Cinnamon and Cocoa Rolls

When I was in US, I never got a chance to actually eat cinnamon rolls. I never really knew that such a recipe exists. But back to India, I heard of it for the first time (from my husband of course) and wanted to taste it. My husband lovesssss cinnamon rolls and it is not available anywhere in our neighborhood. So, I thought why not give it a try myself and here I am with the recipe. It is not my own recipe, I borrowed it from the internet, gave it a try and it came out awesome… I really mean it. Please do try this recipe and you will keep doing it again and again.

I used 1 egg in the recipe, but people who want to avoid that can add 1/4 cup curd instead.

Ingredients:

For dough:
All-purpose flour/Maida – 3 cups
Active dry yeast – 1 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Cold milk – ½ cup
Egg – 1
Butter – 1/2 cup (unsalted, melted)
Vanilla extract – ½ tsp
Sugar – ½ cup
Warm water – ¼ cup

For filling (I made 2 fillings, cocoa filling and cinnamon filling):
Powdered sugar – ¼ cup
Demerara/Brown sugar – ½ cup
Powdered cinnamon – 1 tbsp
Soft unsalted butter – 2 tbsp
Cocoa powder – 1 tbsp

Preparations:

To make the dough

1. To prepare the dough, take the warm water, add 1 tbsp of sugar and the active dry yeast to it and mix well. Place it in a warm place and leave it for about 5 minutes. You will see that the yeast has activated and has become frothy.
2. Now, take a large mixing bowl and add the all-purpose flour.
3. Add the salt, cold milk, beaten egg, butter, vanilla extract and remaining sugar. Mix well.
4. Add the activated yeast and prepare smooth dough. Add some water if required.
5. Brush oil in a large bowl and place the dough in it. Brush some oil all over the dough and cover the bowl with a plastic/cling wrap or a tight lid so that no air enters into it.
6. Place the covered bowl in a warm place (better to put in a microwave, if you have one) and leave it for about 1 hour to rise.

To make the filling

7. To prepare the filling, mix half the powdered sugar, half the brown sugar and cinnamon powder and keep aside.
8. To the remaining powdered sugar add the remaining brown sugar and cocoa powder and keep aside.

To prepare the rolls

9. After about 1 hour, remove the cover of dough, spread some flour on your counter top and place the risen dough over it.
10. Punch it slightly so that the air escapes out.
11. Roll the dough into a big rectangle with a thickness of about 1 cm or slightly less.
12. Now spread the butter over the dough and sprinkle cocoa filling on one half of the dough and cinnamon filling on the other half.
13. Roll the dough from the lengthy side and when you reach the end of rolling, use some water to seal off the edge.
14. Cut the dough into 16 equal pieces or more, if you need smaller pieces.
15. Grease a baking tray with butter and place these pieces with little spacing between them.
16. Once again cover the tray with a plastic/cling wrap or any tight lid and put it in a warm place for another 1 hour so that it rises once again.
17. After 1 hour, remove the cover, brush the pieces with some butter and place the tray in an oven that’s pre-heated to 190°C for about 20-25 minutes.
18. Remove from oven, let them cool for about 5 minutes and enjoy.

Note:

1. I did not add any glaze to the cinnamon rolls because I like them this way, but you may add the sugar glaze if you would like to.
2. Cocoa filling is completely optional. You may spread only the cinnamon filling all over your dough and make cinnamon rolls.

Related Images: