What if I told you that you can enjoy all the flavors you love from a cinnamon roll in a tasty cookie?
Now, what if I told you that cookie is also low-calorie, low-carb, gluten-free, and high-protein?
If you’re in disbelief, I don’t blame ya. But I’d like to introduce you to your new favorite breakfast cookie…
No matter what your dietary preferences are, these cinnamon roll cookies deliver!
Plus, how fun do they look? If you want a cookie recipe to impress your guests with, this is definitely it.
The cookies are a cross between a soft sugar cookie and a delicate shortbread cookie. I didn’t want the cookie itself to be overly sweet, since we’re rolling it up with cinnamon sugar in the middle, and I believe I’ve found the perfect balance.
This recipe makes 15 cookies, and each one has just 75 calories, 4 grams of net carbs, and 4 grams of protein.
You can enjoy three of these cinnamon roll cookies for just over 200 calories and 12 grams of protein… not bad!
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Cookies
The main ingredients for this cinnamon roll cookie dough are oat flour, almond flour, and protein powder.
I prefer to use oat flour in most of my cookie recipes because I love the flavor, and it just so happens to work well for anyone trying to eat gluten-free. Oat flour also helps to give these cookies structure, which is extremely important for this one.
Since we’re going to be rolling the dough, we don’t want the cookie dough to be too soft. If we were to use only almond flour, the dough would be very soft and difficult to work with.
If you have specific substitution questions, feel free to leave me a comment below and I’ll do my best to help.
In any case, making the dough is as simple as mixing everything together in a large bowl. Once you have your cookie dough, you’ll add it to a sheet of parchment paper and press it down into a rectangle.
We’re going to melt one tablespoon of butter in the microwave to brush over the top of the dough, then sprinkle cinnamon & brown sugar over the top.
This should look very similar to the process for making my Protein Cinnamon Rolls.
Now, just like with regular cinnamon rolls, we’re going to roll the dough up so the two smaller sides come together.
Slowly and carefully roll the dough and repair any cracks along the way. It’s okay if the dough is not perfectly smooth (don’t expect it to be) but you’ll want to repair any major breaks.
Don’t worry, since the cookie dough is soft, it’ll be easy to pinch it back together.
Once the cookie dough is completely rolled up, refrigerate the dough for one hour.
This chilling time is necessary to allow the cookie dough to firm up so we can slice it into cookies. It will also help the cookies to keep their shape as they bake since chilled dough does not spread quite as much.
Once the cookie dough has chilled, slice it up into 15 cookies.
If any of the cookies fall apart on you, don’t worry! You can easily pinch them back together on your baking sheet and nobody would ever know the difference.
As you can see, they’re not all perfect, but they’re good enough!
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes.
Remove the cinnamon roll cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes to fully firm up.
I love these cinnamon roll cookies as is, but if you want to take them over the top, you can add some icing over the top as well!
You can use pre-made frosting or icing for these, but I like to make a very quick & easy icing by mixing together some powdered sugar and milk to drizzle over the top.
I don’t measure the amounts I use, I simply mix them together until I have the perfect consistency to spoon over the top.
The extra icing helps to create that authentic cinnamon roll look, but you certainly do not need it! Without the icing, these cookies still have that cinnamon roll flavor we’re after.
These cinnamon roll cookies will remain nice and soft, even as leftovers! Keep your leftover cookies stored in an airtight container and enjoy them throughout the week.
That is if you can resist finishing them all fresh out of the oven.
More Cinnamon Sugar Recipes to Explore
If you try these cinnamon roll cookies and find yourself craving even more cinnamon sugar, I’ve got a ton of amazing healthy recipes for you to explore.
These aren’t all of them, but here are some of my favorites:
Ingredients
Ingredients for Cookies
Ingredients for Filling
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients for your sugar cookies.
- Add the butter and vanilla extract, then mix everything together until cookie dough forms.
- Add the cookie dough to a sheet of parchment paper, then flatten the cookie dough into a rectangle. You can use a rolling pin, but I like to press it down with my hands.
- Melt one tablespoon of butter in the microwave, then brush the top of the cookie dough sheet with the melted butter.
- Combine the brown sugar substitute and cinnamon in a small bowl, then sprinkle that over the butter to cover the entire cookie dough sheet.
- Carefully roll the cookie dough toward you starting from the long side of the rectangle directly across from you (in other words, we want the two shorter sides of the rectangle to roll towards each other). Note: It’s perfectly okay for the cookie dough to crack while rolling it up. You can use your hands to easily repair any major breaks, but small cracks in the dough are totally fine.
- Place the rolled cookie dough in the fridge for one hour to allow it to firm up.
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Slice your cookie dough log into 15 cookies and place them on a baking sheet. If the cookies break while cutting, you can press them back together before baking.
- Bake your cinnamon roll cookies at 350 degrees F for about 5 minutes.
- Remove the cookies and allow them to fully cool. Enjoy as is, or make a simple icing by combining powdered sugar and milk to drizzle over the top.
Notes
- These cookies keep very well as leftovers in an airtight container to enjoy throughout the week.
- I have not tested this cookie recipe with any other type of protein powder, so I cannot guarantee results with a different type.
- You can use regular butter in place of light butter- if anything, it may even work better, but obviously, it will kick the calorie & fat content way up. If you do use regular butter, you may not need to use quite as much.
- Since the ingredients in these cookies are all safe to eat raw, feel free to taste the dough and adjust the sweetness if needed. These cookies are purposely not overly sweet since we are adding filling, but you can adjust for your tastes.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 15
Serving Size 1 Cookie
Amount Per Serving
Calories 75Total Fat 4gCarbohydrates 6gFiber 1gSugar 0gProtein 4g
