Fluffy and soft gluten free cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling! These cinnamon rolls are packed with cinnamon and apples that they are difficult to resist.

Cinnamon rolls with apple pie fillings being frosted with cream cheese frosting.

I love having cinnamon rolls any time and any day. These cinnamon rolls taste just like apple pie but even better.

This recipe was inspired by my Japanese milk bread recipe and gluten free cinnamon rolls. I decided to use the Japanese milk bread dough as the base for these cinnamon rolls and they turned out great!

What You Need

This cinnamon rolls recipe consists of three major parts: the dough, the filling, and finally, the cream cheese icing. So I warn you, this is an extensive list of ingredients, but it is worth it!

Please note that some ingredients do cross over.

Dough Ingredients

White Rice Flour
Tapioca Flour
Corn Starch
Brown Rice Flour
Xanthan Gum
Baking Powder
Salt
Milk
Buttermilk
Eggs
Granulated White Sugar
Unsalted Butter
Instant Active Yeast

Apple Pie Filling Ingredients

Brown Sugar
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Nutmeg
Apples (Peeled & Diced)

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients

Cream Cheese
Powdered Sugar
Vanilla Extract

The Perfect Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

For fluffy and moist gluten free cinnamon rolls, we will be using an Asian technique called Tangzhong. This is the same technique used in the Japanese Milk Bread recipe. Anyways, let's begin making these cinnamon rolls!

Making The Tangzhong

In a medium-sized saucepan, add the flour, milk, and water. Then whisk until no lumps remain.
Set the saucepan over medium-low heat, and cook the Tangzhong until it thickens while continuously stirring. If you stop stirring, then lumps will form, and you will end up with a mess.
Let the Tangzhong cool down to room temperature before using it in your dough.

milk, water and flour in a saucepan with a pink whisk.

Tangzhong mixture over medium-high heat, being stirred with a pink whisk.

Tangzhong mixture is thick and slurry in a medium-sized saucepan, with a pink whisk.

Prepare The Dough

Activate The Yeast: Add and combine the water, sugar, and instant active yeast. Then cover the mixture and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, you should see bubbles forming. The bubbles indicate that the yeast is active, and we are ready to go!

yeast, water and sugar in a glass beaker.

activated yeast with bubble formation in a glass beaker.

Form The Dough: Start by combining the flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt. Then add the buttermilk, egg, sugar, and melted butter. Using a standalone mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, beat the dough at medium-high speed until formed (3-4 minutes). Then, transfer the dough to a greased bowl and tightly cover it. Allow the dough to rest for 60-90 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

dry ingredients in a stainless steel bowl with a gray whisk.

The milk, eggs, sugar and melted butter are added to the dry ingredients.

The gluten free cinnamon rolls dough in a stainless steel bowl.

The dough in a greased glass bowl, covered with plastic wrap.

Finalizing The Cinnamon Rolls

Shape The Dough: Transfer the dough to a lightly dusted surface. I like to roll the dough on parchment paper to prevent it from sticking. Roll the dough into a 30 x 45 cm (12 x 18 inch) rectangle. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, then sprinkle a little bit of gluten-free flour on it and the rolling pin.

The gluten free cinnamon dough on parchment paper.

The gluten free cinnamon dough rolled into a rectangle on parchment paper.

Add The Fillings: Evenly brush the dough with butter, leaving a 1 cm (¼ inch) of dough exposed at the end for sealing. Then sprinkle the brown sugar on the butter, and toss the sliced apples.

Brushing the rolled cinnamon dough with butter using a pastry brush.

Adding the cinnamon and sugar mixture to the rolled out dough.

The gluten free cinnamon roll dough covered in cinnamon sugar mixture with 1 cm of dough exposed.

Roll The Dough: Roll the dough into a 30 cm (12 inches) log. Then cut it into 6-7 equal pieces. I ended up with seven pieces, each around 3.5 cm long. Place the cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling on a deep baking tray aligned with parchment paper.

Cutting the dough into 6 equal parts and placing the parts in a baking tray aligned with parchment paper.

Second Rise: Cover the baking tray with plastic wrap, and let the gluten free cinnamon rolls rise for another 60 minutes. During the second half of the rising hour, preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
Bake The Cinnamon Rolls: Bake the cinnamon rolls for 23-25 minutes or until the edges are golden. Add the cream cheese icing and serve while the cinnamon rolls are still warm.

Dairy-Free Option

For a dairy-free option, please see the suggestions below:

Unsalted Butter - I recommend using vegetable shortening as a substitute for the dough. Use 60 grams of Vegetable shortening instead of 60 grams of Unsalted Butter. Meanwhile, you can use vegan butter for brushing and the cream cheese icing.
Milk - use almond or coconut milk instead.
Buttermilk - Substitute the 120 ml of buttermilk with 120 ml of almond or coconut milk. Add ½ tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to the almond or coconut milk and let it sit for 10 minutes until it thickens.

Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling {GF}