butter as icing if desired.
Can the cinnamon rolls be prepared ahead and frozen? If so, what would be the best way to reheat them? Â I would also like to know if the recipe can successfully be doubled?Â
How are we supposed to cook the sweet potatoes?  Every cooking method yields a different texture and moisture level.  I baked mine to mash them and then followed instructions to a T, but it ended up horribly crumbly and wouldn’t even make a dough, much less roll.  I hate wasting ingredients so I tried to fix it, but the dough never rolled :/
To prep the mashed sweet potato, simply peel the sweet potato, boil it, strain the water and mash!
I successfully subbed cassava flour for tigernut.Â
Made these for Christmas breakfast. Most everyone liked them.
Will leave out molasses next time and just use cinnamon, sugar, butter for classic filling.Â
These look delicious and can’t wait to make them, but cannot find the beef gelatin and wondering if you had any suggestions for substitutions? Maybe ground flax/chia or aquafaba, etc? thanks much!
I haven’t tried it, but you can try ground flax!
As a big fan of the Stromboli recipe from Grazed & Enthused I had to try this recipe too. Since I had no access to palm shortening or white sweet potatoes I made it with orange sweet potatoes and coconut oil and it turned out delicious! Thank you for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed it so much!!
This recipe is pure genius!!  I didn’t add ginger because I just wanted cinnamon rolls not gingerbread. The texture is fantastic. The taste is amazing.Â
So glad you enjoyed it!!