What a bright way to start the morning! These rolls are fluffy and soft, wrapped around a warm chocolate cinnamon filling, and topped with an iced glaze. Our secret to making these perfect cinnamon rolls is a muffin pan. Yep! A muffin pan. Let’s get started with some key tips for cinnamon roll success with this recipe.
If you’re loving this chocolate content, try checking out our Marble Chocolate Banana Bread
cinnamon roll recipe Tips
- Rise Time
- If you’re like me, and you hate recipes that take a long time, we suggest you use an instant yeast. The rise time in cinnamon rolls are key & essential to recipe success. We used an instant yeast (also known as ‘quick rise yeast‘) to help our cinnamon rolls rise faster.
- Sugar
- I can’t express how important sugar is in this recipe. We used both granulated (white) and brown sugar. Granulated sugar is great for your dough. It helps activate the yeast. Brown sugar is the essential ingredient for a classic cinnamon roll filling.
- Butter
- We used both melted and softened unsalted butter for this recipe. Our filling was a chocolate pasted made by beating softened butter, cinnamon, and cocoa powder together.
- Glaze
- You only needed 2 ingredients for this glaze: powdered sugar and almond milk (or any other milk/milk substitute). Glazing these babies were truly the best part!
indiviual cinnamon rolls
Our secret to making these chocolate cinnamon rolls is a muffin tin! Usually cinnamon rolls are placed in a large baking dish, sitting perfectly together. These rolls are individual poppers perfect for a bite on the go without a sticky mess. The process is the exact same as a standard cinnamon roll recipe. Except, before placing them in a large dish, you place them in a muffin pan and let them rise for 60 minutes. After that, bake it in the oven for 18 minutes!
Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast? Yes Please!
The last best part about these rolls is that it’s a perfect breakfast recipe whenever and wherever. Breakfast shouldn’t be lame or boring. Spice up your breakfast routine with this new recipe! In case you’re craving more, checkout our other on the go breakfast recipes like our Banana Muffins with Coffee Streusel or our Vegan Banana Donuts!
Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls
INGREDIENTS
Cinnamon Rolls
- 1¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup almond milk warm
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1⅛ tsp instant yeast 1/2 a package
Filling
- ¼ cup butter softened
- ½ tsp cocoa powder
- ¼ cup brown sugar + 2 tbsp
Glaze
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1½ tsp almond milk
INSTRUCTIONS
Cinnamon Rolls
- In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and cinnamon
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, butter, sugar, + yeast together.
- Add in flour mixture and knead on a well floured surface for 8-9 minutes. Cover with a rag let rise for 30-45 minutes
- Roll out dough into a rectangle, ¼ inch thick
Chocolate Filling
- Beat butter, sugar, and cocoa powder together. Spread out onto dough stopping ½ inch from the edges.
- Roll dough. Slice dough into 1½ inch rolls.
- Grease a standard muffin pan and place the rolls into each pocket. Cover with a towel and let the rolls rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
Glaze
- Mix powdered sugar & milk together. Drizzle onto cooled rolls.
Check out our video of this recipe on our Instagram reels! What’s your favorite cinnamon roll recipe twist? Comment down below!
