Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls with Butterscotch Icing

Are these Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls with Butterscotch icing best for brunch or dessert? I'll let you decide just as long as you make these as soon as possible!

I crave cinnamon rolls 99% of my life. In my dream world (you know, the one where I’m a mac and cheese eater), every morning when I awake, a just slightly warm cinnamon roll will be waiting for me on my bedside table. I won’t need an alarm clock because the sweet fragrance of the cinnamon rolls gently wafting toward my pillow will be all I need to rouse.

I will wake up happy every single morning for the rest of my life.

A cup of coffee will also be waiting for me, but luckily for me, that generally happens anyway since I have the best husband on Earth. Though if he learned how to make a daily batch of cinnamon rolls, he might be able to score even more points. Ahem.

One fab thing about cinnamon rolls is that there are about a hundred and fifty fun varieties you can make. Probably more, even. This time I decided to try out Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls with Butterscotch Icing. Hoping that when I open my eyes in the morning, one of these luscious rolls will be waiting for me. Talk about having sweet dreams.

CHOCOLATE CHIP CINNAMON ROLLS WITH BUTTERSCOTCH ICING RECIPE

Are these chocolate chip cinnamon rolls breakfast or dessert?? Ah, the eternal question. I don't feel like I'm qualified to answer that for you and your family, so I'm going to leave that up to you. Just know that I've had them for Sunday brunch and then again later that same day for dessert and I felt like the happiest person alive. But I can only speak from personal experience

Like most cinnamon rolls, these aren't super difficult to make, but they do require some time. Also a little bit of space since you need to roll the dough out into a giant rectangle. I hope my step-by-step photos help you!

Start by heating the milk, vegetable oil, and ½ cup sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, until hot but not boiling. Set aside and cool to lukewarm. Once lukewarm, sprinkle the yeast on top of the milk and let it sit for one minute.

Stir the flour into the yeast mixture until just combined, without kneading. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a relatively warm place for an hour to rise. I LOVE checking on my dough after an hour and seeing how much it has risen. It's seriously like therapy to me.

Remove the towel and add baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix together to combine.

If you want, you can put your dough in the fridge now for a few days (just be sure to cover the bowl in plastic wrap). This is great because it lets you do a lot of the prep beforehand and then finish when you’re just about ready for the cinnamon rolls. Which is often first thing in the morning.

Or you can just keep pushing through because you can’t wait anymore and don't care what time of day it is when you're eating these chocolate chip cinnamon rolls with butterscotch icing!

Now, here's the part where you need a little bit of space. Place the dough on a floured surface and roll into a large rectangle, about 30×10 inches.

You can also check out my super messy kitchen counter if you’re so inclined. I’m just thankful I have a big enough counter to roll out dough like this in my little old apartment. If you don't, you can always roll the dough out in two portions (15x5 rectangles) and just split the filling ingredients between the two.

Using a pastry brush, brush about ¾ cup of the melted butter on the dough. Then sprinkle ¾ cup sugar, cinnamon, and mini chocolate chips over the top. omg this is the best ever.

Beginning at the long end farthest from you, begin to roll the dough tightly toward you. Be careful and go slowly. Pinch the seams together once you’re done.

And slice the roll into slices that are about 1 ½-inches. You’ll likely get between 14-18 rolls out of this.

Brush the remaining ¼ cup butter into the bottom of two pie plates. And place cinnamon rolls around the dish, being careful not to overcrowd. Here's another part where you can stop! You can cover these pie plates and put them in the fridge so you can bake in the morning (they should be good for about 3 days in the fridge); just make sure you bring them to room temperature before baking. You can also cover and put in the freezer for about 3 months.

I usually bake one of these plates of cinnamon rolls and cover the second and put it in the freezer for when another craving hits.

Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel for about 20 minutes, so they can rise (yes again!) and pre-heat oven to 370 degrees. When you remove the towel, you’ll be able to see that they’re a little bit bigger. Then you can pop them in the ovens for about 13-17 minutes.

While the chocolate chip cinnamon rolls are baking, whip up that butterscotch icing! It's really easy to have ready.

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, add the butter and brown sugar and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 2 to 3 minutes. Once the mixture begins bubbling, stir the butterscotch chips in and stir until melted.

Then pour the cream into the saucepan, while continuing to stir constantly. Stir for a couple more minutes, until mixture thickens and looks glossy.

Remove the pan from the heat and let rest about about 2-3 minutes. Then mix in the powdered sugar and salt.

You know what to do now, right? Obviously pour the butterscotch icing over the piping hot pan of chocolate chip cinnamon rolls. Obviously.

But if you’re having a brunch party or something, I’d highly recommend serving the rest of the butterscotch icing nearby… with easy access to a spoon. And an understanding with your guests that nobody judges anybody. Maybe make them sign a pact or something before they're allowed to sit down and eat.

Friends don’t judge friends who over-ice their cinnamon rolls.

And I certainly hope that friends don’t judge friends who do things like put chocolate chips in their cinnamon rolls. That wouldn’t be very nice.

Not only did I totally love the touch of the chocolate chips in these cinnamon buns, but I thought the chocolate and butterscotch icing combo was perfection. The rolls were ooey, gooey, and everything you really want cinnamon rolls to be.

I feel like butterscotch is too often ignored in this world and we need to introduce it into more desserts. Or breakfast items. Whatever the case may be.

The thing of this is… It's very possible for me to literally have a cinnamon roll waiting for me every morning. I’d just need to keep a few batches of these in the freezer at all times. Bake when needed and then re-heat a roll each morning.

In fact I have the second pan waiting for me in the freezer as we speak…

This could be my reality. And how easy was that to figure out? Sadly, I still haven’t figured out how to pull off that mac and cheese career. Stay tuned.

I can be pretty resourceful when needed.

What breakfast item would you like waiting for you every morning?

If you liked these chocolate chip cinnamon rolls, be sure to check out my Blueberry Funfetti Cinnamon Rolls or my Gingerbread Rolls with Eggnog Glaze. I also want to try this Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding from A Bajillian Recipes!

📖 Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls with Butterscotch Icing

Are these Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls with Butterscotch icing best for brunch or dessert? I'll let you decide just as long as you make these as soon as possible!

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Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls, Sweet Breakfast Recipes

Prep Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Rising Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Makes: 14 -18 rolls

Author: Sues

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
• 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
• 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ tablespoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) melted unsalted butter, divided
• ⅛ cup ground cinnamon
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips
• Butterscotch Icing (recipe below)

Butterscotch Icing

• 2 tablespoon unsalted buter
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup whole milk
• ⅓ cup butterscotch chips
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add milk, vegetable oil, and ½ cup sugar. Cook until very hot but not boiling. Set aside and cool to lukewarm.
• Once mixture is lukewarm, sprinkle yeast over the top of the milk and let it sit for one minute.
• Stir flour into the yeast mixture until just combined, without kneading. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a relatively warm place for an hour to rise.
• Remove the towel; add baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the dough; and mix together to combine.
• Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a large rectangle, about 30×10 inches.
• Using a pastry brush, brush about ¾ cup of the melted butter on the dough. Then sprinkle remaining ¾ cup sugar, cinnamon, and mini chocolate chips over the top.
• Beginning at the end farthest from you, begin to roll the dough tightly toward you. Be careful and go slowly. Pinch the seams together once you’re done. Slice the roll into slices that are about 1 ½-inches. You’ll likely get between 14-18 rolls out of this.
• Brush remaining ¼ C butter into the bottom of two pie plates. Place cinnamon rolls around the dish, being careful not to overcrowd.
• Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel for about 20 minutes, so they can rise and pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. 
• Bake for 13-17 minutes until rolls are cooked through and just turning golden around the edge.
• After removing cinnamon buns from oven, pour butterscotch icing over warm rolls.

Butterscotch Icing

• In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, add butter and brown sugar and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Once the mixture begins bubbling, stir the butterscotch chips in and continue stirring until melted.
• Pour the cream into the saucepan, while continuing to stir constantly. Stir for a couple more minutes, until mixture thickens and looks glossy.
• Remove the pan from the heat and let rest about about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the powdered sugar and salt.

Notes

• If you want to prep rolls the day before baking them, place bowl of dough in refrigerator after it rises and you add in baking powder, baking soda, and salt (step 4). Dough should stay good if bowl is tightly covered in fridge for about 3 days.
• Alternatively, you can work through step 7 and place tightly wrapped plates of cut rolls in fridge (up to 3 days) freezer (up to 3 months) until you're ready to bake. Bring to room temperature before baking.

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