In today’s post: Empty tomb rolls are a fun way to talk about the true meaning of Easter with your kids – they will love helping you make the rolls and breaking them open after baking to reveal the empty tomb. Plus they taste like cinnamon rolls!
Easy Easter Recipe
Empty tomb rolls (aka resurrection rolls) are made by wrapping roll dough around a marshmallow that’s been dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar. As the rolls bake, the marshmallow melts into a delicious cinnamon sauce, leaving a large opening in the center of the roll, which represents the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection.
True Meaning of Easter
Making these rolls for breakfast on Easter can be a fun tradition and a nice way to teach kids about the Easter story from the Bible. This is some of the symbolism you can talk with your kids about:
- The marshmallow is rolled in melted butter and cinnamon sugar, and can remind us of Christ’s body, which was anointed with oils and spices after His death.
- The marshmallow is then wrapped in roll dough, which can remind us of the wrapping of Jesus’ body when it was placed in the tomb.
- As the rolls bake, the marshmallow disappears, leaving an empty space that reminds us of the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make empty tomb rolls:
- Frozen Rhodes rolls dough: Using frozen roll dough makes this recipe easy! Just let the roll dough thaw in the fridge overnight and then you’ll be ready to make the rolls in the morning for breakfast. (You can also thaw the dough on the counter for 3-4 hours.) Some recipes use crescent roll dough, but using dinner rolls instead makes these taste more like cinnamon rolls!
- Marshmallow: You will use the normal size marshmallows for these rolls. Don’t use mini marshmallows OR jumbo marshmallows; neither will work well.
- Butter
- Cinnamon and Sugar
Empty Tomb Rolls
Ingredients
- 12 Frozen Rhodes Dinner Rolls
- 12 Marshmallows standard size
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- 2 tablespoons Cinnamon
- 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
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Instructions
- Place twelve frozen roll dough balls on a greased baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap that has also been sprayed with nonstick spray. Allow to thaw at room temperature for about 4 hours, or in the fridge for about 12 hours, until roll dough is soft.
- Melt the butter in one small bowl. In another bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar.
- On a floured surface, roll out each dough ball into a circle with a 4-5 inch diameter. Dip a marshmallow into the butter, turning to coat, then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. You can use a fork and a spoon for this step to keep your fingers clean.
- Place the coated marshmallow in the center of a dough circle. Bring up the sides of the dough.
- Then fold up the bottom and top edges of the dough, like you would wrap a burrito, and crimp the dough together with your fingers to seal. This step is important to make sure the dough is sealed together well – you can brush a little bit of water across the dough to help it seal if needed.
- Dip the top of the roll in the butter, then in the cinnamon sugar, then place into a greased muffin tin. Repeat with all twelve rolls.
- At this point, turn on the oven to 350 degrees. Let the rolls sit for about 15 minutes while the oven preheats.
- Bake for approximately 18 minutes until the sides and bottoms of the rolls are golden brown (you can use a spoon to gently lift a roll out of the muffin tin to check this). Allow to cool about ten minutes before removing from the muffin tin. Serve right away.
- Rolls taste best within a few hours after baking, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.
Vicki A says
Such a fun recipe and turned out exactly as described! Thank you for sharing!
Kelly says
Can I prep these the night before and stick them in the fridge until morning?
Linda Cockerham says
I do you put the crimped part of the roll down into muffin pan or upright
Autumn says
I put the crimped part down!
T says
Thank you Autumn! I cant wait to make these with my grandkids!