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Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

Oct 17, 2020 · 48 Comments

Surprisingly easy, these chocolate cinnamon rolls are the best of both worlds! Sweet cinnamon rolls filled with chocolate chunks, perfect for fall baking.

Close up of two chocolate cinnamon rolls topped with glaze on a plate.

If you’ve never had chocolate cinnamon rolls, you’re in for a treat! It really is the perfect combination – two of the world’s very best foods rolled into one.

Cinnamon rolls are genuinely easy to make, even if you’re not familiar with bread making, and might be even easier than regular bread. You just need a bit of patience and the most skilled bit is rolling the dough up into a log.

You can add loads of other fillings to these, especially nice around the holidays, so see the tips section below for some ideas on that. These make a lovely Christmas treat and are a very good reason to break any New Year diet kind of resolutions.

These are well, well worth the time needed to make them, especially at this time of year! They are a very comforting treat – both to make and to eat – and so delicious.

Jump to:

Ingredients
Method
Tips and Notes
Substitutions
Recipe

A baking tin full of baked cinnamon rolls topped with glaze.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of the post, or scroll to the bottom of the post, to see the full recipe card with ingredient measurements and instructions.

Ingredients

Milk
Butter
Yeast
Cane sugar
All-purpose (white) flour
Sea salt
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Dark chocolate
Powdered sugar
An orange (both zest and juice)
Vanilla

Method

Heat the milk and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, until gently simmering, whisking frequently to dissolve the sugar. Pour the heated milk into a large mixing bowl, whisk in the butter, and check the temperature. It should be just warm to the touch but not hot. Sprinkle the yeast overtop.

Let the yeast sit for about 10 minutes. It should look foamy and increase in volume (bloom). Add the flour and salt to a the bowl, then add the yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon into a loose dough (or use a standing mixer).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until a soft, smooth ball forms. This will take at least ten minutes but you can also knead in a standing mixer if you have one. Place the dough into a large, greased bowl and cover with a tea towel. Set aside to rise until doubled in size, about an hour.

Kneaded dough in a mixing bowl, half covered by a towel.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle roughly 12×18 inches (30x45cm) in size. Spread the remaining butter over the surface of the dough, then top with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate chunks.

Roll the dough from the long edge to make a log shape. Cut this into nine relatively equally sized rolls and place the pieces into a greased baking dish. Cover with a tea towel and set aside to rise again in a warm place for about an hour.

Once the rolls have risen a second time, they’re ready to bake. Preheat the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops and edges are a light golden brown.

Let the rolls cool for at least 15 minutes. While they’re cooling, mix the glaze in another dish. Top the cooled cinnamon rolls and serve fresh.

A container full of glazed cinnamon rolls.

Tips and Notes

The original recipe here called for fresh figs, which are delicious, but we wanted a year-round chocolate cinnamon roll recipe. You could add dried figs or other dried fruit (cranberries, apricots, raisins) or go for chopped nuts instead.

You could certainly do an overnight roll here – after placing the individual rolls into the baking tin, cover them tightly and place in the refrigerator to rise overnight. Set them on the counter for about an hour in the morning to come back to room temperature, and then bake as instructed.

It doesn’t matter if you use instant or traditional yeast. The step of blooming the yeast in the warm milk will activate traditional and won’t hurt instant, so either is good – the dough might just rise a bit faster with instant.

Two glazed cinnamon rolls on a small plate.

Substitutions

If you prefer, make a batch of cream cheese frosting to top the rolls in place of the glaze. That being said, the orange in the glaze alongside the cinnamon and chocolate is great.

Light spelt flour can be used in place of the all-purpose if you prefer, but we don’t recommend using a whole wheat flour.

To make these vegan, use a good vegan butter and plant-based milk, like oat milk, for the dough and filling. There’s no difference in the amounts used and they taste the same either way.

This is an excellent gluten-free cinnamon roll recipe if you need a GF version.

More Sweet Breads and Rolls

Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough
Hazelnut Babka
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe

Yield: 9 rolls