Mama Kelce’s Recipe for Dinner Rolls Is All We Need for Thanksgiving Day

Want to put a dish with a celebrity connection on your Thanksgiving table this year? Mama Kelce has a dish for you. It’s easy, inexpensive and even has a neat presentation trick that kids (and adults!) will marvel over.

Why do people love Mama Kelce?

Mama who? That’d be Donna Kelce, mom of NFL players Jason and Travis. Travis has been scoring major headlines due to reports that he’s dating superstar Taylor Swift, who’s been spotted alongside his mom at Kansas City Chiefs games.

Mama’s obviously beloved by her boys, and her unfussy recipes are popular too. Her chocolate-chip cookie recipe, which uses two varieties of chips and other clever ingredients, is a game-changer. So it’s no surprise that another of Mama Kelce’s recipes is now making the rounds: her super-special dinner rolls.

In a Mythical Kitchen YouTube video, son Jason dubs them the “Mama Kelce dinner rolls” and joked that they’re the “only thing” he wants at Thanksgiving dinner. Or maybe he wasn’t joking?

What makes the Mama Kelce marshmallow rolls recipe special?

Courtesy Pillsbury

Mama Kelce’s famed rolls—filled with marshmallow, cinnamon and sugar—are based on a Pillsbury Bake-Off winning recipe from 1969, Pillsbury’s Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs.

Simply put, you dip a marshmallow in melted butter and cinnamon-sugar, roll it up in dough, and bake. The heat of the oven melts the marshmallow, so when you break a roll open, it’s hollow and round. If you celebrate Easter, you may know them as “resurrection rolls,” because the hollow center has been compared to the shape of Jesus’ empty tomb on Easter morning. So they’re both delicious and a bit of a curiosity.

Mama Kelce’s Marshmallow Rolls Recipe

Courtesy Pillsbury

The official recipe from Pillsbury serves 16, but make as many as you want. This recipe is super easy to adjust—simply keep dipping marshmallows and rolling till you’ve got enough to feed your own team.

Ingredients

• 2 cans (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 16 large marshmallows
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 teaspoons milk
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts

Directions

Step 1: Create the sugar mixture

Heat your oven to 375°F, and spray 16 medium muffin cups with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Melt butter in a separate bowl.

Step 2: Assemble the rolls

Separate the dough into 16 triangles. For each roll, dip one marshmallow into the bowl of melted butter and then roll it in the sugar mixture. Place the marshmallow on the top point of the triangle. Holding the marshmallow in place, roll up the dough, until reaching the base of the triangle.

Completely cover the marshmallow with dough by firmly pinching the edges to seal. Dip one end in the remaining butter and place butter-side down in a muffin cup.

Step 3: Bake the rolls

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for one minute. Remove rolls from muffin cups and place on cooling racks set over waxed paper.

Editor’s Tip: You can place a sheet of foil or a baking sheet with a high rim on the lower rack to catch any spills.

Step 4: Drizzle with glaze

In a small bowl, mix confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and milk. Add more or less milk depending on how thin or thick you prefer your glaze. Drizzle the glaze over warm rolls. Sprinkle with nuts if desired, and serve warm.

Here’s What I Thought

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper for Taste of Home

Crescent roll dough, marshmallows, cinnamon, sugar, butter and nuts—what’s not to love? These aren’t exactly healthy, but who doesn’t indulge on Thanksgiving?

The rolls were super simple to make, though a bit messy. And I love that you can make as many or as few as you want. Since they’re individual portions, just make sure you have enough marshmallows and enough crescent roll dough. Homemade dinner roll dough would also work when you have the time, but if you’re making these for Thanksgiving, take the easy way out and get store-bought!

You could easily enlist a young family member who’s learning to cook to help—every step is simple enough for them to join in, plus it’s fun to dip and roll. Breaking the rolls open to see the hollow center inside where the marshmallow melted is a treat in itself.

Two warnings: First, even though I thought I’d rolled up the dough carefully, some marshmallow oozed out of several of the rolls while they baked, making a bit of a mess in my muffin pan. Second, the sugary glaze was a tasty addition, but it didn’t do much to help the chopped nuts stick.

Tastewise, these are a sweet treat for sure—emphasis on the “sweet.” I think I’d like them best as a morning treat with coffee, replacing something like banana bread or a gooey cinnamon roll. The melted marshmallow center gave them such a dessert flavor that I had trouble envisioning them accidentally soaking up gravy on my Thanksgiving plate, and I sure wouldn’t use them for a turkey sandwich.

But, Mama Kelce’s marshmallow rolls recipe is delicious in its own way and delightful to make. Plus, isn’t it fun to imagine Travis introducing Taylor Swift to his mom’s roll recipe if the singer joins the Kelces for the holiday? Surely, she’d remember it all too well.