Strawberry Chocolate Rolls

For my birthday last year, I received a mini bread machine from my parents and I’ve mainly been using it to make bread for toast. I like to set the machine before going to bed so I wake up to the beautiful aroma of freshly baked bread. Seriously, plain white bread has never tasted better.

The first non-loaf bread I tried making using my bread machine were cinnamon rolls. No joke, they were the best cinnamon rolls I had ever had. Ever. I believe Tristan licked his plate (I may or may not have done the same). These strawberry chocolate rolls are the cousins of the classic cinnamon roll. They’re just as fluffy but lighter with the addition of fresh strawberries. They’re the perfect treat for an early spring brunch.

Put all of the ingredients into your bread machine and put it on the dough setting.

After your dough is finished, take it out onto a well-floured surface, cover it with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let it rest for about 10 to 15 minutes.

While your dough is resting, add the chopped strawberries, sugar, cinnamon, and corn starch into a small pan on medium heat and cook until it thickens. Set it aside and let it cool.

Roll out your dough to a 20in x 12in (50cm x 30cm) rectangle using a rolling pin. Spread the strawberry mixture on top and sprinkle over the chocolate chips. Make sure you leave some space around the edges so you can seal the edges shut. We don’t want to waste any of the strawberries or chocolate chips!

Roll the dough into a log and pinch the edges. Cut your log into 12 and line the rolls into a 9-inch round pan (or any pan you like). I like to grease the pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper to ensure nothing sticks. Cover the pan with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let it rise for about 30 minutes. While you’re waiting, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

Bake the rolls for 20 minutes, or until golden on top. The smell of the strawberries while these were in the oven was unbelievable.

While the rolls are still warm, smear the cream cheese frosting on top.

Now just grab a roll (or two or three) and enjoy!

Do you see the fluffy bread, and the strawberries and chocolate melting into each other? I didn’t add a lot of sugar to the strawberries or the cream cheese frosting, so while these have chocolate in them, they’re not overly sweet.

Looking at all these photos, I may just have to have one more before calling it a night.