Lemon blueberry rolls that will make your Spring sunny
Spring is coming, so it’s a good time to enjoy these lemon blueberry rolls, a riff on classic cinnamon rolls rolled up with lemon sugar and blueberry jam and whole blueberries then topped with lemony cream cheese frosting.
| Active time | Total time | Yield | Difficulty |
| 25 min | 8 hr 50 min | 15 rolls | Medium |
Always thinking of different flavors for cinnamon rolls, these blueberry sweet rolls have been high on my list for a while. As nice as cinnamon is, the addition of lemon sugar is more interesting than cinnamon rolls and definitely puts these in the realm of Spring baking.
As with all of my cinnamon rolls, these rolls start with my favorite super soft overnight roll dough. This way, you get less sticky dough with more flavor and you can make the rolls when you want them. I’ve made the rolls up to 3 days later from the dough in the fridge with no problems!
Why you should try blueberry rolls
- Something different: Lemon and blueberry are natural companions and why not put them in a roll?!
- Pretty: the blue makes for a naturally lovely colored treat that just looks inviting.
- Great for Spring holidays: These will be perfect rolls for Easter or Mother’s Day brunch. With sunny bright flavor and enough color to brighten up a buffet table, everyone will love them.
Ingredients for Lemon Blueberry Rolls
Overnight Roll Dough
- Water
- Instant yeast
- Granulated sugar
- Whole milk
- Butter
- Salt
- Eggs
- Vanilla paste or vanilla extract
- Lemon zest
- All-purpose flour
Filling
- Blueberry jam: homemade jam (click for recipe) or good quality store-bought
- Granulated sugar
- Lemon zest
- Cornstarch (or arrowroot )
- Butter
- Blueberries: fresh or frozen
Lemon cream cheese icing
- Cream cheese
- Lemon juice
- Powdered sugar
- Butter
- more blueberries
Equipment needed
- 9 x 13 pan
- Dental floss or a serrated knife for cutting the rolls
- Rolling pin
- Kitchen towel or a pastry cloth
How to make blueberry rolls step by step
- Make the dough: Dissolve the yeast in the water with a pinch of the sugar. Melt the butter and add the milk just until the milk is warm. Break in the eggs and mix them with the milk with the sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt. Dump the milk mixture and the yeast into a stand mixer bowl with the flour with the dough hook. Run the mixer until the dough makes elastic strands that form around the dough hook. The dough will be tacky, but time in the fridge will help. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill it overnight in the fridge.
- Roll and fill: Roll out the dough on a lightly floured kitchen towel into a large rectangle. Mix the lemon zest with the sugar, rubbing the zest to release more lemon flavor. Add the starch to the lemon sugar (this will absorb rogue juices from the blueberries). Spread the dough with a thin slick of blueberry jam. Sprinkle all but about a tablespoon of the lemon sugar over the surface of the jam.
- Cut the rolls: Roll the dough over itself on the long edge into a tight roll. Place a piece of dental floss under the dough log, crossing the ends over each other. Pull on either end to cut through the dough. This is the cleanest way to cut the rolls, though you can also use a serrated knife you’d use for bread.
- Rise: Cover the rolls and set them aside the rolls to rise for 1 hour.
- Add blueberries: Just before baking, stuff each roll with a few blueberries. Also drizzle butter over the tops of the rolls and the rest of the lemon sugar.
- Bake: Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes.
- Frost: Mix the frosting ingredients together. Spoon over a layer of the frosting, and then top the buns with more blueberries.
Tips for making the best blueberry rolls
- Do not add more flour: The dough will be tacky, and that’s okay. When cold, sweet rolls only need a sprinkle of flour to roll out. It’s the weird paradox of this dough, but trust the process. Adding more flour than the recipe in the dough or adding too much when you roll them out will make for heavy, dry rolls.
- Go light on the jam: It’s tempting when you make jam filled rolls to add too much jam, but that would be a mistake. Overfilled rolls are a mess to cut and the jam can over-hydrate the dough, leaving you with soggy buns.
- Don’t skip the starch: Blueberries are very juicy, and even more so if you’re using frozen berries. The starch is here to absorb any wayward juices and thicken them before they can sog up your rolls. Also place the blueberries in the buns after they’ve risen after cutting. Nobody likes soggy buns!
Lemon blueberry rolls
- Total Time: 8 hours 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 rolls 1x
Description
Take a cinnamon roll and fill it instead with bright lemon sugar, blueberry jam, and whole blueberries, and you get these sunny fruity rolls perfect for Easter or Mother’s Day brunch.
Ingredients
Scale
Overnight Roll Dough
- 1 tablespoons warm water (15 mL)
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 g)
- 3/4 cup whole milk (177 mL)
- 4 Tablespoons butter (57 g)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 large egg yolks + 1 whole egg
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (360 g)
For assembling the rolls
- 1/4 cup blueberry jam
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 g)
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch (or potato starch or arrowroot )
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Lemon Cream cheese icing
- 2 oz cream cheese, softened (56 g)
- 6 Tablespoons powdered sugar (45 g)
- 2 Tablespoons butter (28 g)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
- 1/2 cup more blueberries (optional)
Instructions
Make the dough
- Sprinkle the yeast on the warm water in a small bowl with a pinch of the sugar. Set aside for about 5 minutes until the yeast is foamy.
- Warm the milk in a small pan on the stove until you see bubbles around the edges. Cut up the butter and add it to the pan to melt.
- Crack your eggs and use a fork to whip them into the butter and milk mixture, then add in the sugar, salt, lemon zest, and vanilla and then stir to combine. Check the temperature with your finger (the milk/egg mixture should be just warm to the touch.).
- Put the flour into a large bowl or your stand mixer bowl. Make a well in the center with your hands, then pour in the milk mixture then the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon or the dough hook attachment itself to make a rough dough.
- After that, with a dough hook on your stand mixer, beat the dough for about 5 minutes on low speed (2 on a Kitchen Aid ) until you get an elastic sticky dough that pulls away in strands from the sides of the bowl.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set in the fridge to rise overnight or 4 hours minimum.
Stir with a wooden spoon or the dough hook attachment itself to make a rough dough.
Make the rolls
- Melt the butter for the roll assembly.
- Mix the lemon zest with the sugar in a small bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar until you can smell the lemon.
This will release more lemon flavor.
- Sprinkle some flour on a clean kitchen towel or pastry cloth , then scrape out the cold dough on top of the flour. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough.
- Quickly roll the dough into a rectangle about 12″X16″.
- Brush a 9″x13″ pan with a little butter.
- Spread a thin layer of jam over the rolls. Scatter the lemon sugar over the surface, saving about 1 tablespoon of the sugar for the tops of the rolls.
- Roll up the dough over itself along the long edge into a tight log.
- Eyeball or use a measuring tape to mark the dough for cutting the rolls into 12 pieces.
- Run a length of dental floss under the dough. Cross the ends over each other with opposite hands and pull on the floss to cut a roll.
- Set the cut roll in the prepared pan.
- Continue cutting the rest of the rolls.
- Cover the rolls with a clean tea towel and let them rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350F (180 C).
- Tuck a couple berries into the tops of the rolls. Drizzle over the rest of the butter and the rest of the lemon sugar.
- Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and set.
- Set the pan on a wire rack to cool while you make the icing.
Roll up the dough over itself along the long edge into a tight log. 
Make the icing
- Beat all the ingredients together into a smooth thick icing.
- Spoon the icing over the tops of the rolls, and top each roll with a few more berries. You can decide whether you’d like to have a thin layer of icing or a thick one. I prefer a thin one so that you can see the pattern of the rolls, I’ve pictured both, so choose your own adventure!
Rolls are best eaten the same day that they’re made, but you can freeze them without the icing in an airtight bag for up to 1 month. To reheat, warm them in a pan in a 300F degree oven for 15 minutes. From there you can ice them.
Notes
Prep now, bake later: The dough can be made up to 3 days ahead of time. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and pull it out when you’re ready to bake.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- + overnight chill time:
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Morning breads
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
