Gooey Chocolate Rolls

How to Make Soft & Gooey Chocolate Rolls

Can I knead this dough by hand?

Yes! You can knead this dough by hand without a stand mixer & dough hook. It may take some more time and upper body strength! Check out my full tutorial on how to knead dough by hand here.

How to make FLUFFY rolls:

The key is to ONLY add as much flour as needed to handle the dough. It’s better for the dough to be sticky at the start. If you add in too much flour you’ll wind up with dense rolls instead of light and fluffy ones. This is true of any yeast recipe.

Depending on your kitchen environment and the brand of flour you’re using, you may not need all of the flour the recipe calls for! Likewise, you may need more. You’re looking for a dough that’s very soft, smooth, pliable, and doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.

Also be sure your dough passes the windowpane test after kneading. Refer to my kneading tutorial here if you don’t know what that means.

How long does this dough take to rise?

This dough is an enriched dough. It has ingredients including milk, butter, sour cream, sugar, and eggs to make it ultra rich, tender, and soft once baked. But those ingredients can also increase rising time. For me the dough took 2 hours for the first rise, and 90 minutes for the second rise.

Rising times will depend on the warmth and humidity of your kitchen so keep that in mind. If your kitchen is particularly cold, heat your oven to the lowest temperature setting for a few minutes then turn it off. You want it to be no warmer than 90°F in the oven. Place your dough inside and allow to rise. This will speed things up!

How to tell when the dough is risen?

The dough should double in volume for the first rise. I always like to use a glass mixing bowl to rise my dough in so I can see how much it’s risen more easily.

The best way to tell if the dough is risen enough to shape is to perform the ripe test. Press two fingers in the risen dough up to the second knuckle and then take them out. If the indentations remain the dough is “ripe” and ready for punch down. If not, cover and let the dough rise until the indentations do remain.

Now the dough is ready to be rolled out and shaped into rolls! Allow the shaped rolls to rise again until a gentle indentation from your finger remains.

How to make chocolate cinnamon roll filling

We’re basically replacing the cinnamon with cocoa powder in the filling for this recipe! Beat the butter, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and pinch of salt in an electric mixer until extremely well combined and fluffy. Whipping the filling is an extra step and will dirty more dishes, but it really creates such a gooey filling.

Brown sugar makes for a more gooey and flavorful filling than white sugar.

How to Shape Perfect Chocolate Roll Spirals

As you roll the dough up into a log, stretch it towards you and over so it stays tight instead of floppy. Finish off the spiral with the seam side down to seal in the filling. Push the ends into the center slightly then cut off the ends so it’s even.

How to Slice Chocolate Spiral Roll Dough

It’s important to slice the log of dough without squashing it if you want pretty spirals. The best tool for that is a very sharp chef’s knife that you use sweeping motions, not sawing motions. If you don’t have a super sharp knife you can also use a serrated knife and sweeping motions. Or you can use dental floss to slice the dough, but be sure it’s unflavored.

To get evenly sized pieces cut the log directly in half so you have two logs. Then cut each log in half again. Cut each remaining piece into 3 pieces for a total of 12.

How to Make Cocoa Icing

While the rolls bake, combine the icing ingredients in a small mixing bowl until a smooth pourable icing forms. Make sure to sift your powdered sugar and cocoa powder first so the glaze is nice and smooth. This is actually fairly similar to donut glaze! You can flood the rolls with the glaze, or just lightly drizzle it over if you prefer.

How to Make Gooey Chocolate Rolls Ahead of Time

These rolls are best served fresh and warm. Right out of the oven if possible! They absolutely taste best the day they’re baked and unfortunately don’t store very well. Luckily you can make the dough ahead of time.

Refrigerate the shaped but unbaked rolls in the pans you plan to bake them in. I like to let them rise at room temperature for about 30 minutes before refrigerating to give them a jump start on rising, especially in the winter when it takes longer. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. The dough should continue to rise slowly in the fridge. You can also freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost overnight.

When getting ready to bake, loosen the plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size. This will depend entirely on how much they rose in the fridge and how warm / humid your kitchen is. It may take just 20 to 30 minutes or it may take over an hour. Proceed with baking as the recipe is written.