Searching for a show-stopper holiday treat?! This dairy free & keto pull apart Christmas tree, with its scrumptious ‘cinnamon roll’ filling, is most definitely it!
Gluten Free & Keto Pull-Apart Christmas Tree
With A ‘Cinnamon Roll’ Filling!
I’m fairly certain this keto pull-apart bread ticks every single holidaze box!
It’s a definite show-stopper, absolutely scrumptious, surprisingly easy to put together… and (vip!) you can make it ahead of the big day!
p.s. looking for proper (i.e. fluffy, gooey ‘n yeast-y!) cinnamon rolls? Must check out our fluffy ‘n gooey keto cinnamon rolls!
The Dairy Free & Keto Dough
Im using our famous Crazy Keto Dough (for everything!) here. A little bit wetter, and with a tad bit more baking powder.
It’s super easy to put together and good to work with. Just be sure to keep the dough covered with a damp cloth so it doesn’t dry out while you work on it!
Oh, and be sure not to over-bake to keep the twists nice and dough-y inside. I did 20 minutes, the tree was just beginning to brown so the edges were lightly crisp but the inside still nice and gooey!
The Flours
We like a mixture of super fine almond flour and coconut flour best. Add a touch of xanthan gum, baking powder, and we’re golden. (Click through for the brands I use!)
No substituting flours here and the xanthan gum is absolutely necessary. And, if possible, weigh your ingredients for consistent results.
The Sweetener
You’ve got good options here. Allulose (my favorite, because no aftertaste! just add 30% more), Lakanto Golden, xylitol (non-corn though to avoid tummy troubles!) and are my top choices.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys!
Oh, and if just gluten free (or not restricted by sugars), simply sub 1-to-1 with regular or coconut sugar.
Gluten Free & Keto Pull-Apart Christmas Tree
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Cups for an instant conversion.
Ingredients
For the keto dough:
- 192 g almond flour
- 48 g coconut flour
- 4 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 8-12 teaspoons water as needed
For the 'cinnamon roll' filling
- 28 g unsalted grass-fed butter or coconut butter/oil, melted
- 3-6 tablespoons golden erythritol or xylitol, to taste
- 2-3 teaspoons cinnamon to taste
For the cream cheese glaze (optional, but highly suggested!)
- 60 g cream cheese softened
- 28 g unsalted grass-fed butter softened
- 2-4 tablespoons powdered erythritol
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch kosher salt
- 1-3 tablespoons almond milk as needed (optional)
Instructions
For the keto dough:
- Add almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt to food processor. Pulse until thoroughly combined. Alternatively feel free to use your stand mixer (works just as well) or your hand mixer (dough is very stiff, but works well too with a little more arm muscle).
- Pour in apple cider vinegar with the food processor running. Once it has distributed evenly, pour in the egg. Followed by the water. Stop the food processor (or stop beating) once the dough forms into a ball. The dough will be sticky to touch, but very firm.
- Wrap dough in cling film and knead it through the plastic for a minute or two. Think of it a bit like a stress ball. Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes (and up to 5 days in the fridge).
For the keto pull-apart Christmas tree
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line a baking tray with a baking mat or parchment paper.
- Divide the dough in two and roll out between two sheets of parchment paper with a rolling pin. I try and roll it out in a rough triangle shape to keep dough trimmings to a minimum. When working with the dough, keep it covered with a moist cloth to keep it from drying out.
- Assemble in the prepared tray by brushing both sides with melted butter and sprinkling with the cinnamon 'sugar' to taste. Place one piece of dough on top of the other, trim edges into a triangle shape and cut strips of dough (see pictures for reference). Twist gently, pinching the dough together to seal closed. If making ahead, you can refrigerate it at this point (well covered!!) for a couple days. Oh, and don't forget to make a star with the trimmings!
- Brush with egg wash and bake for 18-25 minutes (I did 20), until the tree just begins to brown. You want to only bake it briefly so it stays moist and doughy, otherwise you'll get cookies (still good, but not ideal!).
- While your Christmas Tree is in the oven, cream together with an electric mixer the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sweetener, vanilla extract and salt. If you want it more of a drizzling consistency, add a few teaspoons of almond milk to thin it out.
- It's best served warm straight from the oven, with a generous drizzle of cream cheese glaze. But it also does re-warm very well.
Am I able to use pre-made gluten free puff pastry dough in place of making the dough myself? Also is it possible to substitute the golden erythritol and Powdered erythritol for brown sugar and regular sugar as I cannot get these ingredients at the moment and we do not need to be keto friendly just gluten free over here.
Absolutely Lindsay and it’s going to come out even better 😉
would it still be okay to eat if I made the tree and then froze it to bake it the day after?
I attempted this lovely pull apart Christmas tree. Mine was not as beautiful in its presentation as the one pictured. I made it on Christmas Eve day for Christmas morning. I forgot to do the egg wash prior to putting it into the oven 😒on Christmas morning ,so mine didn’t brown as it was suppose to. I probably did cook it too long (18 minutes) because the branches were drier than the trunk. I will also add the maximum golden erythritol as I preferred it just a little sweeter. I did find the directions a bit confusing; I brushed melted butter on both sides of each triangular piece 🤔, and I only put cinnamon of the bottom piece. I would put the icing in a bag to regulate the flow of it better. I covered the remaining tree, and liked it better on the next day because the dough was a little softer. I definitely found weighing things by the gram more labor intensive. Overall I would try it again making the adjustments mentioned.
This is a game changer. The dough reminded me of traditional Russian pastries, and I will be using it to create them (or maybe one of the doughs with yeast so it will rise!) My family who aren’t keto said it tasted incredible. Thank you so much!
This was really delicious and the texture is great. The only thing I have to change is the amount of xanthan gum. Maybe the concentration is different between countries? I reduced it to 2.5 tsp and I could still feel it in the finished product. Otherwise, really great, especially the second day. Thank you so much for the great recipe!
I still cannot click on US measurements and get it to print. It goes back to metrics
THANK YOU for posting this – THIS is what I want to make this weekend. I have been craving something cinnamony and sweet – remembering a childhood of cinnamon rolls and the like. I was just not inspired – but (once again) your recipes and instructions have me rushing into the kitchen. I am so glad you are on the allulose bandwagon as I find it the “best” sub except when I need something to crisp up – like a cookie. Love your site and your cookbooks.
Hi Paola. What is the recipe using the pork scratching ? I finally found some that don’t have msg or hydrolysed vegetable protein . But I can’t remember what your recipe was.
Hi,
If I use Swerve brown would the measurement be the same as it packs more then the Lakanto? It’s more like regular brown sugar to me. Thanks!!
This might be my new favourite! I tweaked just a couple things, and I swear it’s the closest thing I’ve tasted to a real cinnamon bun in years! 😍😍😍
1– added a smidge of sweetener & vanilla to the dough (not sure if it’s intentional or not, but the ingredients list only has sweetener in the filling & glaze, rather than the dough itself… just personal preference, but a smidge of Lakanto gave the dough great flavour!)
And
2— proofed some yeast in warm water beforehand to use as the water called for (not so much for rise, as it’s just almond flour, of course, but I simply adore the smell of warm yeasty cinnamon dough!)
I made the tree as a dessert for Christmas Eve dinner (’twas a hit with everyone!) and used the trimmings for mini cinnamon rolls Christmas morning while the non-ketoers ate the real thing. Thank you again times a trillion for this perfect recipe! 💕💕
Ps- am trying a savoury twist on this dough next (as I love the texture so much!)… garlic rosemary parm twists, methinks! 😉 😘
Looks lovely, I would put aside some of the glaze, add red and green colour. Put a few droplets over the tree will make it pop.
I made this last year and everybody loved it.
WOW, another delicious looking recipe! But, those crazy eggs haunt me! Love them, bur can’t have them! Any substitution for the 2 eggs that would work? Thanks
Hello, this looks very intriguing, can I use swerve or erithritol for the dough? We don’t use xylatol because of our pup and can’t get the other sweetner you mentioned.
Yup! Instructions say golden erythritol (my preference), but any sweetener will do xo!
Stunning! Love that you’re reminding us of these amazing dessert recipes of yours.
I know (hope!) you’re working on a stroopwafel recipe but I’ve recently been having a craving for a particular dessert that I’m challenging you and your genius brain to recreate….the humble Jaffa Cake! I’ve been attempting to recreate it myself but can’t get it right at all. Have been making do with some melted chocolate and orange extract smothered on waffles…but it’s not the same 🙁
Hope you and your loved ones have a lovely Christmas!
x
Francesca
Oh, Dear Lady, there you go again showing us what a genius you are. I don’t think I am clever enough to do this gorgeous tree but it makes my eyes happy just seeing it here..Paola, if you can sing . . . .you just made it to the top of my heap. Imagine singing carols and gathering around this scrumptious tree. x x x x
My dear Pea! You’re always the absolute sweetest and I delight in reading your comments 🙂 All my best wishes for you and your family! big kiss!
This recipe looks amazing! I hope to make it for Christmas. Could I substitute lemon juice for the vinegar? Could I substitute psyllium husk for the xanthan gum? Do you know of a xanthan gum that is grain free?
Do you think I could form this like monkey bread (pull apart as well)? Just pile in a bundt pan?
I have a feeling this will be more like pie dough than bready like the cinnamon rolls. But you could do it with the cinnamon roll recipe and make little balls and pile that into a pan like monkey bread.
Yeah thanks Jenny (missed the comment!)! I would actually try the cinnamon roll recipe itself for pull apart bread (they use yeast, so it would be more like a proper monkey bread!) xo!
I am having difficulty changing from metric to US measurements. I have hit the link but still have metric measures for many ingredients. I hate to convert each one manually. Can you help?
Marie
Wow, This looks amazing! Unfortunately, we are unable to have the xanthan gum, as that’s likely a corn source, and we are off all green. Also, we cannot do apple cider vinegar right now. Wondering if you know of a substitution for either the xanthan gum or the ACV? Many thanks. Merry Christmas.
Any chance using coconut flour (less plus extra egg and water) as I am nut allergic, will work? So hopeful – used to love cinnamon rolls before the allergy hit me and this looks amazing!
Unfortunately that won’t work… but have you tried sunflower seed flour instead? Readers use it throughout the site a lot (particularly in the tortilla recipe.. pretty much same difference) xo!
This looks delicious! Is it possible to get the ready the day before and pop it in the oven the next day? I’d love to have this for Christmas morning, but I will not have time to make it right then. Thanks!
Yup! Details are in the instructions 😉
LOL! I see it now! I thought I read it so carefully before asking! Thanks!
Paola you’re incredible! I love your cinnamon knot recipe and will def be making this for christmas!
Devyn you’re too sweet!! Hope you guys have a wonderful holiday!!
I would love a video on this. I cannot quite picture how the assembly works. Are you sprinkling each piece of dough with cinnamon and sweetener or sprinkling the tray, then putting the dough on top of the tray?
It’s like a cinnamon sugar sandwich with the two pieces of dough, then it’s cut and twisted.
Tbh I haven’t figured out how to do videos since an accident I had six months ago and my mobility was greatly diminished… BUT Christmas trees (with puff pastry particularly) aren’t a new thing, and they’re plenty of videos on YouTube 😉
Sorry to hear of your accident::( I get it now. So roll one piece of dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sweetener, then top it with the other piece of dough and cut as you have shown and twist the tree? BTW, your pie crust recipe is the BOMB! I made pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving with it for the first time. I told my non-keto, non-diabetic hubby to try it because I thought it was the closest to a white-flour crust I had ever made in keto. It was not only that, but just plain DELICIOUS and flaky in it’s own right. I used the lemon zest option in min. I told him if no one had told me this was not white flour, I would have thought that it was. He agreed.
Keep up the good work!
I make your cinnamon roll knots at least twice a month!!
How wonderful to hear Kathy!!
WOW WOW WOW!!! how beautiful Paola!!!
Thank you Danny!!