Empty Tomb Rolls (or Resurrection Rolls) are the perfect Easter recipe! Wrap a marshmallow (dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar) with crescent roll dough and bake. But when you bite into it, the marshmallow is gone (it melts into caramel-ly mallow goodness.) An empty roll, to symbolize the empty tomb. Not only is it a fun object lesson for kids, these buttery cinnamon-sugar rolls are gooey and DELICIOUS!

Close-up of golden-brown resurrection crescent rolls, with one roll cut open to reveal a gooey, melted marshmallow filling oozing out onto the baking sheet.

2026: I posted this recipe for the first time back in 2017, when my kids were 6, 4, and newborn. Here’s what was going on back then!

“Happy Good Friday everyone! We are just finishing up our spring break and the kids have had such a fun week. We didn’t do anything special, just a couple small outings and lots of time on the trampoline. Isn’t spring just the best time of year? I love Easter.

One of the outings we took was with some friends to the local fish hatchery. It was almost as boring as it sounds. But the kids got to feed the fish and smell all the wonderful fishy smells, and run around on a giant play structure that looked like fish eggs, so that was cool, I guess?? My favorite part was the visitors center where they had all the plaques translated into at least 8 foreign languages. You know, just for all the Bulgarian visitors we get at the fish hatchery??

Close-up of golden-brown crusted resurrection rolls with gooey marshmallow filling, sitting on a baking tray with melted sugar and spices around them.

What are your Easter traditions? I always think it’s so fun to hear what other people do every year for the holidays. Eric just told me the other day that they never did egg hunts growing up. Say whaaaaa? The Easter Bunny would come at night and leave a basket of goodies for them, and it would just be set out in the morning. And NO egg hunt.

Kids LOVE finding hidden stuff (we regularly hide pieces of paper or objects that have to do with the lesson for our weekly family devotional) so I have no idea why you would skip the funnest part of Easter.

Our “Easter Bunny” growing up always hid eggs, and not the candy filled kind, the REAL kind. I remember one year we didn’t count well and sometime in July we could smell that there was one still out in our yard somewhere. That was a little less than fun of a hunt. (But I still make my family hide real boiled eggs every year, because TRADITION)

Close-up of golden, cinnamon-sugar coated resurrection rolls in a baking tray, with some creamy white icing melting between the rolls.

Happy Easter everyone! I’m so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, who is our redeemer because of that empty tomb. Because of him, I find inner peace over and over, even when it seems impossible. These beliefs are the most important part of my life. I’m so grateful to live in a place where I have the freedom to say what I think and believe what I want, and that you can too. We are so lucky guys! I hope you have a wonderful weekend celebrating with your family!”

Cinnamon Marshmallow Surprise

Okay guys, welcome to the gooiest, stickiest, marshmallow-stretch-iest experience of your life! Have you ever had Resurrection Rolls? Really they should be called Gooey Cinnamon Marshmallow Rolls. Seriously, Jesus lesson or not, these rolls are amazing.

Here’s the situation: take a big marshmallow and roll it in some butter, then cinnamon sugar. Wrap that up in some Crescent Roll dough. Roll that whole thing in butter and cinnamon sugar. Bake it up and VOILA! Ooey gooey goodness.

This is a great object lesson to do if you have little ones (or not-so-little-ones…) My kids love making these Resurrection Rolls with me, we’ve done it every Easter for years now. We make the rolls and wrap up the marshmallow, which represents Jesus’ body in the tomb. Then you bake them and the rolls are puffy and hollow inside, but the marshmallow has disappeared, just like Jesus was resurrected and left his tomb.

A hand holds a cinnamon sugar pastry, revealing a gooey, melted marshmallow center. More pastries with oozing marshmallow filling are stacked below on a tray.

Tips and Tricks

  • You have to seal your resurrection rolls very well. Make sure the dough is covering the marshmallow completely. If the marshmallow seeps out, it will puff up and leak out, making the most amazing marshmallow stretch situation when you take them out of the oven. Okay, maybe I’m not selling this technique, but if you want the object lesson to work, seal the rolls well.
  • Don’t forget to roll the dough in butter and cinnamon sugar! Some recipes just have you roll the marshmallow, but I’m telling you. Complete butter and sugar immersion is the way to go. (do you like my baptism joke 😂)

Important ingredients

This isn’t the full list, just a brief overview of a few key ingredients that really make this recipe work. Be sure to check out the recipe card for full details!

  • marshmallows are the star of the show. Now you see them, now you don’t! Normal-sized, jet-puffed marshmallows are the kind you’ll want to use, the jumbo ones won’t work. Using a handful of mini ones isn’t ideal, but it will work in a pinch!
  • crescent roll dough is the tastiest. You can use Pillsbury Crescent rolls if you are on a time crunch! They are not as tasty but they get the job done.
  • cinnamon sugar adds that perfect flavor and gives just a bit of crust to the outside of the rolls. Don’t skip it!

How to make resurrection rolls

Here’s everything you need! Pretty simple recipe. Just make sure you get large marshmallows!

Top: Baking ingredients including flour, cinnamon, milk, marshmallows, butter, brown sugar, and an egg on a marble surface. Bottom: Yeast and water being mixed in a metal bowl, partially blended.

Make sure your yeast gets nice and foamy with WARM water, not hot! I have a lot more details about this on my Crescent Rolls post, if you have never made homemade bread or rolls before.

Then add some butter to the milk and heat it up, just until warm, not hot.

Top: A glass measuring cup with melted butter. Bottom: The melted butter being poured from the measuring cup into a metal mixing bowl.

Then add it in to the yeast mixture, and add the sugar.

Top: A hand pours sugar from a white measuring cup into a metal mixing bowl with eggs. Bottom: A single raw egg sits in a metal bowl with sugar and another ingredient, ready to be mixed.

Add in the egg, salt, and the first cup of flour.

Two images: Top shows a hand adding flour from a measuring cup into a bowl with batter and a blue spatula. Bottom shows the bowl with fully mixed, lumpy batter.

Stir it together with the spatula, then switch to the dough hook (or use a sturdy wooden spoon if you are doing it by hand)

Two photos of a metal mixing bowl: both show a thick batter with a mound of flour on top, ready to be mixed. The second photo includes a dough hook partially submerged in the mixture.

Add in all the rest of the flour. It’s a very sticky dough! Knead for about 5 minutes.

Two images: the top shows dough being kneaded on a stand mixer hook above a metal bowl; the bottom shows the finished dough in the same bowl being sprayed with oil by a hand holding a yellow and red can.

Scrape the dough into a ball and coat with oil, I’m lazy and just spray the top and sides of the bowl.

Two images of bread dough in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. The top image shows the dough before rising; the bottom image shows the dough after rising, having expanded to fill more of the bowl.

Until I remember that I need my stand mixer bowl for something else and transfer it to another bowl for the rise. 😂 Wait about an hour for it to double in size.

A soft, lightly floured dough rests on a surface in the top image, while in the bottom image, the dough is divided into two pieces next to a black spatula.

Split the dough in half and roll out one half:

Two images show dough on a floured surface: the top image has a round ball of dough, and the bottom image shows the dough being rolled flat with a wooden rolling pin.

into a circle about 12-13 inches wide.

A hand with pink nail polish presses a round sheet of dough on a cloth. In the next image, the dough is cut into six triangular pieces. A rolling pin is visible in the upper corner.

Then cut it into 6 pizza slices.

Stretch the tip of the triangle like this, to give yourself enough space to roll up the marshmallows.

Top: A hand stretches a triangular piece of dough on a floured surface. Bottom: A hand holds a bowl with melted butter and two marshmallows, next to bowls of sugar and cinnamon.

Dip each mallow in butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar.

Top: Three marshmallows rolled in cinnamon sugar inside a white bowl. Bottom: A cinnamon sugar-coated marshmallow placed on a triangle of raw dough, ready to be wrapped or baked.

Place your cinnamon sugar mallow on the dough, then wrap it up.

A hand with a ring folds dough around a filling on a lightly floured surface, showing the process in two steps: starting the roll and folding the end over.

Try to get this sealed here on the end with your fingers. This will help prevent mallow eruptions! As tasty as they are.

A hand folds dough around a ball of filling on a floured surface, shaping it into a pastry. The images show the process of sealing the edges to fully enclose the filling.

Tuck it all the way in and try to make it nice and tight.

A hand rolls dough into crescent shapes on a floured surface. Below, a crescent roll is dipped into a bowl of melted butter, with more dough, butter, and baked rolls nearby.

Then dunk the whole thing in butterrrrrrr yes, live your best life

and don’t forget the cinnamon sugar.

A bowl with a pastry roll being coated in cinnamon sugar, and a baking tray filled with several unbaked golden-brown, cinnamon-sugar coated pastries arranged in rows.

Line them up on the pan and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

A baking sheet filled with unbaked, crescent-shaped dough rolls coated in cinnamon sugar, partially covered with plastic wrap, ready to be baked.

And let these babies rise! Look at that puff. Yum.

A tray of cinnamon sugar-coated rolls is shown up close pre-bake, then placed inside an oven to bake. The pastries are golden brown and arranged side by side, ready for baking.

Then stick them in the oven and watch them rise even more.

A tray filled with freshly baked crescent rolls topped with golden brown cinnamon sugar, some with melted filling visible at the edges.

Then, dig in. These are SO GOOD.

A close-up of a golden-brown, cinnamon-sugar-coated empty tomb roll being sliced with a knife on a baking sheet, surrounded by other similar pastries.

Don’t forget to cut one in half to show off the center!

A close-up of a resurrection roll with a golden, flaky crust, split open to reveal a gooey cinnamon sugar filling, with sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on the white plate beside it.

Voila! Empty tomb!

Variations

  • Puff Pastry: see below the recipe for a photo of this version. It’s my preferred recipe when I want to make these quick-and-easy. Make sure to seal the marshmallows really well!
  • Pillsbury: Lots of people like to make these rolls with refrigerated crescent roll dough, like a can of Pillsbury. It’s definitely faster because you can skip all the rising. But it’s definitely not the same flavor!!
  • Dinner rolls: You can also use frozen or homemade dinner roll dough. Try these rolls with my Aunt Shirley’s Famous Dinner Rolls, they would be perfect!

What to serve with resurrection rolls

I love a good Easter breakfast or brunch. I’ve been making these rolls with my kids for years now, so they are of course always the star of the show. Here are a few of my favorites to round out the meal! You can always peruse the Breakfast recipe page for even more ideas.

A close-up of a baked resurrection roll with a gooey, melted marshmallow filling oozing out from the center, surrounded by crumbs and a golden, cinnamon-sugar crust.

How to store leftovers

These rolls will do fine in an airtight container on the counter for 2-3 days. They will start to get a little soggy over time, so the faster you can eat them the better. If you really can’t finish them all, I’m sure your friends or neighbors would love for you to share this wonderful Easter gift! ;)

You can freeze leftover rolls as well. I prefer making them fresh, they tend to taste a bit dried out for my personal preference, but it’s not the end of the world! If you want to freeze leftovers, place baked, cooled rolls on a baking sheet and flash freeze for about 30 minutes. Transfer to a ziplock freezer bag and place in the freezer, where they will be good for 1-2 months. They will start to dry out over time so don’t wait too long. To eat again, put the rolls back on a sheet pan and cover with foil. Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until warm.

Can these be made ahead?

These rolls can easily be made ahead. Prep the rolls completely, all the way up to (but not including) the baking step in the recipe card. Spray one side of plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover the rolls on the baking sheet tightly, then place them in the refrigerator. The rolls can stay there for up to 24 hours. To bake, let the baking sheet sit out on the counter for about 30 minutes while you bring the oven up to temperature, then bake as directed in the recipe card.

I have heard that you can freeze unbaked rolls as well, but it isn’t something I have personally tried so I cannot vouch for it. If you try it let me know! The process is to prep the rolls for baking, then flash freeze for 30 minutes and transfer to a ziplock freezer bag. To bake, place the rolls on a cookie sheet and thaw in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter for several hours. Once thawed, bake as directed in the recipe card.

More Easter favorites

There are sooo many good recipes to choose from! You definitely need to go through the Easter Recipes page for more ideas because it’s one of my favorite holidays so I have plenty of recipes to go with it.

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Resurrection Rolls

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Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Rise Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total: 2 hours
Servings: 12 rolls
Close-up of golden-brown resurrection crescent rolls, with one roll cut open to reveal a gooey, melted marshmallow filling oozing out onto the baking sheet.
Empty Tomb Rolls (or Resurrection Rolls) are the perfect Easter recipe! Wrap a marshmallow (dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar) with crescent roll dough and bake. But when you bite into it, the marshmallow is gone (it melts into caramel-ly mallow goodness.) An empty roll, to symbolize the empty tomb. Not only is it a fun object lesson for kids, these buttery cinnamon-sugar rolls are gooey and DELICIOUS!

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons water, warm, not hot
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup whole milk, warm, not hot
  • 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 stick
  • 1 teaspoons kosher salt, if you are using table salt, use 3/4 teaspoon
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour, divided

To assemble the rolls:

  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 12 large marshmallows

Instructions

  • Make the dough: In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine 1 tablespoon yeast and 2 tablespoons warm water. Touch the water with your wrist. It should feel like lukewarm bath water, about 105 degrees F. (Do not use HOT water, it will kill your yeast!)
  • Proof the yeast. Let the water and yeast sit for about 5 minutes. Check to make sure it's getting bubbly and foamy. See photos! (If not, you've killed your yeast with too hot water. Dump it and start over!) 
  • Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar to the yeast and water mixture.
  • In a glass measuring cup, add 3/4 cups whole milk and 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter. Warm in the microwave in 30 second intervals until the milk is warm (not hot!) It should be about the same temperature as the water. The butter will not melt completely, but will be soft enough to stir in. If you heat it up too much, no problem, stick it in the fridge or freezer until it is baby-bath warm. Don't add it to the yeast when it's hot.
  • Add the warm milk and butter to the yeast and sugar.
  • Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
  • Add 1 large egg.
  • Add 1 cup of the flour. Measure your flour correctly: use a spoon to add flour to the 1 cup measurement, then level it off. Stir it all together with a rubber spatula.
  • At this point, if you are using a stand mixer, switch to stirring with the dough hook attachment. (If you are making this by hand, use a sturdy wooden spoon to stir in the flour.)
  • Add the remaining 1 and 3/4 cups flour, 1 scoop at a time, stirring thoroughly after each amount of flour is added. Use a spoon to add flour to each cup measurement, then level it off. The dough will be very loose and sticky. You can add a little bit more flour, but don't go much over 2 and 3/4 cup flour total. This dough is not going to form a ball as it mixes, as you may have seen with other recipes. See photos for guidance.
  • Knead the dough for 5 minutes, until is has come together a little bit. It will still be sticking to the sides of the bowl a bit.
  • Prepare the dough for rising. Scrape down the edges of the bowl with a spatula, shape the dough so that it is slightly rounded on top, and spray the heck out of the top with nonstick spray. Spray the edges of the bowl all the way to the top. Spray one side of a sheet of plastic wrap and cover the bowl.
  • Let the dough rise in a warm spot for at least 1 hour, until doubled in size. It might take a few minutes longer if your kitchen is cold. (Stick it on top of the fridge! Or see note to make a homemade "proofing box"*)
  • Prepare a baking sheet with silicone baking mats or parchment paper, or spray well with nonstick spray.
  • Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dough onto a very well floured work surface. (I love to use my pastry cloth).
  • Use a serrated knife or bench scraper to divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Set aside 1 piece on a floured surface and cover with the plastic wrap from the first rise (or a tea towel).
  • Roll the other piece into a circle that is about 12-13 inches.
  • Use a pizza cutter or chef's knife to cut the dough (like a pizza) into 6 equal triangles. (see photos)
  • Prepare the butter, sugar, and mallows. Melt 1/2 cup butter in a small bowl. Add 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon to another bowl and stir. Open up the bag of marshmallows.
  • Dip the marshmallows. Dip a few mallows in butter, coating each side. Then roll in the bowl of cinnamon-sugar.
  • Wrap the marshmallows. Stretch out the skinny end of one triangle of dough with your hands, so it is like a long piece of pizza.
  • Place a cinnamon-sugar marshmallow on the fat end of the triangle. Fold the corners up over the mallow. Roll the dough and marshmallow into a tight crescent. (see photos) Seal the edges with your fingers if you see any mallow poking through.
  • Dunk your wrapped roll in the butter. Yup, the whole thing. Tap off the excess.
  • Roll the buttery dough in cinnamon sugar. (Good luck. I promise, it's worth it. I like to do this assembly line style: dip all the mallows. Then wrap all the mallows in dough. Then keep one hand clean-ish and the other one is going to get buttery and sugar-y as you pass the wrapped dough from the butter to the sugar.)
  • Place each cinnamon-sugar roll on the prepared baking sheets, seam side down. Continue with rolling out the remaining dough and wrapping up the marshmallows. Place the rolls fairly close to each other, with about 1 inch of space or less between them. The rolls will rise higher if they have other rolls to lean on, forcing them to rise up rather than spreading out.
  • Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with nonstick spray and let rise at least 30-45 minutes, until about doubled in size. See note to make your own "proofing box."
  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F when your rolls are about half way done with this second rise.
  • Bake the pan of rolls at 375 for 12-15 minutes.
  • Test for doneness: You want the tops of the rolls to reach a nice golden brown color. The bottom of each roll should also be golden. If the rolls are browning on top but not browning on the bottom, cover the rolls loosely with foil for the last few minutes of baking.
  • Cool. Use a spatula to carefully remove the rolls from the pan to a cooling rack within two minutes after taking them out of the oven. The marshmallow gooeyness that has oozed out will start to harden fairly quickly.
  • Eat them hot! It's fun to use a sharp serrated knife to cut one roll in half, to show the "empty tomb" really clearly.
  • Storage: Store these rolls covered or in a ziplock, right on the counter. Don't refrigerate them! They will just dry out.
  • Reheating: To reheat these rolls, preheat the oven to 170 degrees F (Keep warm setting). Place on a baking sheet and warm for 5-10 minutes.  Or, microwave individual rolls for 10-15 seconds.
  • Freezing: You can freeze these rolls in ziplock bags, for up to 3 months. Let thaw in the closed ziplock bag on the counter, and then follow reheating instructions.

Notes

*Create your own proofing box for rising! Turn your oven on to 350 for 1 minute. Turn off the oven and touch the oven racks. If you can’t comfortably keep your hand on the rack, it’s too hot. Let it cool off a bit. When the oven racks are warm to the touch but NOT hot, add your rising dough to the turned-off oven. Let rise with the door shut. (If you use this method on the final rise, when the rolls are shaped, remember to set a timer to take the rolls out of the oven when you need to start preheating it. Don’t wait to preheat, or your rolls might fall before the oven is hot enough.) 
Double the recipe: This recipe is easy to double. Follow the dough recipe for my Crescent Rolls, it is an exact double of this recipe. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1roll | Calories: 387kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Potassium: 70mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 404IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 2mg
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Calories: 387
Keyword: bread, Cinnamon, crescent rolls, marshmallow, Rolls
Did you make this? I’d love to see it!Mention @thefoodcharlatan or tag #thefoodcharlatan!

I posted this recipe in 2017

This recipe is well beloved! We make it every single Easter without fail. I used to make it with puff pastry, here is what they looked like:

resurrection rolls

Lil monster 🤩 Doesn’t he look like he’s growling??

These are good with puff pastry, but homemade Crescent dough, as it is written now, is way better.

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Comments

  2. This sounds so indulgent! How many mini marshmallows per pastry square would you use? I’m thinking maybe five or six? It’s what I have on hand and would like to use them up.

    Reply

  3. So glad to see a Christian who is not ashamed of her Savior!! Thank you for the encouraging testimony. It made me praise our God!
    Cherie Hinseth

    Reply

  4. You are the most accomplished cook Karen, that I know.  I kind of feel like I know you even though we will probably not meet this side of heaven.  So glad you know Jesus personally.  He is why I’m still here 70 years later.   I feel 45 but alas, my birth certificate must be fake.
     Anyway, thanks for all the fun stories and yummy recipes.  Happy Resurrection Day.  :)

    Reply

  6. Ok, first of all, Eric is crazy! We totally did egg hunts, usually in the house. Our parents also used the actual Easter Eggs that we had dyed. Maybe he was too young to remember, but mostly they would hide jelly beans all over the house, he has to at least remember that! I remember running around looking for those all the time! And also finding many of them months later in random places in the house. These rolls look amazing! I am totally going to do this with my boys next year, thanks Karen!

    Reply

    1. Honestly, as he was telling me that you guys never did egg hunts, I was thinking to myself, this sounds like a case of bad memory, because I mean honestly, who doesn’t do egg hunts?? I love that they hid jelly beans but not inside eggs. That’s hilarious to me for some reason! When did plastic eggs become a thing anyway?

      And yes, make the rolls with the boys!! They will love it!!

      Reply