Lemon Raspberry Sweet Rolls

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Last Updated August 18, 2024

We all love a good cinnamon roll.  The soft dough, warm-gooey-buttery-cinnamon filling, topped with a sweet glaze or cream cheese icing.  The smell of fresh baked breads wafting from the kitchen and the warmth of bread in our tummy are especially comforting as the months turn colder. 

Today, however, we are not making cinnamon rolls (that's old hat :) but lemon raspberry rolls.  The tang of the lemon and raspberry paired with the sweet glaze is a match made for breakfast.  Or anytime. Pair it with a cup of tea or coffee and you have all the incentive you need to get out of bed in the morning!

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Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker

Lemon Raspberry Sweet Rolls

Makes 12 regular rolls or 8 jumbo

Ingredients:

For the Dough

  • 1 cup / 237g warm milk (about 100°F / 38°C)

  • 1/2 cup / 100g sugar

  • 4 1/2 tsp / 14g active dry yeast

  • 1/4 cup / 56g oil

  • 2 eggs

  • Zest of 1 lemon

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 4 1/4 cups / 510g all-purpose flour + about 1/2 cup / 60g for kneading

For the Lemon Raspberry Filling

  • Generous 1 1/4 cups / 170g (1 6oz container) fresh or frozen raspberries (if using frozen do not thaw)

  • 1/2 cup / 100g sugar

  • Zest of 1 lemon

  • 1 tsp cornstarch

  • 1/4 cup / 56g butter

For the Glaze

  • 1 1/2 cups / 188g powdered sugar

  • 3 Tbsp / 42g lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F / 205°C. Grease a 9x13inch / 23x33cm rectangular baking dish.

Make the Dough

  1. Pour milk into a large bowl. Add sugar and yeast and allow to sit for 7-10 minutes. Yeast should foam up a bit. 

  2. Add oil, eggs, zest, and salt. Add 4 1/4 cups of flour and mix until combined. 

  3. Flour a clean surface and turn out dough. Knead for about 8-10 minutes, sprinkling more flour on your work surface as needed. Dough should be soft and elastic by the end, so don't get too flour-happy. Alternately, knead in a stand mixer with dough hook attachment for 8-10 minutes, adding in flour as needed. The dough should stick only to bottom of bowl, not much to the sides.

  4. Lightly grease or flour a large bowl (the bowl you mixed the dough in is fine) and place dough in bowl. Cover and place in a warm area to rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. 

Make the Lemon Raspberry Filling

  1. In a small saucepan melt butter and let simmer until it starts to brown. Remove from heat and cool slightly. 

  2. In a medium bowl lightly mix raspberries with sugar, zest, and cornstarch.  It's okay if raspberries get a little crushed. 

Assemble the Rolls

  1. When dough has risen, punch it down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about a minute, then roll into a large rectangle, about 10x20inch / 25x50cm.   

  2. Spread cooled butter over dough almost to edges; sprinkle evenly with raspberry mixture. 

  3. Starting from one of the longer sides, roll dough up, pinching dough together at the end to seal it. 

  4. Slice into 12 even pieces, or 8 for jumbo sized. Place rolls in prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm area to rise for about an hour, or until puffed.

  5. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until golden on top and centers no longer look doughy. Internal temperature should be about 185°F / 90°C of an outside roll.

Make the Glaze

  1. In a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice.  It should be thin enough to drizzle but not too liquidy. Add more powdered sugar or lemon juice as needed. 

  2. Drizzle warm rolls with glaze. 

Jenny's Notes:

  • If you don't have a thermometer handy to know what 100 degrees is, simply warm until milk feels quite warm, but not hot. 

  • You can freeze these rolls once you have sliced them and put them in the pan. Once removed from the freezer allow to thaw and proceed as normal. 

  • When using a stand mixer to knead, I still recommend kneading it for a few minutes by hand afterwards. I find they are not always as thorough as kneading by hand and you want an even rise for your dough.  I often to do it all by hand just because it’s therapeutic!

Lemon Raspberry Rolls
Yield 12
Author
Prep time
1 H & 10 M
Cook time
22 Min
Total time
1 H & 32 M

Lemon Raspberry Rolls

These bright breakfast rolls are like cinnamon rolls, but made with fresh lemon zest and raspberries instead!
Cook modePrevent screen from turning off

Ingredients

For the Dough
For the Lemon Raspberry Filling
For the Glaze

Instructions

Make the Dough
  1. In a small saucepan over low heat, warm milk until it is about 100F / 38C. Pour milk into a large bowl. Add the sugar and yeast and allow to sit for 7-10 minutes. The yeast should foam up a bit.
  2. Add oil, eggs, zest, and salt. Add the 4 1/4 cups of flour and mix until combined.
  3. Flour a clean surface and turn out dough. Knead for about 8-10 minutes, sprinkling more flour on your work surface as needed. Dough should be soft and elastic by the end, so don't get too flour-happy. Alternately, you can use the bread hook on a stand mixer and knead for 8-10 minutes, adding in flour as needed. The dough should stick only to the bottom of the pan, not the sides.
  4. Lightly grease or flour a large bowl (the bowl you mixed the dough in is fine) and place dough in the bowl. Cover with a towel and place in a warm area to rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
Make the Lemon Raspberry Filling
  1. In a small saucepan melt the butter and let simmer until it starts to brown. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
  2. In a medium bowl lightly mix raspberries with sugar, zest, and cornstarch. It's okay if the raspberries get a little crushed.
Assemble and Bake the Rolls
  1. Preheat oven to 400F / 205C. Grease a 9x13inch / 23x33cm rectangular baking dish.
  2. When the dough has risen, punch it down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about a minute, then roll into a large rectangle, about 10x20inch / 25x50cm.
  3. Spread cooled butter over dough almost to the edges, then sprinkle evenly with raspberry mixture.
  4. Starting from one of the longer sides, roll dough into a spiral, pinching the dough together at the end to seal it.
  5. Cut the log in quarters, then each quarter into 3 slices. Place the rolls in the prepared pan and cover lightly with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place in a warm area to rise for about an hour, or until puffed
  6. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until golden on top and centers no longer look doughy. Internal temperature should be about 195F / 90C.
Make the Glaze
  1. In a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice. It should be thin enough to drizzle but not too liquidy. Add more powdered sugar or lemon juice as needed.
  2. Drizzle warm rolls with glaze.

Notes

If you don't have a thermometer handy to know what 100 degrees is, simply warm until the milk feels quite warm, but not hot. It'll be fine!You can freeze these rolls once you have sliced them and put them in the pan. Once removed from the freezer allow to thaw and proceed as normal. When using a stand mixer to knead, I still recommend kneading it for a few minutes by hand afterwards. I find they are not always as thorough as kneading by hand and you want an even rise for your dough.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

355.58

Fat

6.43 g

Sat. Fat

0.88 g

Carbs

68.26 g

Fiber

2.37 g

Net carbs

65.89 g

Sugar

32.75 g

Protein

6.77 g

Sodium

121.93 mg

Cholesterol

32.58 mg

Nutritional information is approximate. Based on 1 roll.

Breakfast rolls, lemon raspberry
Breakfast, Dessert
American
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