Cookie Monster Cinnamon Rolls

Super cute and brilliantly blue! These homemade gooey Cookie Monster Cinnamon Rolls are packed full of cinnamon sugar and crumbled cookies, topped with more Oreos and chocolate chip cookie chunks. The ultimate treat for cookie lovers! Plus a variation for naturally dyed dough.

Jump to:

• Why you'll love these
• Ingredient Notes for the Dough
• How to Make Blue Dough
• Alternative Natural Blue Dough [without food coloring]
• Ingredient Notes for Filling
• How to Make Cookie Monster Cinnamon Rolls
• Expert Tips
• Easy Cookie Monster Topping
• Variations and Substitutions
• Storage
• Making in Advance
• FAQs
• Cookie Monster Cinnamon Rolls

Why you'll love these

• Cute and colourful - these cookie monster cinnamon rolls are super fun and colourful, made with a bright blue dough.
• Option for natural food dye - this recipe comes in two parts. There's the easy, bright blue option, using standard food dye. But, I also include an option for making this recipe using a natural option. It isn't as vibrant, but means no food colour! Both dough options are super soft and fluffy!
• Full of cookie pieces - what sort of Cookie Monster creation would these be if they weren't filled to the brim with cookies!? Crumbled up Oreo cookies (filling included) and chocolate chip add flavour and texture to the brunch bake.

Ingredient Notes for the Dough

The basic blue brioche dough is a variation of my classic Brioche Cinnamon Rolls. All you'll need extra is some blue food coloring.

If you prefer to avoid using food dye, see my below alternative dough recipe using natural blue from blueberries. Do note it isn't as vibrant and the shade will vary depending on your berries.

For the simple blue dough, you'll need:

• Milk - full fat or whole milk, warmed to 104°F to ensure good activation of the yeast.
• Dry active yeast - you can also use instant yeast here with success. It is generally possible to substitute fresh yeast as well, but I have not tested this recipe with a fresh yeast alternative.
• Sugar - a little sugar will help to activate the yeast and bring the dough together.
• Flour - a mixture of all purpose (or plain flour) and bread flour give these rolls the perfect soft and fluffy texture!
• Salt
• Eggs - you'll want large eggs, ideally at room temperature for baking. One of the eggs will need to be separated into yolk and white.
• Butter - unsalted butter, softened at room temperature and cut into small pieces. You can use salted butter here, but this will add saltiness to the overall dough and will impact the flavour in the recipe.
• Blue food dye - I highly recommend using a gel food colour here. These are more highly concentrated and will give you a more vibrant shade, while not having to add as much to the recipe. You'll only need a couple of drops (I add mine with a toothpick).

How to Make Blue Dough

The process here is fundamentally the same as my other brioche recipes.

1. Begin by greasing a bowl with some extra butter and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar over top the warmed milk. Give this a light stir and set aside to allow the yeast to activate. This should develop a good foam on top.
3. Meanwhile, add the flours, the remaining sugar and the salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir together lightly.
4. Once the yeast is active, add this to the flour mixture, immediately followed by two whole eggs and one egg white. The leftover yolk can be reserved for an egg wash when ready to bake.
5. Knead with the mixer on a low setting for about 15 minutes, until you have a sticky dough, that is showing signs of holding itself together and slapping the sides of the bowl.
6. At this stage, with the mixer still continuing to knead, add the butter a couple of pieces at a time until it is all incorporated.
7. Then pause the kneading to add a few drops of blue food colour - the amount will depend on the type of food dye you are using. A couple of drops of gel food colour is usually perfect here.
8. Return to kneading at a slow speed for a further 15 minutes until the dough is again showing signs of pullings itself from the sides of the bowl. It should also be quite blue!
9. Scrape the dough into the greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to proof overnight (or for about 8 hours) until doubled in size.

Alternative Natural Blue Dough [without food coloring]

For the natural blue dough alternative, you'll want to substitute the milk with frozen blueberries. You'll be able to leave out the food dye, but the rest of the ingredients and process remains fundamentally the same.

Start by heating the blueberries in a small saucepan, cook these for about 5-10 minutes with a teaspoon of sugar, allowing them to release their juices.

Remove them from the heat and allow the blueberry juice to cool down to be about 104°F (in the range of 104º-120ºF). Then add the yeast, stir lightly, and set aside to activate as you would normally do with the milk.

The kneading times and remaining process is unaltered from the standard dough.

Ingredient Notes for Filling

The filling for these fun Cookie Monster Cinnamon Rolls is a cinnamon sugar mixture and plenty of crushed cookies! You'll need:

• Butter - unsalted butter, softened at room temperature. This should be soft enough to be easily spreadable, but not melted. You can use salted butter here, but it will add saltiness to the overall rolls.
• Brown sugar - light brown sugar, firmly packed. You can substitute with granulated sugar or dark brown sugar, but each will alter the flavour slightly here. With granulated sugar, you will lose out on some of the richness in the filling, but with dark brown sugar you may find the molasses notes overpowering to the cookies.
• Ground cinnamon
• Oreo cookies - broken into small pieces. I prefer to crumble the whole cookies in my hands rather than using a food processor. This allows me to better control the size of the cookie pieces, which are larger chunks than if they were crushed in a food processor.
• Chocolate chip cookies - a classic store bought chocolate chip cookie like Chips Ahoy work well here, but you can use your favorite brand. Like the Oreos, these should be broken into small pieces.

How to Make Cookie Monster Cinnamon Rolls

Now that your dough is done it's slow proof, it's time to assemble and bake!

1. Start off by lining a square baking tray with parchment paper and setting aside.
2. Then stir together the butter, sugar and cinnamon until you have a smooth spreadable paste.
3. Scrape the dough out onto a well floured work top and shape into a rectangle. Roll this out to be about 12" wide by 15" long.
4. Spread the butter mixture over the surface and then sprinkle over the crumbled cookie pieces.
5. Roll the dough into a log from the bottom to the top (image 1 below) and then use floss to trim the ends.
6. Divide the dough log into 9 rolls, cutting these with the floss (image 2 below) and placing them in your lined square pan.
7. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to proof at room temperature for about 2 hours, until doubled in size (image 3 below)
8. Meanwhile, preheat the oven and make a quick egg wash with the reserved yolk and a splash of milk.
9. When the rolls are ready, brush with the egg wash and bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes until risen and going a bit golden on top.
10. Remove and allow to cool for about 10 minutes while you prepare a frosting (image 4 below).

Expert Tips

My top tips for perfecting these cinnamon rolls:

• If using the coloring, use a gel food color, such as this AmeriColor Blue. Gel food colors allow you to use less food dye than using the liquid versions. This also means that even though the color itself may be more expensive than liquid food colorings, the bottle will last significantly longer.
• Crumble the cookies by hand. Using a food processor will mean that you crush the cookies into a crumb and lose the texture. Using your hands will let you better control the size of the cookie pieces. These should be small, to enable easy rolling and cutting of the dough. But they should be large enough that you still have little chunks of cookie pieces in the rolls.
• The exact timings for the proofs are estimates and will depend on a few key factors, such as the temperature and humidity in your kitchen. This is especially true for the second, room temperature, proof. On a hot day, you may find your dough doubles in size within an hour and is ready for baking. Keep an eye!

Easy Cookie Monster Topping

To finish off these cinnamon rolls, you'll want a topping fit for the Cookie Monster! My quick and easy vanilla glaze with plenty of cookie pieces.

For this, you'll need:

• Powdered sugar - or icing sugar. This normally doesn't need to be sifted for making this frosting. If you find your sugar particularly lumpy, it may be worth giving it a sift to remove troublesome clumps.
• Milk - I prefer using full fat (or whole) milk here, but you can also use 2% or semi-skimmed. I'd avoid using 1% or a non-fat milk as these are very watery and will make the glaze more runny more quickly. Similarly, you can use heavy cream (or double cream), but it will result in a thicker glaze and you'll need more cream than milk to make it smooth and spreadable.
• Vanilla extract
• Cookies - a mixture of Oreo Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies crumbled up in a similar manner to the filling. The pieces on top can be larger, as you don't need to worry about these being rolled in dough.

All you'll need to do here is to mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. You can adjust the consistency of the frosting my controlling the amount of liquid (milk) added. Add this slowly, a teaspoon or so at a time, while stirring.

You may find that you need more or less milk dependent on the type of milk or brand of powdered sugar used. Temperature and humidity can also impact this.

Variations and Substitutions

My top suggestions for substitutions in this recipe:

• Natural food colouring versus synthetic options - this recipe includes both a vibrant blue dough, made with food coloring gel and an all natural blueberry dyed option. The blueberry version will not impart a strong flavour to the recipe, but it will also not give you a bright bright blue. Both doughs are super soft and fluffy and will result in a fun cinnamon roll.
• Try different cookies - Cookie Monster inspired bakes traditionally include Oreo and Chocolate Chip Cookies. You can mix these up and use different cookies in this recipe. Keep in mind that these will impact the overall flavour texture - so if you opt for using a strongly flavoured cookie, like ginger snaps, you'll have gingery notes in the rolls.
• Add chocolate chips - if the cookies here aren't enough to tempt your taste buds, you can also add in some chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. I recommend about an ounce of a small handful of chocolate chips, sprinkled over the dough before rolling it up. The chocolate chips will add overall gooey-ness to the recipe and you may find that you need to bake for a few extra minutes.
• Cream cheese frosting - I personally love a classic vanilla frosting, but if you want to add a bit extra tanginess here, try cream cheese! You can use my cream cheese frosting recipe from my Cookies and Cream Cinnamon Rolls here.

Storage

These rolls are best fresh, just like any other! However, you can keep leftovers well wrapped or in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of days with success.

If you make these with a cream cheese frosting, you will want to store air tight in the refrigerator for best results.

Making in Advance

These rolls can be made in advance. Firstly the recipe, as written, involves an overnight proof. This means that the basic recipe does require a bit of advance planning to get started the day before. This is necessary for a good quality brioche dough as a slow proof will make it significantly easier to handle.

If you'd like to get further ahead in the making of these rolls, follow these instructions:

• Knead the dough the morning before you intend to serve, following the instructions as normal. Then place in the refrigerator to proof for about 6-8 hours.
• In the afternoon/evening, after the slow proof, remove from the refrigerator and follow the steps for filling, rolling and cutting. Place in the pan for the second proof.
• Bake as directed and then allow to cool completely, unfrosted. Wrap well and keep on the counter overnight.
• The next morning, reheat in the oven (I usually use a 350ºF oven) for about 15 minutes until warmed.
• Remove from the oven and frost.
• Serve warm.

These steps allow you to prepare the Cookie Monster Cinnamon Rolls the day before, while still serving them fresh and warm the next morning.

FAQs

Looking for more fun cookie filled treats? Try:

• Cookies and Cream Cinnamon Rolls
• Oreo Cheesecake Brownies
• Mini Oreo Cheesecakes
• Biscoff Blondies