Smooth & Fluffy Lemon Candy Rolls

Let me educate you how one can make the softest, fluffiest lemon candy rolls coated in a tangy lemon cream cheese frosting. These rolls use my fast candy roll dough, which solely requires 1 rise! You realize what they are saying: when life offers you lemons, you need to positively make lemon candy rolls.

This recipe is delivered to you in partnership with Pink Star Yeast.

spatula removing a lemon sweet roll with cream cheese icing from the pan.

Is there something higher than the odor of heat cinnamon rolls baking within the oven? Clearly not! (Although the case could possibly be argued for the odor of heat chocolate chip cookies.) At the very least that’s what I thought earlier than I smelled the sunshine-sweet aroma wafting via my kitchen as these fluffy lemon rolls baked.

These are merely springtime in a pan. Happiness in a fluffy spiral. Lemon cream cheese frosting, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and mushy buttery dough… multi function pan!

So A lot to Love About These Lemon Candy Rolls

Rolls are mushy and fluffy, with a gooey lemon-vanilla sugar swirl that *caramelizes* on the underside… tastes like candied lemons!
Topped with creamy lemon cream cheese frosting
Just one rise time!
Straightforward sufficient for yeast newbies
Nice make-ahead, freezer-friendly recipe

close-up of lemon sweet roll with lemon slice on top on a white plate.

Yeast Learners, Rejoice: Just one Rise!

If you’re a yeast newbie, I’ve excellent news for you! These lemon candy rolls use my quick-method candy roll dough, which I examined extensively to create my straightforward cinnamon rolls. A typical selfmade candy roll recipe requires 2 rises. My favourite raspberry swirl candy rolls require a primary rise of about 1–2 hours, after which a second rise for one more 2 hours. (However one chew of that fluffy dough and juicy filling and also you’ll agree that the prep time is value it!)

Nevertheless, I’ve since developed a faster dough recipe. A dough recipe with all of the mushy fluffiness you’re craving, however with only one rise time. Due to this shortcut, my selfmade candy roll dough is ideal for the baker who needs to discover ways to work with yeast for the primary time. Plus, it’s an ideal start line for any form of candy roll you wish to make… like blueberry candy rolls or cinnamon roll cake.

Key Components to Use for the Dough:

ingredients on marble counter including flour, salt, egg, vanilla, butter, lemons, sugar, and milk.

Right here’s my #1 tip: I like to recommend utilizing a robust and reliable yeast. Platinum Yeast from Pink Star is a premium immediate yeast, which cuts down on rise time. Its cautious method incorporates pure dough strengtheners and makes working with yeast easy. And easy is at all times good, proper? See recipe Observe if utilizing energetic dry yeast as a substitute.

Right here’s the remainder of the lineup of substances for this wealthy dough:

Flour: Flour offers the dough construction. All-purpose flour is greatest for these lemon candy rolls. You may additionally use bread flour—the rolls can be chewier.
Sugar: You want white granulated sugar within the dough, each for taste and to feed the yeast.
Salt: For taste, and to stability the candy.
Lemon Zest: A bit lemon zest provides taste to the dough.
Complete milk: Complete milk is right for the richest-tasting candy rolls. Buttermilk works simply as nicely with none adjustments to the recipe. Many readers have efficiently substituted nondairy milks. In a pinch, you need to use low-fat milk, however keep away from utilizing nonfat milk.
Butter: It is a wealthy dough, that means it has fats to assist assure softness.
Egg: Like butter, an egg guarantees a softer, richer dough. It additionally works to bind substances collectively.

New to Baking With Yeast?

In the event you’re a bread newbie, reference this Baking With Yeast Information for useful, easy-to-understand solutions to many yeast FAQs. And/or get on the quick observe to baking bread like a professional with my free Newbie’s Information to Yeast e-mail sequence.

The way to Make Lemon Candy Rolls

Step one is to combine your dry substances collectively in an enormous bowl, and this contains the flour, sugar, and salt. After that, heat the milk and butter collectively, after which whisk within the yeast till it has dissolved. Then it will possibly begin working its magic in your dough! Pour this combination over the dry substances, add the egg after which combine all the things collectively. You do not want a stand mixer for this recipe, although you could possibly definitely use one if desired.

Switch the dough to your work floor, after which knead by hand for 3–5 minutes till it’s mushy and easy.

Let the dough relaxation for 10 minutes as you put together the filling—this offers the dough’s gluten an opportunity to settle and loosen up, which is able to make rolling out a lot simpler.

Lemon Vanilla Filling

Seize these substances:

Butter: Use super-soft butter for the filling—not too exhausting, not too melty. In the event you forgot to get it out of the fridge earlier, right here’s my trick for how one can soften butter shortly.
Sugar: Use white granulated sugar on this filling, which sweetens with out overpowering the fragile flavors of lemon and vanilla.
Contemporary Lemon Zest: Zest 1–2 medium-size lemons to yield 1 packed Tablespoon of zest. (Put aside the lemons since you’ll want lemon juice for the icing.)
Vanilla Extract: A bit vanilla extract provides impeccable taste. When you have it, you need to use vanilla bean paste as a substitute.

Combine collectively the sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla in a small bowl. It would type a sandy combination. The sugar will assist the lemon zest excrete some liquid, so the combination can be pretty moist. This lemon-sugar combo ends in essentially the most unimaginable caramelization on the bottoms of the rolls after baking!

Roll out the dough, unfold with softened butter, and sprinkle the lemon-vanilla-sugar combination everywhere in the high.

dough in shape of rectangle covered in softened butter.

lemon zest and vanilla sugar in bowl and being sprinkled on top of buttered rolled-out dough.

hands rolling up filled dough, cinnamon roll style.

Roll the dough up tightly, use a pointy knife to slice the log into 10–12 rolls, and prepare them in a calmly greased pan (I sometimes use a 9-inch pie dish sprayed with nonstick spray). Loosely cowl the pan of lemon candy rolls, and let rise for 60–90 minutes till about doubled in measurement.

4 photo collage showing rolled up lemon sweet rolls before and after rising, and after baking.

Simply wait until you odor them baking!

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

When you’re ready for them to bake, distract your self by making the lemon cream cheese frosting to slather everywhere in the heat rolls. You want:

Cream Cheese: Use the block-style cream cheese, not the spreadable form that is available in a bathtub. (Save that for selfmade bagels!)
Butter: To assist easy out the cream cheese. Between the dough, filling, and icing, this recipe requires 1 stick (8 Tablespoons/1/2 cup/113g) of butter complete.
Confectioners’ Sugar: Simply sufficient to stability out the tart lemon and tangy cream cheese.
Lemon Juice: Give 1 of the zested lemons from earlier an excellent squeeze!

Beat the substances along with an electrical mixer, then slather the icing everywhere in the high of the baked rolls whereas they’re nonetheless heat. The creamy frosting will soften into every nook and cranny of those scrumptious lemon candy rolls.

lemon cream cheese frosting in glass bowl with red spatula.

pan of lemon sweet rolls with cream cheese icing and lemon slices on top.

lemon sweet rolls with lemon cream cheese icing in glass dish.

See extra candy rolls recipes. I’ve a lot revealed like these pumpkin cinnamon rolls and chocolate candy rolls. However in case you love lemon, these are a should make!