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:
- Soft & Fluffy Protein Cinnamon Rolls with 10g of Protein
- Low-Calorie High-Protein Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Protein Apple Cider Donuts
- Deliciously Crispy 3-Ingredient Churro Waffles
- Healthier Cinnamon Crunch Bagels (Panera Copycat Recipe)
Low-Calorie Cinnamon Roll Cookies (Protein-Packed)
Not only are these cinnamon roll cookies extremely fun, but they're only 75 calories each, low-carb, gluten-free, and packed with protein!
Ingredients
Ingredients for Cookies
- 45g (1.5 Scoops) Vanilla Whey/Casein Blend Protein Powder (code MATT saves on PEScience brand)
- 25g Almond Flour
- 110g Oat Flour
- 30g Sugar Substitute (or regular sugar)
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- Pinch of salt
- 84g Light Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Ingredients for Filling
- 14g Light Butter
- 25g Brown Sugar Substitute (or regular brown sugar)
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
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 CookieAmount Per Serving Calories 75Total Fat 4gCarbohydrates 6gFiber 1gSugar 0gProtein 4g
Jana
Sunday 11th of June 2023
These are amazing! Can I freeze leftovers?
Matt
Monday 19th of June 2023
I don't see why not! Giving them a quick thaw in the microwave should work great
LC
Thursday 1st of June 2023
I really like your site and I want to make your recipes but it's hard and very time consuming because of the grams measurements.Could you please include U.S. measurements in your recipes? Thank you.
Matt
Thursday 1st of June 2023
I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but for me and my recipes, using grams is significantly easier. High-protein recipes require precise measurements, so I use a food scale to measure grams for my recipes and there isn't always going to be a perfect conversion to cups or spoons unfortunately.
Brett Johnson
Wednesday 31st of May 2023
Any substitute for the almond flour? Having a nut allergy sucks😵😵
Matt
Thursday 1st of June 2023
Ah man, I'm sorry! You can use more oat flour instead. All the almond flour does is to help make the cookies a bit softer since it's a higher fat flour, but it won't affect the cookies themselves. Without it, the cookies may be a bit more dry, but it shouldnt be detrimental
Jamie Fasino
Thursday 25th of March 2021
LOVE these.. have made them twice and they come out great. Don't taste like a protein treat at all. I actually swapped half of the butter for nonfat Greek yogurt and they still came out great! Will make again for sure.
Matt
Tuesday 20th of October 2020
Favorite dessert you ever made?! I like that!