Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing (made in a bread machine)
These lovely chocolate cinnamon rolls give an unusual twist to one of my favourites, cinnamon buns.
Cinnamon buns (or kanelbullar) are practically holy here in Sweden. I absolutely adore them. There is something undeniably awesome about the combo of cinnamon and bread. If you add chocolate to the mix (in the dough and on top of the buns), then you enter a whole new arena.
I wasn’t sure how the cocoa would work in the buns, if I am honest. Although I know cinnamon and chocolate do work together, I was also interested to see how well the flavours meshed together in this recipe for chocolate cinnamon rolls. I need not have worried. Wow. Yes, wow. I make sweet buns a lot, but so far, I think these have just nudged into the winner’s position.
I made the rolls in my bread machine. I’ve talked about how touching wet dough doesn’t make me weak at the knees in anticipation, so making dough this way will always be my preference. You could make them by hand, but would need to follow the usual procedures for making bread dough. Just adapt this method using my ingredients.
I made these buns overnight. I prepared them and then popped them in the fridge before baking the next morning. However, you can bake them as soon as the dough is ready, if you prefer.
I think it’s fairly obvious that my recipes are going to use spelt flour, so I am not going to add the term “spelt” to my titles. However, as always, you can use regular (plain) flour, if you prefer (the notes explain how to substitute).
If you like these chocolate cinnamon rolls, check out my other bread machine recipes.
Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Icing (made in a bread machine)
Equipment
- Bread Machine
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 egg
- 250ml milk
- 50g butter
- 400g spelt flour (see notes)
- 30g cocoa
- 40g brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (see notes)
- 7g dried yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
Filling
- 75g butter (room temperature)
- 60g brown sugar
- 20g white sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
Additional ingredients
- 30g milk chocolate (chopped into chunks)
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- icing sugar (enough to make a spreadable paste)
Instructions
- Add all dough ingredients to your bread maker (in the order I've laid out) and set the machine to make dough.
- When the dough is ready, roll out on a floured surface until you have a rectangle of around 37cm x 52cm. Have the shorter side facing you.
- Spread the butter evenly over the dough, leaving a narrow edge (around 1cm) all the way round. Combine the sugars and cinnamon and sprinkle over the butter, using your hands to evenly distributed the mixture.
- Carefully begin to roll up the dough, pulling it fairly taut as you roll. Place the dough, seam side down. Cut into 12 rolls.
- Place in a greased tin or dish leaving a little space in between.
- For the overnight version, cover and place in the fridge. In the morning, pre-heat the oven to 200°C and allow the buns to come up to room temperature (I usually sit the dish on top of my oven as it's heating up). Sprinkle with the chocolate chunks and bake for around 20-25 minutes
- If baking immediately, pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Cover the dish and leave to rest for around 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the chocolate chunks and bake for around 20-25 minutes.
- Allow the buns to cool for a while. Prepare the icing by mixing the milk and vanilla essence together, then adding as much icing sugar as needed to make a thick paste. Drizzle or pour over the buns and eat warm. Enjoy!
Notes
- I use metric measurements in my recipes. If you prefer imperial (cup) measurements, Cook it Simply offer a handy conversion tool.
- You can use plain (all purpose flour) if you prefer. Just add an extra 20g flour (using a total of 420g).
- I used vanilla sugar in my dough. If you'd like to use essence, add the same amount with the milk and other wet ingredients.
