Last year, my friend Emily sent me an email with instructions to make these rolls.  The girls and I made them, using crescent rolls, marshmallows and cinnamon & sugar.  We enjoyed them, but they didn't rise as much as I wanted.  I found a recipe on the web that used frozen rise and bake dinner rolls and I thought they might get a little more height so that the effect of the empty tomb would be more dramatic. 

After a failed attempt yesterday (I set the rolls out to thaw and then got caught up with work and before I knew it, the rolls had risen and it was too late to add the marshmallows).

This morning,I got up bright and early and put a handful of the frozen rolls on a greased cookie sheet and covered them with saran wrap sprayed with cooking spray.

I let them thaw for a little over an hour, until they were soft but not yet starting to rise.  Then, I woke my two little helpers up.  They were excited to do this project, so waking them up was fairly easy.

Next, we patted the rolls down until they were flat.  And, of course, Gracie had to try the dough! 

Here’s where I decided to try something a bit different.  All the recipes I’ve seen call for regular-sized marshmallows.  I decided to use the giant ones (I found mine at Wal-Mart right beside the regular-sized ones).  I thought that the larger marshmallow might create a bigger tomb. To cover the large marshmallow, I combined three of the dinner rolls. (I only have two combined in this picture…but I realized that I needed three)

Cover the marshmallow completely with the dough.

Put some butter on your rolled-up marshmallow.  There are two ways to do this:  1)The Abigail Method…completely submerge the thing in melted butter.

or 2)The Gracie/Artistic Method….”paint” on some melted butter with a pastry brush.

Now, roll the buttery dough in cinnamon sugar.  (use 4 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon).  Again, this would be Abigail’s method…dump the entire bowl of cinnamon sugar over the top of your roll.

It might or might not be a good idea to taste one of the large marshmallows.  (Let’s just say Abigail was a complete pill after the sugar high from this wore off!)

Put your rolls on a greased cookie sheet and cover them again with saran wrap sprayed with cooking spray.

Let them rise for a least an hour.  We left and went to church to bake some sugar cookies for the Egg Scramble on Sunday.  We were gone about two hours.  When we came home, here’s what our rolls looked like:

Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes (mine could have cooked a few minutes longer).  Transfer them to a wire rack to cool.  Then, cut them open with a serrated knife.

Gracie read Matthew 28:5-6 (The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”)

And Abigail had the honor of rolling the “stone” away from the front of the tomb.

The tomb is empty!!!  He is risen!!!

Now, dinner rolls don’t often bring tears to my eyes, but these did.  Watching my girls’ excitement about the empty tomb was so, so special.  And, I think the large marshmallows and the rise and bake bread did make a difference.  I hope you all enjoy this holy weekend.