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These soft and fluffy s’mores cinnamon rolls start with a graham cracker-infused dough, are filled with cinnamon and chocolate, and finished with an easy marshmallow meringue topping.

S'mores cinnamon rolls in a cutting board.

A SUMMER TWIST ON MY FAVORITE CINNAMON ROLL RECIPE

If you’ve been around here long enough, you know my love for small batch cinnamon rolls runs deep– and so does my commitment to making yeast bread feel totally doable, even if it’s your first time working with it. These s’mores cinnamon rolls take my tried-and-true soft and fluffy dough (yes, the same one I use for all of my cinnamon roll recipes) and give it the gooey, toasty upgrade it deserves.

True to my s’mores philosophy, graham cracker takes center stage here. We mix finely crushed graham crackers right into the dough itself– no dusting on top and calling it a day. The filling brings in swirls of cinnamon and creamy milk chocolate, and instead of a typical cream cheese frosting, we’re topping it all off with a cloud of fresh meringue that looks fancy but is surprisingly simple.

Want a shortcut? You can absolutely swap in the marshmallow buttercream from my s’mores cookies or s’mores cupcakes for that same nostalgic flavor with even less effort.

INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED

Here’s a visual of what you’ll need for the yeasted dough and the meringue, but be sure to check the recipe card for exact amounts you’ll need for each part of these s’mores rolls.

Aerial photo of ingredients to make s'mores cinnamon rolls on a surface and text overlay labeling each ingredient.

STEP-BY-STEP WITH PHOTOS: HOW TO MAKE S’MORES CINNAMON ROLLS

This recipe and its instructions are pretty straightforward, but if you’ve never made meringue before (which is the s’mores roll topping), you may want to give yourself some extra time to get that one right.

OPTIONAL: MAKE THE MERINGUE TOPPING NOW OR LATER

In the recipe card, I instruct you to make the marshmallow meringue after the rolls have baked, but there’s nothing wrong with making it before that so it’s ready to go when the rolls are done baking. When you make it is entirely up to you and may depend on your level of comfort with meringue, as in it might take you longer than the 15 minutes allotted during the cooling time for the rolls if you’ve never made it before.

MAKE THE ROLL DOUGH

Combine the flour + graham cracker crumbs: add the graham cracker crumbs to the flour, then toss to combine. We’ll treat this just like we do pure flour when it comes time to start bringing the yeasted dough together, so set it aside for now.

A bowl of the dry ingredients to make s'mores cinnamon rolls.

Begin the dough: you’ll start by activating/blooming the yeast with warm water, then, add the rest of the wet ingredients (warm milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, and an egg). To this, you’ll also add half of the flour/graham mixture, all of the salt, and all of the softened butter before the remaining flour/graham mixture.

Yeast and water in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Activated yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Note: the graham cracker crumbs this will add a significant amount of dry ingredient to the dough, but trust the process. If your dough is struggling to come together, you can add a bit more water or milk 1 teaspoon at a time to help encourage cohesiveness.

Allow the dough to rest: my cinnamon roll dough does not require two rises, but it does need to rest a bit before shaping. This rest period allows the gluten to relax so that you can stretch and roll it into a rectangle more easily.

Roll into a rectangle: roll the dough into a 9″ x 12″ rectangle, or 12″ x 18″ for a double batch.

Prepare and add the filling: the filling for s’mores rolls is just like the cinnamon-sugar filling you find in my traditional cinnamon rolls, we’re just adding chocolate chips to all of it.

S'mores cinnamon roll dough in a rectangle with the filling on it before it gets rolled up.

Roll, slice, and allow rolls to rise: once you’ve filled your dough, roll it into a log starting with one of the long sides. This will be a little difficult with all of the filling stuffed inside, but be patient and keep your log tight while rolling it. Slice this into 6 evenly sized rolls, then place in a dish, cover with a towel, and allow to rise.

S'mores cinnamon roll dough sliced into individual rolls.

For a comprehensive guide to using yeast in a recipe, see my tutorial all about baking with yeast.

Bake the rolls: since the dough is brown already, you’ll be looking slightly darker browning on the tops of the rolls.

S'mores cinnamon roll dough after it has risen.

Allow to cool briefly: give the baked rolls about 10-15 minutes to cool while you prepare the meringue topping (or, see my note above about making it earlier in the process).

MAKE THE MARSHMALLOW MERINGUE

Make a double boiler: heat a small saucepan of water over medium heat until it steams. Choose a saucepan that can fit whatever bowl you’re using in the next step ensuring the water doesn’t touch the bowl (I recommend testing this out before heating the water– you only need about an inch or two of water to make this happen).

Combine the egg whites + sugar: combine the egg whites and granulated sugar in a bowl that either fits over your saucepan or the bowl of your stand mixer. Place this bowl over the steaming pot to create a double boiler (you can use an actual double boiler if you have one).

Cook the mixture: whisk the egg whites and sugar vigorously until the sugar melts completely and the egg whites become white and frothy. When the egg/sugar mixture is ready, remove the bowl from the heat and place the bowl back onto the stand mixer.

A glass bowl over a pot of simmering water to create a double boiler with egg whites, sugar, and a whisk in it.

Whip the sweetened egg whites: fit your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, add the vanilla extract and cream of tartar, and whisk the egg white/sugar mixture on high speed until medium peaks form (it will resemble the texture of shaving cream).

The bowl of a stand mixer with the beginnings of marshmallow meringue in it.

A whisk attachment for a stand mixer with marshmallow meringue on it.

Top the rolls + torch ’em: once you have medium peaks, dollop each roll with a big spoonful of the meringue onto the slightly cooled rolls and swirl it around, and toast each with a kitchen torch until browned, if desired (this is highly encouraged!).

Someone is using a spatula to spread marshmallow meringue onto s'mores cinnamon rolls.

Someone is using a kitchen torch to brown the marshmallow meringue on top of s'mores cinnamon rolls.

MERINGUE ALTERNATIVE: MARSHMALLOW BUTTERCREAM

While I strongly encourage you to make the marshmallow meringue, I recognize that it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. If you’d rather make a traditional cream cheese frosting, that will work, too, but I recommend making a batch of my marshmallow buttercream! You can find this recipe in my s’mores cookies or s’mores cupcakes. Use the amounts listed for the cookies for the perfect amount of frosting, and use the slightly larger recipe listed in the cupcakes if you’re heavy handed with your frosting.

S’mores Cinnamon Rolls