Light and fluffy Raspberry Cream Cheese Rolls will be your new breakfast go-to recipe.ย Buttery soft dough filled to the brim with a delicious raspberry cream cheese mixture and smothered in a cream cheese glaze for an over-the-top finish. If you prefer strawberries, you will love my Strawberries and Cream Sweet Rolls, too!ย For more sweet breakfast treats, try my Orange Sweet Rolls or Quick Cinnamon Rolls!
Raspberry Sweet Rolls
When I need to pull together a sweet breakfast treat, I tend to fall back on my tried and true cinnamon rolls. Sometimes I want to shake things up a bit. Donโt get me wrong, they are amazing, but I am always looking to expand my baking into other territories. I have always loved the idea of combining two things I love to make something totally different. That was the case with this amazing breakfast roll recipe. I combined a sweet bread dough (traditionally used for breakfast rolls) and raspberries. Let me tell you, cinnamon rolls have met their match with this combo.
Raspberry Cream Cheese Sweet Rolls Recipe
The base for this sweet roll dough is the same as our orange rolls recipe. It is one of the easiest doughs to work in part due to the ingredients and in part due to the process. To make this dough whisk together the milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and the yeast. Let that sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes. The mixture will get a little foamy. Add in eggs and whisk until the mixture is smooth.
Next, move to your stand mixer. Make sure it is fitted with a dough hook. In the bowl, combine the remaining sugar, flour, and salt. Add the milk mixture and turn the mixer on low. Slowly add pads of butter, blending well between additions. Once everything is combined, turn the mixer to medium for 1 minute and then switch to medium-high to knead until the dough is soft (about 5 minutes).
Rise and Prepare the Dough
Transfer the dough to a medium-sized buttered dish. Brush the top of the dough with melted butter and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm area until doubled in size (about 1 hour). Give the dough a good punch and turn it out onto a floured surface. Roll out a 10ร15 rectangle, that is about 1/4 inch thick.
How I Make Raspberry Sweet Rolls
Once your dough is rolled out the rest is easy peasy! Just combine the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla. Spread that on top of your dough. Then, in a separate bowl, mix together the frozen raspberries and cornstarch. Spread that over the cream cheese mixture (leaving about a 1/2 inch on the top edge clear for sealing at the end). Tightly roll the dough into a log using the bottom long edge as a starting point.
Using a very sharp knife or dental floss (I will explain this method below), cut the rolls into 8-12 equal pieces. Place each roll into a greased 9ร13 pan. Put the pan in a warm, dry place and let them rise again (about 1 hour) and then pop them in the oven for about 25 minutes. You are going for a golden-brown crust. Remove them from the oven and let them sit on the counter for about 5 minutes while you prepare the glaze.
Cream Cheese Glaze
The glaze in this recipe is what dreams are made of. To prepare, grab a small bowl and mix together the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, confectioners sugar, and milk until smooth. Add more milk if you want the glaze to be thinner or more confectioner’s sugar to thicken. Pour this mixture over the warm rolls and serve!
How to Slice Sweet Rolls with Dental Floss
After rolling all the goodness up into sweet rolls, sometimes it’s hard to slice them into individual-sized rolls without smooshing them. If the knife you are using is not sharp enough, that can lead to the squishing of the rolls before they are baked. A great method to save you from frustration is dental floss! Yep, dental floss. To use dental floss, first, make sure it is plain (not flavored) floss. Slide a long piece of floss underneath the rolled-up rolls and wrap the floss around the roll about 2 inches in. Pull to slice through the roll. Continue this method every two inches or so.
Freezing Baked Cinnamon Rolls
If freezing the baked rolls, freeze them without the frosting for best results. Once the rolls have cooled completely, wrap each roll in plastic wrap. Next, place the wrapped rolls in a freezer-safe bag or container. They can be frozen for up to 2-3 months. When ready to enjoy, let the rolls thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then, add the cream cheese glaze, if using!
Raspberry Cream Cheese Sweet Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- โ cup (184 g) whole milk, warmed in microwave for about 30 seconds
- 5 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 ยพ cups (344 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ยฝ cup (1 stick / 113 g) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature
- ยฝ tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Cream Cheese Filling
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ยผ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Raspberry Filling
- 1 ยฝ cups frozen raspberries
- ยฝ tablespoon cornstarch
Cream Cheese Glaze
- ยผ cup (ยฝ stick / 57 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ounce cream cheese, softened
- ยฝ teaspoon vanilla
- ยพ cup (94 g) confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk, room temperature
Instructions
Dough
- In a medium bowl, combine milk and 1 tablespoon sugar. Sprinkle yeast over milk and whisk to blend. Let sit until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Add eggs; whisk until smooth.
- Combine remaining 4 tablespoons sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the milk mixture. With the mixer running, add butter, 1 piece at a time, blending well between additions.
- Knead on medium speed for 1 minute. Knead on medium-high speed until the dough is soft, about 5 minutes.
- Brush a medium bowl with some melted butter; place the dough in the bowl. Brush the top of the dough with the remaining melted butter; cover with plastic wrap.
- Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- When ready, punch the dough, turn out onto a floured surface, and roll into a 10×15-inch rectangle. (It should be about ยผ-inch thick.)
Cream Cheese Filling
- To make the cream cheese filling, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and sugar until smooth.
- Stir in the vanilla.
Raspberry Filling
- Toss the raspberries in the cornstarch, evenly coating the raspberries.
- Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough. Sprinkle with the raspberries and roll up tightly starting on the long edge.
- Using a very sharp knife, cut the log into 12 rolls. Place them into a greased 9×13-inch baking pan. Let rise in a warm place until double.
Baking
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly golden on the edges and done in the middle.
- Remove the rolls from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes.
Cream Cheese Glaze
- While the rolls cool, in a medium bowl mix together the glaze ingredients. Add more milk if necessary to thin the glaze.
- Pour the glaze over the warm rolls and serve.
Did you make this recipe?
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I made these again today, used cherries and almond flavor equally amazing, is this a recipe that you could freeze before the second rise and bake another day? Thanks
I made these this morning and they were incredibly delicious. Absolutely perfect. I will certainly bemaking them again, and often!
I don’t have a paddle attachment What else can I use?
Hi, J! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. We used a dough hook to knead the dough for this recipe, but if you don’t have one of those, you can knead the dough by hand for about 20 minutes. It does take time and a little muscle, but it will be worth it! If you don’t have a paddle attachment for mixing, a wooden spoon and some arm muscle would be the way to go. I hope this helps, and have a great day!
Do you have to heat up the milk before adding the yeast?
Hi, Nicole! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. Yes, you would warm up the milk in the microwave for about 30 seconds before adding the sugar and yeast in this recipe. I hope this helps, and have a great day!
I made this recipe and my family really enjoyed them.
CAN salted butter be used since I do not have unsalted butter on hand
Yes
Hi…can I use fast-acting yeast in this? What about your other recipes that call for yeast?
Soo excited to have this sent to me!! Signed up right away!!! HOWEVER, when I printed it out it took 12 pieces of paper to get the complete recipe. I cannot afford the waste of paper at this rate. Could some of these recipes be condensed? Thank you!!
Hi Sandra – If you click the PRINT button underneath the image in the recipe card, only the recipe will print. ๐
Yum! Going to have to try these! Thanks for posting!
Can we use fresh raspberries? Make any changes in recipe?
Hi, Carol! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. We have not made this recipe with fresh raspberries, but some people have commented that they work just as well. I hope this helps, and have a great day!