Caramel Cinnamon Rolls (Sugar Free) - Recipe Diaries (2024)

FAQs

Can you substitute brown sugar for white sugar in cinnamon roll dough? ›

In most baking recipes, you can substitute brown sugar for white sugar in a one-to-one ratio. So, if your recipe calls for one cup of white sugar, swap one cup of brown sugar. The sweetness level will be the same, but the brown sugar may change the texture of your baked goods.

While light and dark brown sugar are interchangeable, they're not exact substitutes. Using dark brown sugar when a recipe calls for light will give your final product a more robust taste and a darker color, and it might slightly affect the texture.

Coconut oil (or melted butter) and almond milk – Most cinnamon roll recipes call for butter and regular milk, but, as a vegan option, this recipe works perfectly with coconut oil and almond milk.

Its main ingredients are flour, cinnamon, sugar, and butter, which provide a robust and sweet flavor.

Brown sugar is the simplest substitute for granulated sugar. You can use light or dark brown sugar as a 1:1 substitute. It makes for darker, denser baked goods with a more caramel or molasses flavor, which is wonderful for classic chocolate chip cookies, but less desirable for delicate cakes.

It can definitely be tempting to just stick that butter in the microwave if you've been storing it in the fridge, which can easily lead to accidentally melting it, but ensuring that your butter is softened will make all the difference: It will make it easier to evenly spread the filling on top of the dough.

Cinnabon's Secret Ingredient

This special Indonesian cinnamon, called Makara, is trademarked by Cinnabon. And because of that trademark, you won't find this product in your local grocery store spice aisle.

Traditionally brown sugar is used and you can certainly use that if it's your preference. I kind of like the granulated sugar because it yields to the cinnamon, allowing the cinnamon to shine through more.

Julie Clark, the blogger behind the website, notes that after years of research, she discovered that the key to getting perfectly gooey rolls is to “pour heavy cream over the cinnamon buns before baking. THIS is the secret ingredient and what makes the rolls rich and gooey.”

What can I use instead of vanilla extract in cinnamon rolls? ›

Take a breather from your Cinnabon-eating frenzy and you would notice that it's actually the sum of their parts — the oh-so-tender dough, the massive amounts of cinnamon and sugar, and the frosting you could eat by the spoonful — that makes them so darn tasty.

Roll the dough into a rectangle, and brush it with milk. This will help keep the cinnamon-sugar filling in place.

Brown Sugar: Using brown sugar in the filling gives these cinnamon rolls an extra-delicious depth of flavor.

White Sugar + Maple Syrup or Honey

Mix 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey. While the flavor will be a little different, you'll still get that chewiness in your baked goods.

In that role, white sugar aerates the dough when creamed with butter for thick and puffy cookies. Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more.

Sure. I use brown sugar all the time in my bread doughs. Usually, I use dark brown sugar because I like the bit of color and hint of molasses flavor that it adds. Just don't add much.