Food-Filled Fridays: Gluten-Free Cinnamon Buns

Why…hello… 🙂

It’s Friday again (one of my favorite days of the week for multiple reasons), and that means I am at complete liberty to discuss food as much as I want in this blog. Sigh…. I love it. 🙂

I guess you could say I’m doing Lent. Weird, huh? No, I’m not Catholic. I’m a definitely Protestant. However, I decided this year that I wanted to do Lent simply to go without for an extended period of time. Lent works out to be a good length, as well as a good measuring tape.  Sure, a lot of people are doing without this time of year. One of my kids in youth group is going without Facebook and soda. Go, Hope!  Some people go without meat.  I could probably do that, but I’m anemic (and use that as an excuse to eat as much meat as I want… I need the iron.)

This year, I gave us sweets.  Try that while working at a coffee/donut shop.  Yes, that is one of the reasons I gave up sweets. I’m not a big sweets eater, for sure; however, I’m a great user of opportunities (such as donuts that need to get thrown out) and bad at having self-control.  Those two things combined equals way too much sugar for me and a few extra pounds if I weren’t careful.

So, I’m sweets-less for these next few days…. I’m not counting to know how long it’s been. I’m just focusing on staying true to my goal, on having self-control in my other eating habits, and growing in the area of long-term healthy eating.

On that note, I have apple crisp cooking in the oven as I write, so the smell of sweet cinnamon is permeating the air. No, it’s not for me, but I have a Lentless, hardworking husband who deserves some sweets.  So, as I have cinnamon in my nose, let me tell you about another sweet dish that is a joy for my gluten-free eater: cinnamon buns.

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls
From the kitchen of Bethany Bull
Makes 9 rolls

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp shortening
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk, room temp
1 packet yeast (about 1 Tbsp)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup potato starch
1 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

For tabletop:
1-2 Tbsp sugar

For filling:
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon

For glaze (optional):
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
Few drops vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 375.  In medium bowl, combine shortening and sugar.  Mix well.  Measure milk and add yeast to milk.  Mix well to fully dissolve.  Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture.  Add remaining ingredients.  Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps.  Dough will be quite soft.

Sprinkle sugar on tabletop.  Place dough on top of sugared area.  Pat and/or roll dough out to 13 1/2×13 1/2 inch square.  Because this dough is very moist, you may wish to keep your hands damp with water or use a wet rolling pin to smooth out the dough.

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon.  Spread evenly across dough’s surface.  Roll up dough to form a long cylinder.  The edge of a ruler or spatula is helpful to roll the dough as it may stick a bit.  The dough will again seem too wet for this use, but the moist dough ensures a moist roll.  Cut into 9 slices of similar size (about 1 1/2 inches wide).  Can also use a unwaxed, plain dental floss to string around roll and cut through.

Place rolls into a greased 9×9 pan.  Bake approximately 20 minutes, until tops are lightly browned.  Combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla flavoring to make glaze.  Stir until all lumps are dissolved.  Drizzle over warm rolls if desired.

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Enjoy!! Tune in next week for more Food-Filled Fridays!