Resurrection Rolls

I always feel like Easter gets the better of me when it comes to teaching my kids what the holiday is really about. We do a Jesse Tree throughout the Advent season prior to Christmas. We do a Thanksgiving Tree most years through the month of November. We even have added our own family holiday in May that we call Heaven Day where we spend the whole day rejoicing in what heaven will be like and celebrating that in various ways. But for some reason, nearly every year since we started our family, Easter has gotten the shaft. Some years we've been traveling. Some we've had sickness. Some years, it just plain snuck up on us and we didn't plan our teaching the way we needed to. Its not the way we want it. The reason we celebrate Easter is HUGE and we want our kids to know it. But the past 2 years we've done a little better. In 2011, we at least got an Easter Mountain made by Good Friday. And in 2012 our kids remembered what we had done and the lessons they'd learned as we did it again. We also made these Resurrection Rolls last year. Ideas for them are all over the internet. They mostly call for pre-made crescent roll dough. While that would certainly be SO much easier on Easter morning, a little prep the day before is all you need to make your own. I know these do call for marshmallows and that may or may not readily be available. If you live in my city/country, see my notes at the bottom about buying marshmallows!

Resurrection Rolls
1 recipe crescent roll dough
~20 large marshmallows
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
2-4 tsp cinnamon

On Saturday, mix up the dough for the crescent rolls and refrigerate overnight. On Easter morning, roll out dough and cut into about ~20 squares. Melt butter. Mix together sugar and cinnamon (more or less to your personal tastes).

Dip marshmallows (representing Christ) into melted butter and then coat with cinnamon sugar mixture (oil and spices placed on him before being placed in the tomb). Place on dough square (representing the tomb). Pull the dough around the marshmallow and squeeze all seams tightly together so marshmallows don't leak out. Bake at 375F (195C) for about 8-10 minutes.

When you bite into the rolls the marshmallows should have melted/disappeared, representing Christ's resurrection from the tomb! (a lot in this picture are great examples of not pinching the seams very good!!)

**Edited: I tried this with biscuit dough! They were just as good as with the crescent roll dough but not a single one actually cooked without cracking open. So there was some marshmallow goo on the pan, but you could keep kids from seeing that by just putting them on a plate before they go to the table! Made it something I did on the morning of without any prep the day before!

Notes: Marshmallows are more and more common around China. There is a local brand (Oishi, I think?) in a blue bag that are plain--I find them at Walmart and other small grocery stores in our city. Many online baking stores on Taobao sell different brands as well. Import stores and Carrefour usually carry imported ones.