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These Santa cinnamon rolls are a cute and festive breakfast that the whole family will love. Soft and warm cinnamon rolls with plenty of sweet and creamy icing are decorated to look like adorable Santa faces. From the red frosting hat to the candy eyes to the mini marshmallow beards, these sweet treats are sure to make everyone smile!
Christmas morning will be extra fun and delicious with these adorable Santa cinnamon rolls. This semi-homemade recipe uses refrigerated cinnamon roll dough as the base, so it’s incredibly quick and easy. Plus, everything you need to decorate these treats can be easily found at any regular grocery store.
Surprise your family with these for a special treat or enlist everyone’s help and have a fun family decorating project. Either way, you’ll make everyone’s day, and you might just create a new family holiday tradition!
💗 Why We Love This Recipe
- It’s a festive and fun treat that’s perfect for a special holiday breakfast.
- Kids will especially love the cute Santa faces, and they can help you decorate.
- You can create this adorable treat without any special tools or decorating equipment.
- Starting with refrigerated cinnamon rolls saves time and makes this recipe super easy.
Recommended Tools
- Parchment paper
- Cookie sheet
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
🛒 Ingredients
- Refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing pack
- Powdered sugar
- Red food coloring
- Candy eyeballs
- Red M&M minis or other small red candy
- Miniature marshmallows
🥄 How to Make Santa Cinnamon Rolls
Step One: Bake Cinnamon Rolls
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the cinnamon rolls on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Press down on each roll with a spatula or your hand and flatten slightly.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let the rolls cool completely before decorating
Step Two: Prepare the Frosting
- Combine the frosting packet and half a cup of powdered sugar in a small mixing bowl. Mix until well combined and smooth.
- Divide the frosting in half and place one half in a separate mixing bowl.
- Add red coloring to one of the bowls and mix until you reach the desired shade of red.
Step Three: Decorate
- Spread white frosting on the bottom halves of the cinnamon rolls to form the beard.
- Spread red frosting on the top halves of the cinnamon rolls to make the hat.
- Add candy eyes to each roll by putting a dab of white frosting on each eye and placing the eyes on the cinnamon roll between the red and white frosting.
- Put a bit of the frosting on a red candy (Skittles, M&Ms or small gumdrops) and place it on the face to make Santa’s nose.
- Add mini marshmallows as fur on the hat and beard, pressing each marshmallow into the frosting. If the frosting on the rolls has already dried, you can add a bit of frosting to each marshmallow before putting it in place.
Tips and Suggestions
- Bake cinnamon rolls in a glass baking dish. Before adding the rolls to the dish, cover the bottom with a thin layer of heavy cream and cover the rolls with foil before baking. The cream adds moisture for a more tender and pillowy pastry.
- Be sure to cool the cinnamon rolls completely before decorating. Otherwise, the icing mixture could slide off the sides due to the heat from the rolls.
- If you don’t have candy eyeballs, you can use brown M&Ms instead.
Variations
- Try this recipe with orange flavored cinnamon rolls, or any other variety that you prefer.
- If you want to make this recipe even easier, you can buy premade cinnamon rolls and frosting and just add the decorations.
- Make these into Santa hat cinnamon rolls. Cut the rolls into triangle shapes and cover the entire roll with red frosting. Use the marshmallows to create the fur trim on the hat.
How Do I Store Santa Cinnamon Rolls?
You can refrigerate these for up to a week, but make sure they are completely cooled before storing and place them in an airtight container in a single layer.
Can I Freeze Santa Cinnamon Rolls?
It’s not recommended. The texture of the rolls can become too dense once they’ve been frozen and thawed, and the candy decorations may not stay in place.
Santa Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 17.5 ounces refrigerated cinnamon rolls 1 can
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- red gel food color
- 10 candy eyeballs
- 5 small red candies
- 1 cup miniature marshmallows
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Line baking sheet with parchment.
- Separate cinnamon rolls and place on baking sheet about 2-4 inches apart. Using hands, press down to flatten a bit.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until just golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- In small mixing bowl combine cream cheese frosting that came with the rolls and add 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Mix until smooth. It should be fairly thick.
- Split the cream cheese mixture in half and add red food coloring to one of the halves. Stir until you get desired red color.
- Spread white frosting on the bottom halves of the cinnamon rolls in the shape of a beard.
- Spread red frosting on the top halves of the cinnamon rolls in the shape of a hat.
- Add candy eyes to each roll by placing a dab of white frosting on each eye and placing on the cinnamon roll between the red and white frosting.
- Dab a bit of the frosting onto a red candy (skittles, M&M or a small gumdrop) and place under the eyes as Santa’s nose.
- Add mini marshmallows as fur on the hat, and/or on the beard, pressing each marshmallow onto the frosting. If it’s already dry, add a dab of frosting to the marshmallow before placing on the cinnamon roll.
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