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Every Easter, our family makes these sweet empty tomb rolls (also known as resurrection rolls), and they’ve become one of our most cherished Easter traditions. As the rolls bake, the marshmallow melts down into a caramel-like sauce inside the dough, leaving the “tomb” empty when you open them.
We have updated the photos and videos for this post, but it’s the same recipe and same beautiful family tradition! We’ve just freshened up the post to hopefully be more helpful to you!
We usually enjoy these rolls for Easter breakfast, but they’re just as perfect as an appetizer, side dish, or dessert alongside a honey baked ham and potato casserole. No matter when you serve them, these resurrection rolls add both meaning and something sweet to your Easter celebration.
Why are They Called Resurrection Rolls?
These rolls can be called empty tomb rolls or resurrection rolls, heck you can even call them disappearing marshmallow rolls if you prefer. Either way, they are a soft, homemade roll that has a cinnamon sugar, butter-dipped marshmallow inside.
The dough is formed around the marshmallow and dipped in more butter and cinnamon sugar then baked. As the dough bakes, the marshmallow melts into a sweet caramel-like sauce inside the dough. When you open the resurrection rolls the marshmallow is gone but the dough is sweet and sticky.
The Easter resurrection rolls are meant to symbolize the burial and resurrection of Christ. It is a tender object lesson to teach kiddos what we celebrate on Easter. The marshmallow represents Jesus’ body and the roll dough represents the tomb.
If you aren’t religious it doesn’t really matter because you still get to eat a yummy roll! They are easy and so tasty!
Carrian’s Story
I originally wrote this post in the midst of bringing our 3rd miracle child into the world. I’ve moved that story down to the end of this post just after the recipe card if you want to read about our struggle with Hyperemesis Gravidarum and the meaning that these resurrection rolls carry in our family.
Resurrection Rolls Ingredients
This resurrection rolls recipe use simple, pantry-friendly ingredients, which makes them perfect for making with kids.
- Rhodes Rolls: You could also use crescent dough or make your own dough.
- Marshmallows: You’ll want the large size marshmallows.
- Granulated Sugar: adds sweetness
- Cinnamon: adds flavor and warmth
- Melted Butter: Used to coat the marshmallows and rolls helping to make the caramel and to help the cinnamon sugar to stick to the outside.
The measurements for each ingredient can be found at the end of the post in the recipe card.
How to Make Resurrection Rolls
Start out with your favorite homemade roll dough, crescent rolls, Rhodes frozen rolls, whatever you like. Yes, I shortcut these all the time. In fact, I like to get the dough in balls into the fridge the day before so they can defrost if frozen.
- Flatten each dough ball into a small circle.
- Dip each marshmallow in melted butter, then roll it in cinnamon sugar.
- Place the marshmallow in the center of the dough and carefully seal it closed.
- Roll the sealed dough ball in more butter and cinnamon sugar.
- Place seam-side down in a greased baking dish or muffin tin.
- Bake until golden brown. Let the rolls rest for about 15 minutes before serving so the filling sets slightly.
You can now talk to the kiddos about the resurrection and how Christ’s body wasn’t there, but that just like how the rolls have become sweet so is His death sweet because all of us can live again because He is Risen.
Tips for Making Empty Tomb Rolls
- If making the dough from scratch, you’ll want to section it off into golf ball-sized pieces to make the resurrection rolls. That’s roughly how large the Rhodes rolls are, so I’m thinking that should work when making empty tomb rolls from scratch!
- Also make sure to use large marshmallows. Mini marshmallows won’t work and the giant sized marshmallows will puff up too much (even if you cut them down to a normal size).
- Have everything out and ready to go before you start assembling them, especially if you have little ones are helping you. Oh, and prepare for a mess…rolling the marshmallows and rolls in melted butter and cinnamon sugar is so fun for the kiddos but it ends up everywhere! All part of the fun (deep breathing for me)!
- Make sure you seal the dough around the marshmallow well. You don’t want the gooey marshmallow to leak out too much.
- Note that these resurrection rolls are best fresh from the oven, but leftovers are tasty too! They tend to deflate a little as they cool.
- This makes a great Easter gift for neighbors and friends. Give a bag of marshmallows, some Rhodes rolls, a container of cinnamon sugar, and a stick of butter with a little explanation of the meaning of the resurrection rolls.
How to Explain Resurrection Rolls
These empty tomb rolls are meant to be made along with the Easter story in the Bible. Specifically, Christ’s body being wrapped in the white clothing, the butter represents the oils they anointed Him with as well as the cinnamon sugar for the spices and herbs, then he is placed in the tomb, and finally resurrected on the third day.
“He is not here: for he is risen…” (Matthew 28:6). When you tell the story, make sure you get to the part where He is not found in the tomb and open up your rolls at the same time. Kids and adults love it!
Resurrection Rolls FAQs
As the rolls bake, the marshmallow melts and absorbs into the dough, leaving the center hollow once baked.
Yes, you can use homemade roll dough or crescent roll dough instead of frozen rolls.
Yes, you can prep the rolls the night before, pop them into the refrigerator, and then bake them off the next day. Just be sure to let them come to room temperature before baking them (set them on the counter for 30ish minutes, then bake).
If the dough isn’t sealed completely, the marshmallow can escape while baking. Pinching the seams tightly helps prevent this.
These empty tomb rolls have become one of our most meaningful Easter traditions, not just because they’re sweet and delicious, but because of the conversations they create in the kitchen. Seeing that empty center never gets old and neither does celebrating the joy of His empty tomb together. I love Easter!
More of our FAVORITE EASTER RECIPES:
Watch This Video Tutorial!
Our Story of Faith While Preparing for Another Baby
Heads up, I’m about to get personal so feel free to skip this if you just want the recipe.
We had a special little conversation while making this resurrection rolls recipes. You see, I’ve been incredibly ill with Hyperemesis Gravidarum with all three of my pregnancies. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve endured in my 30 some odd years of life, but it’s obviously been incredibly rewarding too.
Our oldest daughter witnessed so much this last pregnancy that she was able to grasp what was happening a little more than before. She asked me yesterday why I had been willing to be pregnant a third time knowing that it would be so horrible and I jumped at the opportunity to tell her.
Someone was Missing
Have you ever felt this stirring inside of you and you know you are meant to do something? Or had that odd feeling that someone is missing? It may be that you felt this great pull and desire to start your own business, be a teacher, have children, or anything else you can dream up, and all you can say is that you just knew you were meant to do it? We — I especially — have had both feelings each time we’ve had a baby. Every. Single. Time.
It took us five years to put on our brave pants and try for another baby. We had felt strongly that there was another who was meant to be in our family, but we thought it would probably be through adoption or foster care. We continuously prayed and sought medical advice in the meantime but just never felt the time was right, which to be honest, after a few years had created quite the hole in our hearts as we yearned to have a third but were afraid of the dangers it carried with it.
At one point, we knew it was time. We just felt it and there is literally no other way to explain it. It would take great sacrifice so this was not a selfish desire, instead it was a humbling experience to have the opportunity to consider another baby.
The Faith to Sustain Us
To say that we were nervous, scared, and everything else you could think of about getting pregnant and going through Hyperemesis again is an understatement. One night we decided that no matter what, we didn’t want to ever look back with regret that we didn’t listen to what we were feeling so we knelt in prayer and asked that we be given the faith needed to move forward, leave our adoption papers as is, and proceed with a pregnancy of our own if it was the right choice. It took all the faith that I had to say those words out loud.
As the words rushed out of my mouth I felt a great desire to just sit and listen and as we did just that our hearts were filled with the most amazing peace I’ve ever felt. Cade and I both looked at each other and just cried. One of those cries that says everything your lips cannot utter. Faith welled up in us both and I know this all sounds like some big amazing story but I knew without a shadow of doubt that we were meant to have one more, that I would be cared for and survive as would the baby and that our faith would in fact sustain us.
Prince of Peace
That’s what I told her, that we had faith in the answer we’d been given. We prepared with a wonderful doctor and nurses for everything we could so that my body was ready to be so sick. We went every week while I was pregnant, which was an enormous sacrifice for someone who couldn’t make it more than a few hours without throwing up. And in the end, we had a healthy little boy who I wish you all could know. He’s a gift and he is our missing puzzle piece. You can read our whole store here.
The Prince of Peace is a Easter initiative that we’ve felt so inspired about so thank you for letting us share our experience of using faith in our lives. I don’t know why I needed to share this, and I hope you all know that we completely respect differences of opinions and beliefs, but this is in fact our story and as Easter approaches and the Prince of Peace initiative takes place, I had to tell my story of how faith was given, and my faith increased all because of Him. If you feel up for it, we would love to hear your stories as well.
