The dream house that I hold in my head is sunny and smells like banana bread. ย It has a real-life adult couch and big, fluffy, matching, totally not hand-me-down bathroom towels. ย The bookshelves aren’t dusty and my desk is huge and spotless. ย There’s also a lovely woman that comes over everyday to help me clean my kitchen. ย She’s wise and knows everything about life. ย She’s my secret, dream house guru… and she does dishes.
My dream house has hints of food everywhere. ย Raspberry colored lamps in the living room. ย Black coffee colored walls in the bedroom. ย A French vanilla bathroom. ย Avocado rugs. ย Pink Himalayan sea salt for a little girl’s room. ย Fig colored guest room. ย Cauliflower whites through the office.
This is what my brain does. ย It makes a dream house and fills it with beautiful food smells, food colors, love, cat hair (why!?), and kid laughs.
I’m going to try hard not to call these cinnamon rolls. ย These are not cinnamon rolls. ย They’re something better and messier… that starts out just like cinnamon rolls.
We’re making a soft yeasted dough, with lemon zest.
This dough gets kneaded with a dough hook in an stand mixer for about 10 minutes.
It’s a soft dough… that means you really need a stand mixer to make this dough. ย Otherwise, the dough will stick to your hands like mad.
After kneading in the mixer, I quickly knead it in a bit more flour and get it ready for its first rise.
Can you see the sheen in the dough? ย That means the dough is a bit sticky. ย That’s what we want!
After an hour of warm resting, the dough is ready for action. ย Time for rolling and filling.
Dough is doused in browned butter and topped with a crushed raspberry, lemon zest, sugar, and cornstarch mixture.
And then it gets messy.
Yes… there is a raspberry juice mess going on here. ย After rolling and slicing, and carefully lifting these rolls into the buttered pan you’ll totally have sticky hands. ย Don’t freak out. ย Sometimes food gets messy.
Let the rolls rise in a warm zone and bake up to perfection.
All love.
Believe it or not, these rolls aren’t overly sweet. ย The dough is soft and tender. ย The filling is bright and fruit studded. ย I topped the cooled rolls with a quick lemon glaze. ย Doughy and fruit sweet. ย These rolls TOTALLY belong in my dream house. ย What more do you want from life?
Lemon Raspberry Breakfast Rolls
makes 12 rolls
adapted from Food and Wine
For the Dough:
1 cup milk (I used 2 percent)
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted buttered, softened to room temperature
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 cup for kneading, plus more for sprinkling the counter
For the Filling:
1 heaping cup fresh raspberries (if using frozen, do not thaw)
1/3 cup sugar plus 1/2 cup sugar for dusting
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, browned and slightly cooled
For the Glaze:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
To make the dough:
In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the milk to about 95 degrees. ย Pour the warm milk into the bow of an electric stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment. ย Stir the sugar and yeast into the warm milk and let sit for 5 to 7 minutes. ย The yeast will foam and bubble. ย That’s how you know it’s alive. ย After frothy, add the butter, eggs, lemon zest, and sea salt to the yeast mixture. ย Add 4 1/4 cups flour. ย Beat on low speed with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes. ย Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and replace the paddle with a dough hook. ย Beat dough with the dough hook on medium speed for about 10 minutes.
Dust a clean counter with flour. ย Scrape the dough out onto the work surface. ย Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of flour and knead for about 2 minutes. ย Dough will be soft and slightly sticky. ย That’s right!
Place dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl. ย Sprinkle a bit of flour on top of the dough. ย Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel, and place in a slightly warm place to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
While dough rises, grease a 9×13-inch pan with butter. ย Set aside.
To make the filling:
In a medium bowl toss together raspberries, sugar, lemon zest, and cornstarch. ย Crush the raspberries just slightly as ย you stir. ย Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt butter until it is browned and fragrant. ย Set aside to cool slightly.
To assemble the rolls:
When the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a floured work surface and gently knead for 1 minute. ย Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a roughly 10×20-inch rectangle.
Spread the butter over the dough. ย Spread the filling over the dough. ย Raspberries will be here and there across the dough. ย Sprinkle the dough and fruit with 1/2 cup granulated sugar.
Working quickly, tightly roll up the dough into a 20-inch long log. ย Cut the log into quarters, then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. ย Carefully and quickly lift the rolls into the prepared pan. ย The rolls will release juice into the bottom if the pan. ย That’s fine! ย Cover pan with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rest in a warm place for 1 hour, until puffed.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. ย Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and bubbling. ย Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
To make the glaze:
In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, lemon juice, and water. ย Drizzle glaze over cooled rolls and serve. ย Rolls are best served the day they are made but will last up to 3 days well wrapped at room temperature.
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