First of all, thank you guys so much for all of your kind comments on yesterday’s post on The Scoop. Thank you for reading it, thank you for sharing it. It was so hard to write. Like, really, really hard. So to have such a positive response means so much to me.
We have a lot of sweet roll recipes on the blog. And they’re all Sara’s. For me, sweet rolls are one area where I am just not really willing to experiment once I find a recipe I love. I have been hopelessly devoted to The Pioneer Woman’s dough recipe for a long time now. I can’t go back now.
Growing up, sweet rolls meant a few things: it was a special occasion, my dad was making them, and they were baked in a Dutch oven. Like…with hot coals in the backyard. He was hard core. Now he has two dogs that he makes me talk to on the phone and I’m in charge of the sweet rolls. And I am definitely not cool enough to make them in my backyard.
One thing I love about this dough recipe is that you can either make the rolls right away or you can refrigerate the dough and make it when you’re ready. I’ve used it for cinnamon rolls, I’ve used it for orange rolls, and now we have our new favorite, Lemon Blueberry Rolls. And they were a huge hit.
If you don’t want to use this dough, you can use one of our many other doughs like this one or this or this or this or this. So pick a dough. Whatever works.
There’s no shortage of dough recipes here. You’re also going to need butter, sugar, the zest of a couple of lemons, and blueberries.
I used wild blueberries–I just get them in the frozen section of my Kroger. I like the flavor and texture better than regular blueberries; they are juicier and more flavorful and they’re also smaller, which lends themselves better towards recipes like this.
Lightly spray a work surface with non-stick cooking spray and roll the dough out into a rectangle that’s about 6×18″. In a small bowl, mix the softened butter, sugar, and lemon zest.
Spread the butter mixture over the dough and then sprinkle with the blueberries.
Roll up tightly, making a log about 18″ long.
Preheat oven to 375.
Spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Using dental floss, mark the dough into 12 equal pieces. Use the dental floss to cut the dough along the spots that you marked. Place the dough pieces, cut side up, in the pan.
Cover and rise for 30 minutes. Bake the rolls for 15-22 minutes or until golden brown and the innermost rolls are cooked through.
If the edge pieces are getting too brown, lightly place a sheet of aluminum foil over the pan to prevent further browning.
When done, remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool. When the rolls are almost cool, whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle evenly over the slightly warm rolls.
Makes 12 rolls.
Lemon Blueberry Rolls
- Yield: 12
Description
We love a good sweet roll, and this one is no exception. These Lemon Blueberry Rolls are always a hit!
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 2 c. whole milk
- 1/2 c. canola oil
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
- 1/2 heaping tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 scant tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
For the Filling
- 7 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 cup blueberries (wild, if you can get them easily)
For the Glaze
- 2/3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- Juice of 1 large lemon or 2 small lemons
Instructions
- To make the dough, combine the milk, sugar, and oil In a large (at least 4-quart) pot or saucepan. Heat just to boiling, stirring occasionally, and then remove from heat.
- If you’ve got lots of ice handy, dump all that you have into a clean sink and then place the pan of scalded milk over the ice. This way, the milk mixture cools quickly and the melted ice just drips down the drain.
- When the milk is warm (around 105-115 degrees), remove from ice and sprinkle yeast over the milk mixture. Allow to stand for 10 minutes. Stir. Mix in 4 c. flour and cover. This can be done with a wooden spoon; the dough is VERY soft, more like a batter. Allow to stand for 1 hour.
- Mix remaining 1/2 c. flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Sprinkle over the dough and then mix it in with the wooden spoon. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the pan and refrigerate for at least a few hours and up to a few days. You can also allow it to rise at room temperature for about an hour if you want to make these right away.
- When you’re ready to make the rolls, lightly spray a work surface with non-stick cooking spray and roll the dough out into a rectangle that’s about 6×18″. In a small bowl, mix the softened butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Spread the butter mixture over the dough and then sprinkle with the blueberries. Roll up tightly, making a log about 18″ long.
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- Using dental floss, mark the dough into 12 equal pieces. Use the dental floss to cut the dough along the spots that you marked. Place the dough pieces, cut side up, in the pan. Cover and rise for 30 minutes. Bake the rolls for 15-22 minutes or until golden brown and the innermost rolls are cooked through. If the edge pieces are getting too brown, lightly place a sheet of aluminum foil over the pan to prevent further browning.
- When done, remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool. When the rolls are almost cool, whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle evenly over the slightly warm rolls. Makes 12 rolls.
Questions & Reviews
I’ve made this recipe three times now. I use frozen unthawed wild blueberries. These rolls taste so good with a lemon cream cheese icing. Everyone loves them!!!!!
What a wonderful twist on these rolls. I love blueberries & these sound oh so amazing!
Those look divine. Sad I’ll miss meeting you girls, no SNAP for me this year.
I made these for breakfast -very tasty and the recipe made very large rolls. So very yummy.
How would you convert these for freezing? Un baked? Baked and rewarmed? These look so good!!!
I would place the sliced rolls in the pan, cover them tightly, freeze them immediately, and then set them out on the counter for a few hours or until they’re thawed and have risen. Then just bake them! 🙂
Fantastic! Made these and they were perfect
I am currently holding myself back from going upstairs to have a fourth one of these. Seriously amazing! I liked them better than the orange rolls I made with the other half of the dough, and I thought orange rolls were untouchable!
Holy frickin’ cow!! These look soooo good!! The only problem I foresee is that it only makes 12. I usually make around 50 (I’m slightly embarrassed to type that). They last almost two days. In my defense, I do have five growing children. Last time I made cinnamon rolls my 14 year old son ate ELEVEN of them in one day! Lucky for him he’s got a super fast metabolism and looks like a string bean!!
These look so good! I want to make them for my friend’s mother, can you freeze these at any certain point before baking?
A genius adaptation for a great dough recipe — I’m making them right now! One note though: Ree suggests letting the rolls rise for at least 20 minutes after placing them in the pan. You’ve not included that step. I think it’s especially important if the dough is chilled. Mine were definitely not ready to go straight in the oven.
I TOTALLY meant to put that in there–thanks! I fixed it! 🙂
If you decide to refrigerate the dough, do you let it rise for an hour (or more since it’s colder) before rolling it out? Sorry if that’s a dumb question, I’m not much of a baker but want to do something nice for conference.
Um, holy cow! New favorite (spring) General Conference rolls! Thanks for sharing…we love them! 🙂
Made them last night/this morning and they were SO good. Thanks for the recipe. Blueberries and lemon together is my favorite!
It looks delicious!
I´ll try it, sure! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe
Lucía
These look delicious! We’re on spring break this week and I was looking for a couple special breakfasts to have. Check!
I would love to make these for our Easter Brunch. I’m going to do as much as possible ahead of time so I can enjoy my grandchildren. Can I freeze these?
Thank you! My husband is severely allergic to cinnamon, so I never get to make cinnamon rolls. This recipe seems like the perfect thing to make when I’m craving cinnamon rolls but don’t want to kill my hubby. Can’t wait to try them!
In my neck of the woods the “blueberries” we picked as kids were also called huckleberries. They were smaller than the big ones we get in the store. I really don’t care for the big ones.
These rolls look so good!! Lemon and blueberry are fabulous together!!
How important is whole milk to the recipe? I feel like I must make these NOW, but I only have 2% on hand.
They turned out great with 2% milk. I love that these only dirtied one dish for prep. Loved, loved, loved these rolls.
These look divine!
This recipe would be wonderful with huckleberries instead of blueberries. Eastern Washington is full of them… provided you know where to look! 😉
Thank you!
Yum…Yes please! I think I’ve died and gone to heaven just looking at them! These will be so perfect for GF weekend! Thank you!
Totally didn’t mean GF…GC weekend! Yes, because I’m too lazy to actually type it out :).
The tame vs. wild pic just cracked me up! For some reason thinking of a tame blueberry just tickled my funny bone 🙂
Have a happy weekend!
I LOVE these! When Ree first posted them I made them that day and can’t decide which I like better. Regular cinnamon or the blueberry. My husband is boring and definitely wants the cinnamon. I’ve started doing a double batch and making a pan of each. So yummy!
I didn’t know she had a blueberry version–must have missed that! I feel lame now, hahaha. Oh, well, right?! 🙂
Looks like a perfect treat for conference weekend!
Wild blueberries= huckleberries. Have you ever picked them? Heavens, 12 hours later you have a quart. But man, they are tasty. Way better than blueberries, and sound perfect for sweet rolls.
Seriously?! I had no idea! Thanks for enlightening me! 🙂
Nope, sorry Ellen. They are not the same. Huckleberries aren’t commercially cultivated, so you can’t just find them anywhere, especially not a Kroger store. They taste completely different too; however, huckleberries would be awesome in these rolls too. Thanks for the recipe!
Would fresh blueberries work just as well as frozen in this recipe, or do the rolls require the extra moisture from the frozen ones? I’d love to make these this afternoon, but it’s hard to get frozen blueberries where I live.
I’ve used both and they are awesome either way.
Yep, absolutely
oh wow! this looks delicious!! Pinning!!