Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

I recently visited the Hermitage, home of the 7th president Andrew Jackson. I had a wonderful time seeing the home, grounds, and learning about chocolate history. The trip was sponsored by American Heritage Chocolate and they did a really interesting presentation about the history of chocolate from cocoa pod to drinking chocolate. I got to sample the American Heritage Chocolate. It is based off of colonial recipes and has some really delicious savory spices in it. I was also able to try some delicious recipes that were made with the American Heritage chocolate and ever since I have been thinking of creating my own recipe that uses American Heritage chocolate. I decided to make a chocolate cinnamon roll recipe and it is so good! This chocolate is the perfect addition because it is not too sweet and adds some extra flavors that go great with cinnamon.

Easy Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Recipe Using American Heritage Chocolate

My husband loves to make a homemade cinnamon roll recipe that starts from scratch and uses the stand mixer. I like to make an easier version that involves letting the bread machine do all the hard work. I will share the bread machine cinnamon rolls recipe with you today. However, you could also make this even easier if you wanted. You could use a store bought tube of cinnamon rolls. Just unroll the tube of dough and sprinkle in 1/4 cup of American Heritage Chocolate, then roll back up, break into individual rolls and bake.

American Heritage Chocolate combines all natural ingredients and exotic spices in historic chocolate recipes. These are reminiscent of what Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Ben Franklin would have enjoyed. It is an artisanal dark chocolate containing 63% cacao and it has a mildly spicy, slightly sweet taste and is flavored with a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, chili pepper, orange, anise and vanilla. American Heritage Chocolate is preservative-free, Kosher-certified, made without dairy, wheat, peanuts, or tree nuts, and is made in a facility that does not contain peanuts and tree nuts. It can be used in any recipe by replacing semi-sweet chocolate at a one-to-one ratio.

AMERICAN HERITAGE® Chocolate is usually only available at select historic locations. However, American Heritage® Chocolate Bites are now available—for a limited time only—at your local Cracker Barrel® Old Country Store while supplies last!

So basically, this easy cinnamon roll recipe is kicked up a notch with the addition of American Heritage Chocolate to the cinnamon filling. I hope you enjoy these easy bread machine cinnamon rolls. We sure did!

As a base for my recipe, I used one from my Bread Factory Cookbook for Bread Machines. I just tweaked it a bit with the addition of the American Heritage chocolate.

Baking Notes:

It says it will make 16 rolls but it depends on how you roll them and how big you slice them.

You can substitute regular semi-sweet chocolate chips for the heritage chocolate if you like. However, you will miss on the extra flavors of nutmeg, chili pepper, orange, anise that are in the heritage chocolate. If you are using chocolate chips, you can just pulse them in the food processor. This will get them to be a finer consistency so they roll in nicely.

You may also want to top them with this homemade cinnamon roll icing.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls Ingredients:

Rolls:

• 1 egg plus enough water to equal 1 cup
• 3 1/2 cups of bread flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup of white sugar
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Filling:

• 1/3 cup of butter softened
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 Tbsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of American Heritage Chocolate Drink finely granulated cocoa. (Or you could use an American Heritage Chocolate Block and grate it yourself.)

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup powered sugar
• 3 tbsp of milk
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla

How To Make Easy Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

Place roll ingredients in the bread machine pot in the order listed. Use the “Sweet Dough: setting and press start. When setting is complete, remove dough and place on a lightly floured surface.

Punch down and let stand in warm draft free place for 10-30 minutes. Punch down again and roll into 12 x 16 inch rectangle.

Mix filling ingredients together and spread evenly over dough. Roll up tightly starting at the 12 inch side.

Slice into 1 inch pieces and place into a greased 9×12 inch pan abut 1/2 inch apart.

Let stand in warm draft-free place for about an hour until double in size. Then bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until browned. OR instead, you can do what I did which is part of what makes these an easy cinnamon roll recipe (besides letting the bread machine do all the work) and after you slice them, just stick them in the fridge over night for easy baking in the morning.

If you chose the overnight option, allow them to warm up on the counter while you preheat the oven. Then bake as I mentioned before in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

When you pull out your bread machine cinnamon rolls, you can drizzle a little glaze on top. Then sprinkle with a little extra American Heritage Chocolate Drink finely granulated cocoa, for good measure.

I hope you enjoy this easy chocolate cinnamon roll recipe with American Heritage Chocolate. Let me know what you think.

Printable Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls Recipe:

Tag your creations with @familyfocusblog so I can see how they come out!

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Andrew Jackson Hermitage: A Nashville Area Family Attraction

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