Homemade Resurrection Rolls (Empty Tomb Rolls)
Posted Mar 27, 2017, Updated Mar 13, 2023
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Celebrate the true meaning of Easter by making these Homemade Resurrection Rolls (Empty Tomb Rolls) from scratch! They really look like empty tombs and taste amazing!
Easter is my favorite holiday. I love everything about it. Getting dressed up, going to church, and celebrating the most significant event in human history, the death and resurrection of Jesus!
If you didn’t know, my husband is a pastor. In 2013 we moved from Chicago to Salt Lake City to plant a church. It has been a challenging yet beautiful adventure for our family. If you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, then you know that our faith is a huge part of our lives. It informs all of our decisions, including the way we celebrate Easter (i.e. no egg-laying bunnies come to our house).
One of the ways we celebrate is by making homemade resurrection rolls (or “empty tomb rolls)”. Sometimes I take the easy route and make this “recipe,” but when we have time I love making them from scratch because I think they look SO much more like actual tombs, and they don’t have any artificial ingredients.
In this post I’m going to walk you through the process of how we make these Homemade Resurrection Rolls with our kids, and the way we use each step as a teaching moment about the true meaning of Easter!
How to make Resurrection Rolls
I’ll walk you through the process of how to make resurrection rolls.
Make the dough and prep the ingredients.
This job used to fall mostly to mommy (minus some help kneading and mixing of course) because my kids are so little. But now Bethany loves to bake and often will make the dough herself.
Each ingredient in these Homemade Resurrection Rolls represents an important part of the resurrection story. The marshmallow represents Jesus’s body. We discuss how Jesus died (Matthew 27:45-57) and why (John 3:16-17).
So start by making the dough and letting it rise! Then roll it out and cut it into eight triangles.
To make ahead
The way I make this resurrection rolls recipe ahead of time is as follows:
- Make the dough.
- Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a damp tea towel.
- Put dough in the refrigerator to rise overnight.
- In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out into 8 triangles.
- Proceed with recipe as written.
Jesus’s Body Prepared for Burial
Next, we explain that Jesus’ body was prepared for burial according to the Jewish customs of the time. The butter and cinnamon sugar mixture represent the oils and spices used to do this. The kids dip their marshmallows in butter and then roll them in cinnamon sugar. This is probably their favorite part (besides eating them) because they get messy! (John 19:38-42).
Explain the significance of Jesus’ death.
Then we discuss why Jesus needed to die. We explain that we’re all sinners (Romans 3:23) and that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). In order for our sins to be forgiven a perfect sacrifice had to be made, and that was only possible in the death of Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Sealing the Tomb
Next we explain that the rolls (dough) represent the tomb. The kids put the marshmallow on the dough and then roll it up very tight. NOTE: You want to make sure there are no cracks or holes in your rolls, otherwise the marshmallow will ooze out. So I let the kids have some fun rolling and then double check to be sure they’re good to go!
We use this opportunity to teach them that the tomb was heavily guarded and secure (Matthew 27:62-66). The Romans put an enormous rock in front of the entrance to the tomb and assigned armed guards to keep watch outside. We emphasize how it would be impossible for a mere man to get in or out of the tomb.
Bake the empty tomb rolls!
We put the Homemade Resurrection Rolls in the oven and explain that Jesus was in the tomb for 3 days (Matthew 12:40). I turn on the lights in the oven and let the kids watch them bake.
While the resurrection rolls are baking we explain that God loved us so much that He sent His one and only son, Jesus, to come to earth and enter into our messy sinful lives. But He didn’t sin, He lived perfectly (John 3:16). We tell them that Jesus trades places with us. He was innocent and didn’t deserve any punishment, but He took our punishment of death. We explain that we are guilty and should be the ones who are “in the oven,” but Jesus took our place.
It’s fun to use a real life example with the kids here. If Bethany took a toy from Naomi and was supposed to get a time out, but Gabe said he would go to time out instead of her. Gabe took Bethany’s punishment, even though he did nothing wrong…in the same way that Jesus didn’t do anything wrong but took our punishment!
Step 6: He is risen
When we remove the empty tomb rolls from the oven we discuss the resurrection! (Matthew 28:1-20)! The kids open the Homemade Resurrection Rolls to see that the marshmallow is GONE….just like Jesus’s body was no longer in the tomb when the women came to see him on Sunday. We discuss the importance of the resurrection in our lives and that salvation comes by grace alone through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9)!
Then we explain that this whole story is called The Gospel, or “good news” and ask them to explain to us how Jesus’s death and resurrection is good news for them!
Celebrating the meaning of Easter
Making these Homemade Resurrection Rolls is really a fun and delicious way to celebrate the true meaning of Easter with your family! We do this little activity after we’ve already spent two weeks in homeschool learning about Easter. One of my favorite tools to teach the kids are these Resurrection Eggs or find them here: resurrection eggs! For whatever reason they adore them and ask me to tell the Easter story using the eggs multiple times every day!
On Easter we hide larger versions of the items found in the resurrection eggs around the house and have the kids find them. Then we ask them to put the items in order and they take turns explaining the significance of each item to Easter!
Homemade Resurrection Rolls: Substitutions
I recommend making these resurrection rolls exactly as written, however, here are some potential substitutions.
- All-purpose flour. You can substitute up to half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. Bread flour can also be used.
- Large marshmallows. I usually use the standard sized marshmallows, but this year I tried the jumbo mallows and they worked really well (see photo below). They leave more of a gooey mess and ooze out more than just melt, but the size of the “tomb” is significantly larger.
- Butter. vegan butter can be used as a dairy-free substitution.
- Milk. coconut milk is a great dairy-free alternative that works well in this resurrection roll recipe.
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Homemade Resurrection Rolls
Ingredients
For the dough:
- ½ cup milk (warm, 105 degrees F)
- 1 TBS granulated sugar
- 2 tsp yeast (active dry)
- 3 TBS salted butter melted
- 3 TBS granulated sugar
- 1 egg lightly beaten at room temperature
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour!
Other Ingredients:
- 8 large marshmallows
- 3 TBS granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 TBS salted butter melted
Instructions
- Add milk, 1 TBS sugar and yeast to the pan of your standing mixer fitted with the dough hook and stir to combine. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes or until frothy/foamy.
- Add butter, 3 TBS sugar, egg, and vanilla and mix on low speed to combine.
- Add salt, cinnamon and flour and mix on medium-high speed until a slightly tacky but firm ball forms.
- Remove dough from the mixer and knead with your hands until smooth.
- Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
- Let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.
- While dough is rising, combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir to combine.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, roll dough out into a 14” round circle about ¼” thick.
- Cut the dough into 8 equal-sized triangles.
- Take one marshmallow and dip it into the melted butter until all sides are completely coated.
- Remove from the butter and place the marshmallow into the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll the marshmallow until completely coated in cinnamon sugar.
- Place the coated marshmallow in the center of one of your triangles of dough.
- Fold the dough around the marshmallow and roll it in your hands until it is completely sealed. You do not want to leave any cracks at all or the marshmallow will ooze out.
- Once completely sealed, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Repeat with the remaining 7 marshmallows.
- Cover rolls with a tea towel and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Once oven is preheated, bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown.
- Let cool on a wire rack and then peek inside!
Video
Notes
To make ahead:
- Make the dough.
- Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a damp tea towel.
- Put dough in the refrigerator to rise overnight.
- In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out into 8 triangles.
- Proceed with recipe as written.
Ingredient Substitutions
- All-purpose flour. You can substitute up to half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. Bread flour can also be used.
- Large marshmallows. I usually use the standard sized marshmallows, but this year I tried the jumbo mallows and they worked really well (see photo below). They leave more of a gooey mess and ooze out more than just melt, but the size of the “tomb” is significantly larger.
- Butter. vegan butter can be used as a dairy-free substitution.
- Milk. coconut milk is a great dairy-free alternative that works well in this resurrection roll recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More easter recipes
Check out some of our favorite easter recipes.
- The best carrot cake, made from scratch – also try these carrot cake cupcakes.
- These mini egg cookies and healthy nest cookies are go-to’s every year for our family.
- You have to make these mini egg brownies!
- The best mashed potatoes and homemade dinner rolls are our go-to side dishes.
- Make our favorite egg salad recipe or the best deviled eggs recipe to use up leftover hard-boiled eggs.
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Turned out really well and tasty. I had to add almost an extra cup of flour before ot became tacky but that was no issue. Word of warning, use regular marshmellos and not campfire marshmallows, used what we had on hand but the campfire ones didn’t dissolve and slept the dough, no mess though. Will make again!
I may have missed it but are there directions on how to make the frosting to make the cross on top? Thanks!
This is an awesome idea! Thank you so much!
Have you ever done this with sourdough? I am thinking replace the milk and half a cup of flour with sourdough starter, proof 8 hours, roll and wrap, then put in fridge overnight and bake in the morning??
My husband and I planted a church in Idaho 44 years ago and now I’m the Children’s Director in the church my son is planting here in Idaho. I made these with my 7 children and now make them with my grandchildren and will make them in a station group during our Good Friday service. I will be praying for you, your family and your church. Praise the Lord for faithful followers.
Thank you, Robin! Happy Easter!
Is it ok to leave the dough at room temperature for 6 hours before baking? We made the dough and then got busy so took awhile to get back to it. Thanks.
Love this idea and recipe! 💗
Thank you so much for sharing a homemade recipe!! I can’t wait to start this tradition the night before Easter.