PHOTOGRAPHY BY MONICA KASS ROGERS
America’s love affair with cinnamon baked treats is alive and well. I’ve featured recipes for cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, coffee cake, and more. But lately I’ve had more queries for a good, old-fashioned-tasting, gluten-free version. Lots of test batches later, with help from dear friend and pastry chef Tory O’Haire, yielded this delicious result which you can make into cinnamon rolls or a coffee cake. Including a mix of potato flakes, almond meal, rice flour, and tapioca starch, the dough bakes up soft and moist, with rich buttery flavor and a nice contrasting crunch from the walnuts in the cinnamon-sugar filling. Plus? There are wonderfully crackly butter-toffee-like shards that bake up around the edges from the filling that oozes out. As with other gluten-free recipes, this dough is delicate so you’ll need to handle with care. I’ve had good results chilling the shaped cake, or rolls and then bringing them up to temperature before baking.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE DOUGH:
• 1 1/3 cups whole milk, warmed to 110 degrees
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 5 tsp yeast
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/3 cup Idahoan potato flakes
• 1 1/3 cup brown rice flour
• 2/3 cup finely ground almond flour (almond meal)
• 2/3 cup tapioca starch
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 tsp. xanthan gum
• 5 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs plus 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed to a liquid
• 2 tsp vanilla
• non-stick vegetable spray
• parchment paper for rolling out the dough
FOR THE FILLING:
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and still hot
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp cinnamon
• 4 Tbsp potato starch
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup finely-chopped walnuts
FOR THE GLAZE:
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp half-and-half (or a little more or less to make glaze to the consistency you prefer)
METHOD
PROOF YEAST: Combine warmed milk, butter, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl. Set aside in a warm place to proof for 30 minutes until foamy
MAKE FILLING: Combine dry ingredients and then pour in the hot, melted butter, stirring until smooth.
MAKE DOUGH: Combine the dry ingredients for the dough in the work bowl of a stand mixer. Set aside. When the yeast mixture is foamy, add the egg coconut oil and vanilla to the yeast mixture. With the stand mixer running at a very low speed, pour the liquid ingredients into the dry mixture in a steady stream. Increase speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl as needed. If making the coffee cake: Gather the dough into a soft ball and set in a large oiled bowl in a warm place to proof for 15 minutes. If making cinnamon rolls: Divide the dough into two portions and proof. Spread work surface with two, overlapped pieces of parchment paper. Spray with vegetable oil. If making the cake: Place dough-ball at the center. Gently flatten the ball to make a rectangle with your hands. Cover the dough with two more vegetable-spray-coated sheets of parchment (sprayed side down) Roll out until 1/2 inch thick. (Be careful not to roll too thin.) Spread filling over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border along the far edge. Using the parchment paper to help, gently lift and roll the dough into a spiral. Slightly flatten this to make a five-inch-wide oblong coffee cake. Tuck ends under. Wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. If making cinnamon rolls: do this process twice, using each portion of dough and rolling up into a “round” log rather than the flattened one used for the cake. Remove chilled cake OR cinnamon roll logs from refrigerator. If making cake, place entire loaf on parchment-lined half-sheet pan, seam-side down. If making cinnamon rolls, butter two cake pans. Slice each cinnamon-roll log into 12 rolls and place in each pan. Set aside to proof for 12 minutes. While rolls OR cake are proofing, preheat oven to 350°. Place rolls OR cake in center of oven and bake for 25 minutes until puffed and golden. Drizzle glaze over warm rolls.
