Soft, fluffy but Healthy Protein Cinnamon Rolls topped with protein powder Cream Cheese Icing! These protein powder cinnamon rolls are made with whole wheat flour, sugar free filling and icing and only a little butter – the perfect easy, skinny, low calorie cinnamon buns to satisfy your cravings!
Jump to RecipeI am (for real) writing this just after taking a bite into one of these babies – and that too they just came out of the oven 15 minutes ago!
Such soft and fluffy goodness!
It took me a second attempt to get this right because while whole wheat recipes are hard to begin with, adding protein powder makes it just harder! You need to have enough moisture and fat in the dough, as well as a different oven temperature.
Get it right though and it’s just magical!
Ingredients for Healthy Protein Cinnamon Rolls
This recipe is made made with all healthy ingredients, has no sugar, and is very low fat – almost fat free cinnamon rolls I’d say.
- Warm Almond Milk or any regular milk, but you want it warm like bath water
- Quick Rise or Rapid Rise or Active Yeast this is the blue packet from Fleischmann’s here in the US. NOT the active dry.
- Sugar! More details below on how this recipe is still sugar free.
- An Egg
- A bit of Butter – very much needed; I tried it without and NO. Use light butter to cut down the fat.
- A mix of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and Gluten Free All Purpose Flour – You could use just regular all purpose flour here too
- Unflavored Protein Powder to replace some of the flour – this not only makes them high protein cinnamon rolls, but also a bit low calorie too.
- Vanilla Protein Powder to sweeten the cinnamon roll dough without the sugar; I used Quest Nutrition.
- A bit of salt to season
The Filling for Healthy Cinnamon Rolls with No Sugar
Clean ingredients for the cinnamon roll filling too – sugar free and low fat!
- 1:1 Sugar Free Brown Sugar Replacement: I used Swerve brown so that the cinnamon rolls are sugar free, but you can use coconut sugar or regular brown sugar.
- Cinnamon
- Little Butter again
A sugar free and high protein cream cheese icing:
For the perfect high protein cinnamon rolls, I topped the buns with a cream cheese icing that’s sweetened with protein powder!
Super basic ingredients here too:
- Reduced Fat Cream Cheese, which might also be called Neufchâtel, for a low fat and low calorie recipe
- Vanilla Protein Powder; Quest again here
- Almond Milk or your milk of choice
For Vegan protein cinnamon rolls
I haven’t tried this myself, but to make these protein cinnamon rolls Vegan, use a plant-based protein powder that’s suitable for baking. You also want to replace the egg with 3 tablespoons of extra non-dairy milk.
As for the frosting, use a dairy free cream cheese.
How to make Healthy Cinnamon Rolls
I thought it would be hard, but trust me, this recipe makes really easy cinnamon rolls, since most of the time just goes into letting the yeast dough rise.
Make the Low Calorie Cinnamon Rolls Dough
- Stir the warm milk, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and let it rest for about 10 minutes. The mixture should be all frothy.
- Whisk the egg and light butter in another bowl, then add it to the milk-yeast mix.
- Now add in the dry ingredients – whole wheat pastry and gluten free flours, unflavored and vanilla protein powder, and salt, and mix with a big spoon until it forms a rough ball.
- Sprinkle some flour on a work surface, transfer the flour and use your hands to knead it into a smooth dough. Just for about 2-3 minutes.
Don’t over-mix or the rolls will just be too tough.
Let the Cinnamon Buns Rise!
- Grease a large – very large – bowl with cooking spray or just oil, and place the dough ball in.
- Cover it tightly with plastic wrap and a warm towel.
Now just let it sit for about 1½ hour. It should double in size.
Roll, fill and roll!
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a large rectangle about ⅓” thick and 9” x 13” size.
Roll it such that the shorter end is facing you.
Make sure the surface and rolling pin are floured or the dough will stick on. - Spread the softened (not melted) butter on the dough.
- Mix the cinnamon and sugar free brown sugar and sprinkle it over the dough. Leave about ¼” from the long ends.
Now rub the mixture into the dough so it gets in! - Roll up the dough (tightly) from one short end (your side) to the other.
Squish it in from both the open ends so they flatten a bit. - Cut the log using a sharp knife into rolls, each about 1” wide.
And let them rise again!
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper – an 8×8” brownie pan would be perfect!
- Place the rolls in the pan or sheet, cover with plastic wrap and warm towel again, and let rise for another 30-45 minutes.
Now it’s time to (finally) bake!
- Bake at 325°F for 25 minutes till the edges are golden – lower temperature prevents rolls from burning because of protein powder.
- Cool for about 10 minutes before spreading the icing, or it will just melt away.
For the Cream Cheese Icing
The protein powder cream cheese icing is probably the easiest part of this cinnamon rolls recipe.
All you need to do here is whisk together the ingredients – cream cheese, protein powder and almond milk – in a bowl!
How are Cinnamon Rolls Sugar Free if Yeast needs Sugar
The yeast feeds on the sugar to emit carbon dioxide – this is why the yeast-milk mixture turns frothy; So even though the recipe calls for adding real sugar, it does not impact the carb count, giving you cinnamon rolls without sugar!
Why are my cinnamon rolls tough?
Over-mixing the dough or using a high oven temperature will make your cinnamon rolls tough; This can be either because of the whole wheat flour or the protein powder.
If you work the dough for too long, too much gluten will develop from the whole wheat flour, making a dense and tough roll. The protein powder tends to be extremely absorbent, eating up a lot of the moisture, and again makes tough cinnamon rolls.
Since you’re baking with protein powder, you need to use a lower oven temperature of 325°F not 350°F since the higher temperature will make the protein powder burn the dough give you tough rolls again.
Why are my cinnamon rolls not fluffy?
The key to having healthy and skinny but still fluffy cinnamon rolls is adding melted butter to the dough. This is needed to create the light airy texture when the rolls bake.
I tried the rolls without the butter for the first attempt and they were too hard.
Tips for the best Protein Powder Cinnamon Rolls
Since you’re using protein powder in this skinny cinnamon rolls recipe to replace some of the flour and also sugar, you need to be a little extra careful about the moisture in the dough as well as the mixing process.
For the perfect fluffy whole wheat cinnamon roll dough
- Use the sugar to feed the yeast! Even though
- Make sure the almond milk is warm – the right warm temperature is needed to feed the yeast, but if it’s too hot, the yeast will die. You want just-warm milk; As if it’s bath water.
- Don’t over-mix the dough because the protein powder or gluten from the whole wheat flour can make the rolls very tough.
- Keep the melted butter for the dough mixture to make sure they’re fluffy.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap AND warm towel so the dough can actually rise, and no cold air gets in.
And for the perfectly shaped and flavored sugar free cinnamon buns
- Roll a perfect rectangle if you can so even the end bits are uniform and there’s no wasted dough
- Roll the dough tightly so they don’t open when baking
- Squish the ends of the log together to flatten them if you need
- Cut rolls of even width so they bake evenly too. I use a measuring tape.
And lastly the Perfect Protein Cream Cheese Icing for perfect protein cinnamon rolls!
- Use softened cream cheese so it blends well with the other ingredients
- Whisk together the ingredients – not stir – so you have a smooth frosting
How to Store Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
These homemade protein cinnamon buns are perfect for a make ahead breakfast, snack or dessert for the week; and are freezer friendly too!
You can also refrigerate them for about a week – airtight container again, or in a sealed zipper bag.
When you’re ready to dig in, microwave it for about 30 seconds, or reheat it in the oven for 6 ish minutes at 350.
You can also freeze the cinnamon rolls for up to 6 months, but about 2-3 in one set (not individually). Use a freezer-safe airtight container or zipper bag.
Thaw it in the microwave for about 4 minutes or outside at room-temperate and then reheat in the microwave for the same 30 seconds or oven for 6 minutes.
More Skinny Cinnamon Roll Breakfast or Dessert Recipes?
- Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal for One
- No-Guilt Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oats!
- Cinnamon Roll Skillet Banana Bread
- Sweet Cinnamon Churro Waffle Sticks with Chocolate Sauce
- Cinnamon Sweet Potato-Quinoa Pancakes with Vanilla Yogurt Sauce
Healthy Protein Cinnamon Rolls – Scary Good!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Warm Almond Milk, or other, 180ml
- 2¼ teaspoons Quick/Rapid Rise or Active Yeast, a 7g or ¼ ounce package
- 1 Tbsp Sugar, or other normal sweetener, see post for how it’s sugar-free
- 1 Egg
- 2 Tbsp Melted Butter, Light butter recommended
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 120g
- 1 cup Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour, 120-160g depending on flour, or regular AP
- ⅔ cup Unflavored Protein Powder, 60g, about 2 scoops
- ⅓ cup Vanilla Protein Powder, 30g, 1 scoop
- ½ tsp Salt
Filling:
- 1½ Tbsp Softened Butter, Light butter recommended
- ¼ cup 1:1 Brown Sugar Substitute, or regular Brown/Coconut Sugar
- 1½ Tbsp Cinnamon
Glaze:
- 2 oz Reduced Fat Cream Cheese
- 2 Tbsp Almond Milk, or other
- 2 Tbsp Vanilla Protein Powder, 11g
Instructions
- In a large bowl, warm the milk in the microwave for about 40-45 seconds to about 110°F – it should be like warm bath water, not hot to touch. Warm milk is needed for the yeast to rise.
- Stir in yeast and sugar, until dissolved and let rest for 10 minutes until frothy.
- In a small bowl whisk egg and melted butter.
- Add egg-butter mixture, whole wheat pasty flour, gluten free flour, unflavored protein powder, vanilla protein power and salt to milk-yeast mixture and mix with a large spoon to form a shaggy dough.
- Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and use hands to knead into a ball of dough, about 3-4 minutes. Use slightly wet hands to prevent sticking.
- Grease a large bowl and place ball of dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel and let rest 1-1½ hours until doubled in size.
- Transfer to a lightly floured surface, use fingers to spread, and then roll (flour the rolling pin) into a large rectangle about 9”x 13” size and ⅓” thick.
- Spread softened butter over dough. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle mixture evenly over butter.
- Use fingers to rub mixture into dough.
- Gently but tightly roll up dough from the short 9” end until it meets the other end.
- Cut log into 9 pieces (about 1” thick each) using a sharp knife.
- Line an 8”x8” baking pan with parchment paper and place each roll (cut side up) in pan.
- Cover pan with plastic wrap and warm towel, and let rolls rise another 30-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Bake for 25 minutes until edges puff up and are lightly browned.
- Let cool for about 10 minutes.
- For frosting: In a small bowl whisk together softened cream cheese, almond milk and protein powder until smooth. Or use a hand mixer.
- Spread over cinnamon rolls and serve!
Notes
- Room temperature: 1 day in an airtight container.
- Fridge: 1 week in an airtight container or zipper bag.
- Freezer: 6 months, wrapped in plastic wrap or in freezer bags as a set of 2 (not individually).
- Quest Nutrition Multi-purpose Mix Protein Powder
- Quest Nutrition Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder
- Swerve Brown Sugar Replacement
- Servings: 9 rolls | Serving size: 1
- Calories: 191kcal
- Fat: 4.6g | Saturated fat: 1.8g
- Carbohydrates: 28.1g | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.3g
- Protein: 12.2g