chocolate peanut butter sweet rolls

Chocolate dough is swirled with peanut butter and chocolate chips and topped with a decadent peanut butter cream cheese frosting for the perfect Chocolate Peanut Butter Sweet Rolls. You're gonna fall in love!

Y'ALL GUESS WHAT. Do you know what this post is? Do you know why it's special? Welllll... it's my 500th post on this little blog of mine! I know, I know, it blows my mind too. How have I been blogging long enough to have 500 posts? How have I even managed to make that many recipes?! I guess that makes me feel a little better about having a progressively harder time at coming up with new content. I've already made all of it. 😉 To celebrate, I made these amazing Chocolate Peanut Butter Sweet Rolls, with chocolate dough and peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Can you even? Because I can't.

I will confess that I made these sweet rolls on a whim, and then later accidentally realized how close I was to my post-aversary that I decided to save them for this special occasion. It really was fate though, because if you are brave enough to go aaaaaaallll the way back to my very first post... you'll see it was a sweet roll post. So really, we've come full circle! And if we're being that precise about it, I actually still use the same exact dough recipe. You know what they say, if it ain't broke...

Alright, so let's talk about what I made today. THESE chocolate peanut butter sweet rolls are my latest and greatest! I decided to try something new this time, and actually put cocoa in the dough to create even more layers of flavor and deliciousness. I am honestly so pleased with how these came out! The chocolate dough does rise just a teeny bit less, but it's just as easy to work with as the traditional recipe. I then filled my dough with peanut butter, sugar, and chocolate chips for the breakfast-appropriate version of peanut butter cups. Peanut butter has protein, right? We're good. 😉 It's then topped with a nice slather of peanut butter cream cheese frosting, and sprinkled with more chopped up PB cups. Just for good measure.

It's crazy to think how much has happened over the last 500 little snippets of my life. I've been formally blogging for 6 years, but technically closer to 7. I started when I was still in high school, and now I've graduated college and I'm in PA school! I got engaged to my then-high school sweetheart. Hopefully we'll get married before another 500 posts pass 😉 I bought my own domain(s) and URL(s) after years of waiting for them to be released. I have learned SO much about food photography, recipe development, cooking, running a blog, just literally juggling all.of.the.things. And I honestly wouldn't trade any of it for the world. I have had so much fun with y'all over the past 6 and a half years, and I hope you'll keep sticking around! I love y'all THE MOST. Seriously. This blog wouldn't be what it is without my fantastic readers!

Looking for more sweet roll recipes? {of course you are}. Check out my Orange Dark Chocolate Sweet Rolls, White Chocolate Strawberry Rolls, Sour Cherry Chocolate Rolls, Peach Cinnamon Rolls, Chai Pear Cinnamon Rolls, Berry & Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls, Lemon White Chocolate Rolls, S'mores Rolls, and Nutella Hazelnut Rolls. Can you believe I've never shared a REGULAR cinnamon roll recipe? Maybe I should get on that next. 😉

Print Recipe

chocolate peanut butter sweet rolls

Prep Time6 hours hrs

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time6 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Servings: 12 -14 rolls

Author: Valentina | The Baking Fairy

Ingredients

• *for the rolls*
• 1 cup milk {dairy or non-dairy}
• 1 ¾ cups white flour {+ ¾ cup separated}
• ¼ dark cocoa powder {regular is okay too!}
• ¼ cup vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ½ tablespoon instant active dry yeast {about ½ a package}
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• *for the filling*
• ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
• 2-3 tablespoon sugar
• ¼ chocolate chips
• *for the frosting*
• 4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1-2 tablespoon peanut butter to taste
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• chopped peanut butter cups

Instructions

• In a large nonstick pot, combine the milk, oil, and ¼ cup of sugar. Heat up to about 120F {warmer than body temperature but NOT burning hot} over medium heat, then remove from burner and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes to allow the yeast to activate.
• Afterwards, mix in the 1 ¾ cups of flour and ¼ cup of cocoa, cover the pot with a clean tea towel, and let the dough rise for about 1 hour.
• After the first rise, add in the salt, baking powder, baking soda, and additional flour. Knead until all the flour has been absorbed, and add more if needed. You want the dough to be soft and smooth but not too sticky! Using a sharp knife, cut an X on top of your dough {this helps it rise }, cover with a tea towel again, and let rise for an additional 6+ hours. The cocoa does make the dough a little slow to rise, so let it rise overnight if you can!
• After the second rise, lightly flour a clean surface, and dump the dough on top. Knead it for 2-3 minutes, adding more flour as needed. The dough should be smooth and easy to work with, so add flour if it's too sticky!
• Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rough rectangle, making sure you don't roll it out too thin. Spread the peanut butter all over the surface (I find that microwaving it for a few seconds before trying to spread it makes it a little easier), then sprinkle on the sugar and chocolate chips
• Starting on the long side closest to you, roll up the dough, being careful that no filling falls out of the sides.
• Using a large, smooth knife, cut 1½-2 inch slices of dough, and place them in a greased 9x13 pan. Make sure to leave some space between the rolls to allow them to rise more!
• At this point, you can cover the pans with plastic wrap and either let them rise for 1 hr in a warm place, or place them in the refrigerator overnight {if you hadn't already let them rise overnight once}.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375F. Bake the rolls 15-18 minutes, until the tops appear dry and no longer doughy.
• While the rolls cook, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, peanut butter, and butter with a hand mixer until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt, and beat until creamy and fluffy.
• Let rolls cool, then spread with frosting. Sprinkle with the pieces of peanut butter cups. Enjoy!

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