These Mocha Cinnamon Rolls are a delicious chocolate twist on a classic cinnamon-sugar roll. With a buttery brown dense and cakey roll, silky sweet cream cheese glaze, and a maple pecan sauce, you are never going to remember life before this recipe.
Growing up, I used to make cinnamon rolls every year for Christmas with my sister. We’d make the classic dessert that could give Ikea a run for its money, but of course, the real fun was in making amazing memories together.
In fact, every bite of a cinnamon roll brings back a vivid memory: six years ago when my sister hosted Christmas at her house, the first Christmas that my husband Jason spent with my family. Five years ago when she hosted again and it was the last Christmas I spent in Boston before moving. Baking with my sister before Christmas lunch or dinner was ready – because the cinnamon rolls were the most important part.
We’d sit by the fireplace and eat cinnamon rolls at almost any time of day. As long as it was Christmas and we were together.
To be honest with you, as simple of a recipe as this is, it’s also one of the most meaningful recipes on my website. Words could not possibly describe what these mean to me!
It was so nice to have Jason witness how amazing this tradition was all those years ago, and I still continue to do it in our home now. And I’ll proudly pass it down to my kids one day too.
My sister has always been a wonderfully talented baker. She always has a not-so-secret love affair with baking. In fact, she now owns a bakery and coffee.
Trust me, as much as I want to go to her and eat my heart out, my bank account could not handle the constant back-and-forth trips if I went to her every time I wanted a tray of cinnamon rolls!
Now that I’ve moved away from home, I get nostalgic for cinnamon rolls around this time of year and I miss my sister a little bit extra. So, instead of taking a flight out to my sister, I decided I should probably figure out how to make cinnamon rolls that would get as close to her magic as possible.
I also wanted to add a bit of my own twist to it since I now (sadly) make them without her. Moving to the South gave me inspiration with all the great big dessert flavors, like a chestnut praline. Chestnut pralines are a famous treat in the South, so I added a maple pecan caramel sauce to echo those flavors.
You can definitely skip the pecan caramel sauce if you like, but it’s a cozy Southern touch I added to pay homage to my new home here in Georgia. My sister originally makes these cinnamon rolls with just a cream cheese frosting, and they’re super delicious. So, it’s hard to go wrong with these!
The cream cheese frosting is so easy that I swear I use it on just about everything! You can use it on cookies and cakes, and it works especially well with these Mocha Cinnamon Rolls.
I also add cocoa powder to the cinnamon rolls for the wintry mocha flavors and because I wanted to add a chocolate element without having to deal with messy, melted chocolate getting everywhere.
Kitchen Hacks for Mocha Cinnamon Rolls
These Mocha Cinnamon Rolls are super simple to make and if you’re like me and making these for the holidays, you can make them ahead of time too. Since it’s usually so busy at the
end of the year or any time you’re hosting guests for a party or gathering, hacks like this are so helpful.
Here are my top hacks for this recipe:
You can easily make these cinnamon rolls the day before and hold off on baking until the day of serving. Simply cut them up, place them in your baking tray, and cover them with plastic wrap before placing them in the fridge. The day of, you can take them out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to baking while your oven is preheating and bake as normal.
I also like to make cream cheese frosting and pecan caramel sauce the day before. I store the cream cheese frosting in a Ziploc bag and the day of, I just snip a hole and frost the cinnamon rolls. This saves you from having to wash a ton of dishes too!
I store the sauce in a container as well and just heat it up in a small saucepan over medium to low heat while the cinnamon rolls are baking.
You can replace the egg with 1/4 cup of full-fat yogurt for an eggless mocha cinnamon roll recipe.
In a large bowl add warm water, sugar and the yeast. Let the yeast sit until it’s puffy, about 10-15 minutes. Once the yeast is activated, set aside.
Into the bowl, add the melted butter and egg, whisk everything until well combined.
Gradually add flour into the bowl, stirring until a dough begins to form. Cover the bowl with a towel and set aside in a warm place for 20 mins. Once the dough has risen, flour a surface and knead the dough just until it’s smooth and elastic. Roll into a ball.
For the filling combine all the ingredients listed under “Mocha Cinnamon Filling”
For the glaze, combine all the ingredients listed under “cream cheese glaze”
For the Maple pecan sauce, into a sauce pan melt the butter, add the pecans and toast for 1-2 mins. Next add maple syrup and brown sugar and let it completely melt down. Lower the heat to med/low and add in the heavy whipping cream, stir and set aside.
Once the dough has doubled in size, punch the dough to remove the air, on a lightly floured surface, roll out one ball into a rectangle about ¼-inch thick. spread the mocha cinnamon filling from corner to corner.
Starting at the shortest end, tightly roll the dough into a log. Place seam side down, using a serrated knife, cut the roll into 1 inch thick rounds. Place rolls on a generously greased 9×9 pan with sides touching. Bake for 15-20 mins at 350° F
Once the cinnamon rolls are cooked, remove from oven and generously spread on a layer of the cream cheese and maple pecan sauce.
Notes
You can make 6-8 semi large cinnamon rolls with this recipe for 12-15 mini.
Since cinnamon rolls are so gooey in the center it can be hard to tell when they are done based on a toothpick test. To check if they’re cooked, remove the rolls from the oven and gently pull up the center of the middle cinnamon roll. If it’s fluffy, it’s done, if it’s still doughy, it needs a just a little bit more time.
Just an East/West coast girl living the southern life. I love sharing all my tested and perfected recipes here, along with some travel guides and a little bit of my lifestyle
