What to Make with Cinnamon: 10 Slimming-Friendly and Delicious Recipes You’ll Love
With a touch of cinnamon, you can make all kinds of recipes feel warm and comforting. It only takes a pinch to make your morning porridge feel cosier, or to whip up a lower-calorie sweet treat that’ll brighten up grey days.
While cinnamon-spiced, bakery-bought goodies aren’t usually the most slimming friendly, all of these ideas are surprisingly low in calories. From wholesome breakfasts that’ll have you jumping out of bed, to impressive, indulgent-tasting puddings, have a scroll through what you can do with everyone’s favourite autumnal spice (you might want to pop the kettle on first).
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1. Cinnamon Roll Baked Oats
Nothing beats waking up to a warm bowl of Cinnamon Roll Baked Oats. A hearty blend of yoghurt, oats, sweetener and egg, adding just half a teaspoon of cinnamon brings enough spice to warm you up with every mouthful.
To ramp up the indulgence, we’ve even whipped up a homemade drizzle to go on top, with reduced-fat cream cheese, reduced-sugar maple syrup and (you guessed it) a hint of cinnamon.
The sticky-sweet results are almost too good to be true!
2. Cinnamon Drizzle Squares
You’ll love how fuss-free and gloriously flavoursome our Cinnamon Drizzle Squares are. Ready in half an hour with a short list of ingredients, they’re light, sweet and always hit the spot with an afternoon cuppa.
When the sponge is risen and golden, leave it to cool before you pour over the cinnamon-y icing.
We like to stash the squares away in an airtight container for when we’re feeling snackish throughout the week. You can turn them into a more indulgent dessert with a dollop of ice cream or sweet yoghurt, when you’re feeling fancy.
3. Syrupy Cinnamon Figs with Greek Yoghurt
If you don’t believe us when we tell you that cinnamon and figs are made for each other, you need to try our Syrupy Cinnamon Figs with Greek Yoghurt tonight. It’s one of our favourite easy, breezy puddings to warm up with on colder evenings, since it’s ready in a matter of minutes and packed with sweetness.
You’d normally find full-fat double cream in a dish like this, but you know us…we like to keep things slimming friendly!
We’ve used trusty low-fat Greek yoghurt to get the same creamy, autumn-spiced flavours for fewer calories.
4. Air Fryer Cinnamon Breakfast Buns
We can’t step foot in a cafe without feeling tempted by cinnamon-spiced pastry goodies. If you’re the same way, our Air Fryer Cinnamon Breakfast Buns are a game-changing companion for your frothy morning coffee.
You won’t find full-fat buttery dough here. To recreate that gorgeous golden texture, we’ve rustled up a lower-calorie pastry from scratch using reduced-fat ingredients.
It only takes minutes to roll, fill and bake them! Leave them to cool down thoroughly on a rack before you coat them with a light layer of vanilla glaze.
Grab your copy of our Air Fryer cookbook and turn to pages 48-49 for the full recipe.
5. Crustless Apple Pie
There’s no way we could write about cinnamon without mentioning apples. The aromatic warmth from a sprinkling of cinnamon never fails to make juicy baked apples taste even sweeter, and the proof is in the pudding with our gloriously low-calorie Crustless Apple Pie.
We might have said goodbye to pastry, but there’s no way you’ll miss it; the dreamy filling of set custard, apples and cinnamon is oh-so-satisfying.
You can have it mixed together in 10, and oven-baked to golden perfection in 30 minutes. Since it’s only 158 calories per slice, we usually treat ourselves to a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a glug of Custard – luckily you can never have too much!
6. Churros
You can’t beat taking fluffy-in-the-middle, crispy-on-the-outside Churros for a dip. To make sure the warming cinnamon sugar layer on top (made with a slimming-friendly blend of sweetener and cinnamon) holds firm, you’ll spritz the churros with low-calorie cooking spray before tossing to coat.
Deep-fried or not, churros can be a little bit tricky to make. Our recipe keeps things super simple and as long as you follow the steps carefully, you can’t really go wrong.
Reduced-sugar Choc Shot is the perfect dip for these in our opinion!
7. Pumpkin Spiced Latte
It’s not just autumn to us, it’s Pumpkin Spiced Latte season! The famous coffee shop staple wouldn’t be the same without a generous helping of cinnamon warmth.
It’s what enhances the natural flavours in the home-blended pumpkin puree, along with a teaspoon of mixed spice. When it’s all stirred together with coffee and milk, you’re left with the ultimate velvety caffeinated treat.
Our top tip? Prep the puree the night before you plan to enjoy it. That way you’ll have an easy, barista-style beverage ready to take your morning porridge up a notch.
8. Apple Pie Pavlova
With a sprinkling of cinnamon, ginger nut crumbs and citrus flavours, it’s no wonder we find ourselves making Apple Pie Pavlova every year. It’s jam-packed with all the comforting flavours you’d want from a slice of hearty apple pie, for a fraction of the calories.
The meringue topped with caramel-drizzled apples doesn’t just look impressive, it tastes it too. You can serve it at the centre of a Special Occasion spread to ‘wow’ your guests, and if there’s leftovers (unlikely!) keep them in an airtight container for a few days.
9. Banana and Caramel Filo Rolls
When you need a quick fix of cinnamon flavours, these Banana and Caramel Filo Rolls are the dessert to make. You’ll want to use firm, under-ripe bananas for this one, as ripe bananas can make the filling a little bit messy.
Readymade sheets of filo pastry keep the prep nice and simple, as well as lowering the calories you’d find in a puff pastry roll.
Dip into caramel sauce and dust with icing sugar for the perfect finishing touch – instantly, your filo rolls will look like they’re from a restaurant.
10. Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
While we could go on forever and ever about cinnamon-y treats, it feels fitting that classic Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is the last stop on our list. As you’d expect, there’s no shortage of spices swirled in, with cinnamon, ginger and mixed spice on our list.
A quick note: make sure you buy mixed spice and not allspice! The two are very different and you really wouldn’t want to get them mixed up.
We’re really proud of our nifty alternative to frosting. Instead of a sugar-loaded mix, we’ve used quark, sweetener and vanilla extract to serve flavours that are just as moreish.
Which of our cinnamon goodies will you make first?
Don’t forget to show us which of our cinnamon-spiced creations you decide to cook up first. We’ll keep an eye out for your photos and posts over in our Facebook group – there’s a community made up of almost 1 million members who are waiting to support you on your slimming journey.
Our Gallery never fails to give us inspiration when we’re not sure what to make next. The only thing you’ll need to do is sign up to a free website account to upload and share your photos (it’s easy-peasy, we’ve got a step-by-step guide you can follow here).
This isn’t our only roundup of tasty favourites! You might like to have a browse through our blog for more inspiration: