March 6, 2025
GF Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll Clone
These rolls are a re-creation of the popular pop-can cinnamon rolls that Pillsbury first released in the eighties. Smaller than the canned rolls you can buy now, these have a much higher ration of filling and icing to bread. These should be served warm.
GF Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll Clone
Servings 2 loaves |Prep Time: 8-18 hours+ | Cook Time: 1 hr+
Ingredients
Dough
- 1½ cup milk
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. salt
- 4 tbsp. butter or margarine
- 1 package of yeast
- 1 egg
- 4 1/4 cups (525g) Better Batter Bread Flour*~, plus a small amount for rolling
* if preferred, you may use 4 2/3c (632g) Artisan or 5 1/3c (720g) Original instead
~Historic Note: you may use the original recipe's flour recommendation of 3 3/4 cups (544g) Original Blend. Dough will be very much stickier and harder to work with*
Filling
- 5 tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1-2 tbsp. Cinnamon
Icing
- 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
- 1 lb box confectioners’ sugar
- 1 stick butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
Heat. In a saucepan, heat the milk, sugar, salt, and butter or margarine until warm (NOT hot!). Allow to cool to lukewarm.
Whisk. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together egg and yeast. Add the warm liquids and whisk together.
Add Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, and beat everything together until fluffy and cohesive. Divide dough into two parts. Roll out each part of dough on a floured surface. If using original blend, you may need to use more flour to reduce stickiness - do not knead it into the dough! Roll each dough half into a rectangle 1/8″ thick.
Melt 5 Tbsp. butter or margarine. Brush the butter onto the rectangles, then sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll the rectangles up tightly, into cylinders, and cut the dough into 1 inch slices (dip the slices into additional butter if desired). Place in a 9×13 inch pan or two round cake pans. Let the rolls rise for 40 minutes. Then bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
Top with Icing
Mix cream cheese and butter thoroughly.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well. The icing will be quite thick.
Put on warm cinnamon rolls.
This recipe was originally published by Naomi Poe in January 2009. It was adapted by Jen Bigler in 2024 and updated in 2025. Original photo of food by Jennifer Bigler.
