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Close up of a gooey homemade green Halloween Cinnamon Roll with Snickers filling and black cocoa frosting. Topped with marshmallow webbing and candy eye.

Halloween Cinnamon Rolls

Liz Mincin
Gooey and ghoulish Halloween Cinnamon Rolls with green brioche, cocoa cinnamon sugar filling and a black cocoa frosting. Topped off with marshmallow webs and candy eyes for the ultimate treat this spooky season!
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Proofing and Decoration 10 hours
Course Brunch, Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 9 rolls
Calories 486 kcal

Equipment

  • mixing bowls a large mixing bowl and a few smaller mixing bowls (I usually just use cereal bowls)
  • stand mixer fitted with a dough hook
  • rubber spatula
  • Plastic wrap
  • 8" square baking pan
  • Parchment paper
  • dental floss flavorless floss or thin kitchen twine
  • Rolling Pin
  • off-set spatula
  • pastry brush
  • Small saucepan

Ingredients
 
 

Ingredients for the Green Brioche Dough

  • ¼ cup full fat milk or whole milk, warmed to 104℉ (ideal temperature between 104℉-120℉ / 40C-50C)
  • 2¼ teaspoon dry active yeast
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar or caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup all purpose flour or plain flour
  • ¾ cup bread flour
  • 3 large eggs ideally at room temperature, one divided into yolk and white (the yolk reserved for an egg wash when baking)
  • ½ cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature and cut into small pieces
  • green food coloring gel a couple of drops will do for making the vibrant green (see note)

Ingredients for the Filling

  • 6 tablespoon unsalted butter softened at room temperature to a spreadable consistency
  • ½ cup light brown sugar firmly packed
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon black cocoa powder see note
  • 4 oz Snickers bars roughly chopped into small pieces

Ingredients for the Black Frosting

  • 1¼ cup powdered sugar or icing sugar, this does not normally need sifting
  • 1 tablespoon black cocoa powder see note
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ tablespoon milk slightly more or less depending on the conditions of your kitchen and local area - add slowly to control consistency.

Ingredients for Decoration

  • 3 oz marshmallows mini or regular marshmallows will work here
  • edible candy eyes

Instructions
 

Instructions for the Dough

  • Start off by activating your yeast - sprinkle the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar into the warm milk, give it a quick stir and set aside. This should become foamy after about 5-10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, grease a mixing bowl with some butter or flavorless oil and set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the flours, salt and remaining sugar. Give this a light stir.
  • Once the yeast is ready, pour this into the flour mixture, immediately followed by two eggs and one egg white.
  • Begin kneading on a low setting, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl if you notice the flour has pushed to the sides and isn't being incorporated. Continue kneading on a low setting for about 15 minutes until the dough is starting to slap the sides of the bowl.
  • While the mixer continues to knead, slowly add the butter a couple of pieces at a time.
  • Once this is fully incorporated, pause the mixer and add a few drops of food coloring gel. I do this with a toothpick.
  • Carry on kneading for about 12-15 minutes until the dough is well tinted green and showing signs of slapping the sides of the bowl and pulling itself away. It will still be wet and sticky, but you should be able to touch it with only a little residue sticking to your finger.
  • Scrape the dough into your greased mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to proof overnight (or for about 8 hours) until doubled in size.

Instructions for Assembling and Baking

  • Start off by lining your square baking pan with parchment paper. The quickest way to do this is to crisscross two sheets of parchment (each the width of the tray) so that these overhang the edges. This does mean that the bottom will have a double layer, but that can be helpful with sticky cinnamon rolls!
  • Then prepare your filling, mix together the butter, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder until you have a dark spreadable paste.
  • Remove your dough from the refrigerator and scrape out onto a floured work surface.
  • Press this into a rectangle and then roll out to be about 12" wide by 15" long.
  • Using an offset spatula, spread your cocoa cinnamon sugar paste over the surface of the dough, leaving a little space around the edges, then sprinkle with Snickers pieces.Roll the dough up into a log from the bottom to the top.
  • Using your floss or thin twine, trim about an inch off the ends of the dough log to remove unfilled and uneven dough.
  • Divide the remaining log into 9 pieces and cut these using the floss. Place the rolls into the lined baking pan and cover with a clean kitchen towel to proof at room temperature for about 2 hours until doubled in size. Tip: the timing of this second proof will depend a bit on the conditions in your kitchen - if it's particularly warm, they may proof more quickly!
  • When just about finished their proof, preheat the oven to 350°F and make a quick egg wash by beating the reserved egg yolk with a splash of milk.
  • Brush the tops of your rolls with the egg wash and place in the center of the oven to bake for about 25-30 minutes until risen and lightly golden on top.
  • Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes while you prepare your frosting and decoration.

Instructions for Black Frosting

  • Stir together the powdered sugar, black cocoa powder and vanilla extract.
  • Begin adding the milk a teaspoon or two at a time, mixing after each addition, until you have a smooth frosting and have reached the desired consistency. Adding extra milk will make this thinner/runnier, adding less will make for a thicker frosting.
  • Using an offset spatula, spread this over your warm rolls.

Instructions for Marshmallow Webs and Decorating

  • Place your marshmallows in a small saucepan and heat over a medium-low setting, stirring occasionally until they melt.
  • Once melted smooth, remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes, until not too hot to touch.
  • Carefully pinch a bit of the marshmallow with the fingers of one hand. And then pinch this glob with your other hand. Pull the marshmallow goo apart, stretching it to look like webbing.
  • Drape the webbing over your frosted rolls. It will be sticky, so you'll need to pull it across and allow it to stick to the sides to hold in place.
  • Add edible eye candies to the web while its still good and fresh, for best (and most intentional) stickiness!
  • Serve the rolls still warm and gooey!

Notes

Using food color gel
  • I highly recommend using food color gels instead of liquid food coloring because these will give a more vibrant color while using less dye. This means that the tub of dye will last longer.
  • Depending on the type of gel being used, you can either squeeze a couple of small drops into the dough mixture or use a toothpick to add the color.
Black Cocoa Powder
Black cocoa powder is a deep and intense cocoa powder, that gives a naturally black coloring to recipes. 
The black cocoa powder in this recipe can be substituted for normal dutch-processed cocoa powder, however, this will not give the depth of black coloring to the recipe. If you want to accentuate the color, you can add a drop or two of black food coloring gel.

Nutrition

Calories: 486kcalCarbohydrates: 66gProtein: 6gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 104mgSodium: 327mgPotassium: 144mgFiber: 2gSugar: 42gVitamin A: 666IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 61mgIron: 1mg
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