This healthy Cinnamon Bun Breakfast Bake let’s you enjoy the taste and texture of a traditional cinnamon bun without all the added sugar and saturated fat! Gluten-free, vegan, and super simple to whip up.
My house smells like Christmas morning.
That’s literally the first thing that popped into my head while I was experimenting with today’s recipe… which is strange considering my family’s never done the whole “cinnamon buns for Christmas breakfast” thing. We have pancakes. Or crepes. Or leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner.
That being said, I have no idea where the Christmas morning association came from… aside from possibly reading about it on various blogs over the years. If anything, the smell of cinnamon buns should have sparked an image of a shopping mall food court, since it’s impossible to walk past one of those without getting hit by the tantalizing aroma of cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla. Swoooooon.
I’m such a sucker for the taste and smell of cinnamon, and even more so for for the taste and smell of cinnamon buns. The only thing is, I’m not crazy about the idea of eating store-bought cinnamon buns that are upwards of 700 calories with 50+ grams of sugar and a nice helping of saturated fat. And while making them at home sounds great in theory, it doesn’t translate so well to practice. At least not for me.
I’ve only ever made cinnamon buns once, and that was on a random Wednesday afternoon when I finally mustered up enough courage to face my fear of working with yeast. They came out alright, but all the kneading, rising, waiting, rolling, cutting, stuffing, waiting, and baking was a little much for my need-it-NOW mentality.
Luckily, I’ve found a healthy, happy, and easy medium…
In the interest of full disclosure, this Cinnamon Bun Breakfast Bake doesn’t taste exactly like a cinnamon bun, but it does tastes pretty darn fabulous and has the added bonus of not being loaded with tonnes of sugar and saturated fat, nor does it require any yeast to make. Yay!
Instead, you get a nice dose of fibre and plant-based protein alongside the delicious cinnamon sugar taste and doughy texture of a traditional cinnamon bun in a gluten-free and vegan breakfast bake that you can enjoy any day of the week. It’s like Christmas morning every day.
Happy eating!
I’d love to know if you make this recipe! Leave a comment and rating down below to let me know what you think, and subscribe to our mailing list to receive new recipes in your inbox!
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Cinnamon Bun Breakfast Bake
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 2 Tbsp. oat bran*
- 2 Tbsp. coconut flour**
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1/2 Tbsp. maple syrup***
- 1 tsp. vanilla flavour
- 1/2 tsp. brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F, and lightly spray an individual sized (~16oz.) ramekin with cooking spray.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine oats, oat bran, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt. Add almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla, mixing until well combined.
- Transfer half of the dough to your greased ramekin, making sure covers the entire bottom. Top with cinnamon and sugar (and raisins or nuts, if desired) before adding the remaining dough. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon and sugar, if desired.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until centre has set and desired consistency is reached. Top with a glaze****, if desired, and enjoy!
Notes
* If you don’t have any oat bran on hand, just use an additional 2 Tbsp. of oats. ** You can sub this for any flour you have on hand, but the coconut flour really helps give this bake a doughier texture. *** If you’re not planning to top your bake with a glaze, you might want to use 1 Tbsp. of sweetener. **** To make a glaze, take a heaping tablespoon of powdered sugar and add a tiny bit of water until the proper consistency is reached. You could also try to do this with a vanilla flavoured protein powder instead of the sugar.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Udi’s Gluten Free. All opinions and text are my own. Lots of love for showing some love to the brands that help sponsor Spoons! If you want to learn more about gluten-free or allergy-friendly living, you can visit Udi’s community page or check them out on Facebook!
This was super tasty! I replaced the oat bran with more rolled oats, and I used all-purpose flour instead of coconut flour. I also added a Truvia packet to the mixture and topped the breakfast bake with a little bit of vanilla frosting. It was very good, with a nice strong cinnamon flavor that paired well with the frosting. The texture was also great. I’d love to try making it with coconut flour in the future.
Can I make this in the evening, put it in the fridge and then microwave it the next morning? or would that make it soggy or lose taste?
You can definitely make it the night before and heat it up the next morning. It doesn’t get soggy, but it might get a little bit drier so just add more almond milk to get the consistency you want.
Just finished eating this! I used coconut nectar instead of maple syrup and coconut sugar in place of brown sugar, topped it with coconut cream! Awesome!
I love your breakfast bake recipes and just everything about your website Amanda!
Okay I am ALL about cinnamon bun anything (maybe borderline obsession….)
Send me this, stat!
I’m digging the use of oat bran in these.
Also seeing as how I tackled the Blueberry Cream Cheese buns, I think I’m ready to take on the Cinnamon Buns or maybe I’ll just go this route. It seems a heck of a lot easier. )
If you make cinnamon buns, I’m coming over. I’ll bring coffee.
This recipe looks incredible! Can’t wait for my house to smell like cinnamon buns 🙂 Pinning immediately!
Cinnamon Rolls!!! Anything cinnamon roll sounds AMAZING to me. We always make cinnamon rolls as a Christmas morning tradition. I can’t believe we are almost there again. 🙂
the smell of baking cinnamon = PERFECT holiday! agreed. I so wish we could bottle that up, the smell. I guess i just better make this every day instead, yes? YUM!
YUM!! What a lovely recipe!! SO perfect for this time of year!! I love a hearty bowl of oats on a chilly am!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!
Cinnamon anything is seriously the best. I actually have these quick oat packets that are cinnamon bun flavored, and I use them when I don’t have time/am lazy to make normal oats. This looks delicious, as always!! <3
Those quick oat packets are definitely lifesavers <3 I haven't come across any cinnamon bun ones, though -- maple brown sugar here
I’m al about the cinnamon!! We have never been a cinnamon bun family either, but cinnamon really makes me think of home. My mom would make homemade applesauce and I remember coming in from playing outside and the whole house smelling so goo! Can’t wait to try these!!
Love all your recipes! And there so healthy/good I can share them with my 18 month old son. I have a question, what is vanilla flavor? I’m guessing it’s not the same as vanilla extract.
It’s actually vanilla extract, Rita. I use the two terms interchangeably, but extract might be more popular so I might go back and change that…
Never mind that I’ve yet to try or even see a cinnamon bun in real life – unless Swedish kanelbullar the size of my face count – because this sounds delicious either way. Cinnamon is the typical Christmas scent for me, too, so maybe that’s where your association came from?! I also have yet to try coconut flour in breakfast bakes though I use it daily so this might finally change it.
I say cinnamon buns. I also call hamburger rolls buns 😉 It’s never too early for Christmas. Just look at Starbucks haha
I swear you take the best food pictures – I can almost smell the cinnamon. We always have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, too – but I’m thinking of trying monkey bread this year … on the lookout for a good recipe (hint, hint). 😉
Confession: I’ve never had monkey bread before. But I can start researching 😉
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it.
The smell of Christmas should exist year round, in my humble opinion. So regardless of where your Christmas association came from, I like that its there. I am way too big a fan of Christmas! And this breakfast is right up my alley because of that!
Hooooo boy. I’ve been craving/wanting to make cinnamon buns for weeks now (okay I’m actually always craving cinnamon buns, but they’ve been on my list of things to make for a long time)… but every time I think of the time it will take I choose something way more immediate. So THIS… this is perfect. So excited.
I’m a big fan of more intent gratification as well. Hope you like it! 😀
When I first came to the USA, I had one of those Mall Cinnabon Cinnamon Buns and I was in heaven, but, you are right – with 700+ calories in them, they are not worth it – though the memory of each titillating mouthful makes it hard to write them off completely and that’s why healthy bakes like this are perfect!
We used to have neighbors who would bring us orange cinnamon rolls every Christmas – now, I don’t need to wait on them to get my cinnamon bun fix eh?! 🙂
Orange cinnamon buns sound absolutely amazing! That’s such a perfect flavour for the holidays 😀
Delicious! I made this using the additional oats, subbed almond flour for coconut, and 1% milk for the almond milk (simply because that’s what I had on hand). I also added a tablespoon of raisins.
I like the texture of baked oatmeal better than stovetop, and this was definitely worth the 20 minute wait. It is very reminiscent of cinnamon buns and I love that it’s guilt free!
I really like having some nice single serving recipes on file, and have already added this to my recipes in EverNote. Thanks for posting!
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a helpful comment with all those substitutions, PJS! I’m really glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
don’t typically eat anything super special…but a few Christmas cookies usually end up on my plate!
This looks like a perfectly warm and cozy breakfast!
After present-opening we always have a Christmas brunch, which includes a delicious egg casserole and a baked French toast casserole! Pre-present breakfast is usually something quick and light so we can stuff ourselves a little later 🙂
Pre-present breakfast was torture for me when I was little! Just another obstacle to overcome before I can get to the presents
So your saying I don’t have to sate 700 calories to enjoy the taste of a cinnamon bun? Hell yeah!
I feel like I’m a ‘cinnamon BUN’ person as opposed to cinnamon roll. Cinnamon bun sounds cuter, somehow.
And I don’t think that we do a particularly special Christmas breakfast. With my brother and I usually having significant others, we usually do either breakfast or dinner with my parents. I remember a lot of french toast and eggs benedict growing up though.
This looks lush! I’m so looking forward to this, anything with cinnamon in makes it instantly all Christmas and Autumnal and I love it! And the sweetness of brown sugar and maple syrup will really please my tastebuds! Great morning boost, thanks for the recipe!
josievictoriaa / fashion, travel and lifestyle
Thanks for the kind words, Josie!
I love cinnamon and my house has cinnamon candles throughout during the fall and Christmas. I made my grandpa’s homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas, and usually one more time throughout the year. I actually just took out my no yeast ones that I have on my blog from the freezer. If I don’t freeze some rolls, I eat them all way too fast! haha
Story of my life! Either that or I’ll be eating muffins and cookies for dinner every night 😛
Finnamon buns is my favorite smell! My family has them every year on Christmas though, so it really would feel like Christmas everyday 🙂
My mom always makes breakfast casserole on Christmas morning. We always get so much candy in our stockings I guess she figured we’ve had enough sweets. 😀
I love this healthy option. I may double it and use it for our Thanksgiving breakfast!
My Mom used to make cinnamon rolls & egg bakes for every holiday morning. I can still smell them cooking in the house.
Cinnamon rolls… I guess. Lol. This looks delicious! I’ll have to try it very soon!
By the way… it’s never to early to start talking about Christmas <3
Yes! I love the way you think 😀
I didn’t celebrate Christmas growing up (just Chrismukkah!) but once at Oxford I definitely started to associate cinnamon and Christmas 🙂 All the mulled wine and mince pies I guess…
Oh man! That looks so good!!
We ALWAYS have cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning! My husband’s family has caramel rolls (and we’re doing Christmas with his family this year so caramel rolls it is!) 🙂
Caramel rolls!??! Can I come over for breakfast?! I’ll bring coffee!
I’m literally eating almost the exact same thing as I read this post! Great minds think alike. I love oatmeal now that the weather is getting cold.
Oh my gosh, why does walking by Cinnabon smell so amazing? I can’t bring myself to actually eat one either, but the smell is so incredible.
I had oats this morning for the first time in forever and I wondered why I always pass over them. This looks awesome!
That happens to me all the time! I don’t eat something for a while, and then I wonder why the heck I stopped.
I vote for peanut butter added to the center 🙂 Is it sad that I don’t know what Christmas morning should smell like since I have never had Christmas? I can say though that the scent of burning candles reminds me of Hanukkah, as does the smell of oil frying because of potato pancakes.
My mom used to make me potato pancakes when I was little too — loved them. I think any scents that make you think of special holidays/times are an awesome thing 🙂
Not too early for holiday talk in my opinion! And that cinnamon bun smell at the mall is the best, but definitely not worth the effect of eating them, so I like this alternative 🙂 And love that you used coconut flour to make it doughy – so good!