Berry Sweet Rolls with Lemon Icing

This Berry Sweet Rolls recipe is a fun, fresh variation of traditional homemade cinnamon rolls.  They’re filled with a mixed berry and lemon juice compote, baked until golden brown, and then slathered in a sweet and tart buttercream frosting.

Berry Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

We love making these Berry Sweet Rolls for Easter morning, baby showers, and special brunches.  They are the perfect mix of sweet and tart, all rolled into a rich buttery dough and topped with the most amazing fresh lemon buttercream frosting.

Homemade sweet rolls aren’t exactly the quickest breakfast to make, but they are absolutely worth all of the effort.  Plus, you can prepare them in advance so that all you need to do in the morning is bake.  

If you love berry desserts, be sure to try our Strawberry Shortcake, Berry Trifle, and our Razzleberry Pie Recipe.

Ingredients in Triple Berry Sweet Rolls

Dough

• Water – you want this to be lukewarm to help activate the yeast.  You can also substitute milk, warming it to no more than 115 degrees F.
• Sugar – we use white granulated sugar for the dough, or you could certainly use the same amount of honey instead.
• Yeast – this recipe calls for rapid rise yeast, which must be activated, or “proofed.”  It comes in a few different-sized packages – a small envelope, a small jar, or a large 1-pound air-sealed package.  
• Butter – you want the butter to be either melted or incredibly soft.  You could also use avocado oil if you’d like.
• Eggs – any kind of large eggs will do.  It helps if they have come to room temperature, but don’t worry if you forget.  You can also run them under warm water while they are still in the shells.  The eggs help with rising, and the yolk fats help keep the dough tender and light.
• Salt – you can use regular sea salt or table salt, but I like to use pink Himalayan sea salt in my baking.  It has extra vitamins and minerals that regular table salt doesn’t have.
• Flour – we like to use all-purpose flour, but you can also substitute bread flour if you would like.

Berry Filling

• Mixed Berries – using frozen mixed berries makes things simple.  You can purchase bags of either individual berries or mixed berries in the frozen foods section at the store.
• Water
• Lemon – you’ll need to use both the zest and the fresh juice.
• Sugar – use white granulated sugar.
• Cornstarch – this helps to thicken the filling.
• Cold Water – you need to stir the cornstarch into cold water in order to make the slurry to thicken.

Lemon Icing

• Butter – make sure your butter is at room temperature to mix well with the other ingredients.
• Powdered Sugar – any type will work.
• Lemon Juice – fresh lemon juice tastes best.

How to Make Triple Berry Sweet Rolls

Step 1 – Make the Berry Filling

1. Mix the water, frozen berries, lemon juice, and sugar in a medium-sized pan.  Heat over medium heat and bring to a rapid boil.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the cornstarch and cold water and whisk well, then whisk into the boiling berry mixture along with the lemon zest.
3. Return to a boil and cook while stirring constantly for 1 minute, then remove from the heat to cool.  Once cool enough to touch, check the set and if it is too runny, mix together 1 more tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of cold water, bring the mixture back up to a boil and whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Otherwise, set aside or store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Step 2 – Mix The Dough

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water, sugar and yeast and stir well. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until it gets bubbly and activates the yeast.
2. Add the melted butter, eggs, salt and 3 cups of flour into the yeast mixture, then mix on low using the dough hook for 2 minutes, or until everything is well-mixed.
3. Add an additional 2.5 cups of flour, then stir on low to combine and add up to 1 cup more flour slowly until the dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl.  Once all of the flour has been added, continue to knead on low for 3 minutes more.

Step 3 – Let The Dough Rise

1. Turn off the mixer and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Let the dough rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Step 4 – Roll And Cut The Sweet Rolls

1. Once the dough has doubled, turn it onto a floured surface and gently roll it into a rectangle ½” thick and approximately 24″ x 18.” 
2. Using an offset spatula, or knife, carefully spread the berry filling evenly onto the rolled dough, leaving about 1″ of bare dough around the edges.
3. Starting at either 24″ side, roll the dough up evenly, ensuring a nice tight tube, then cut into 1-1.5″ slices using a very sharp knife or floss.  
4. Lay the slices ½”-1″ apart in a greased 9 x 13″ baking pan and cover loosely with a kitchen towel.  Let the sweet rolls rise for another 30 minutes until doubled and touched in the pan.

Step 5 – Make The Lemon Icing

1. Add the room temperature butter and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low using the paddle attachment.  Once combined, increase the speed and beat until light and fluffy, or about 3-5 minutes.
2. Add the lemon juice, turn the mixer on high speed, and beat again until fluffy.  (Note: you can adjust the consistency by adding either more powdered sugar or more lemon juice)

Step 6 – Bake

1. Bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the bottom and the top are golden brown.
2. Remove from the oven and spread the Lemon Icing over the tops while they are still warm. Let them cool for about 5 minutes, then serve warm. Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

• To make these in advance, you can complete every step right up until baking.  Once you have shaped them and tucked them into your baking pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.  The next morning, just pull them out while you preheat the oven and then bake as directed.
• If possible, use fresh lemon juice as it has far more flavor than bottled.
• When rolling out the dough, it’s helpful to start in the middle and roll outwards from the center. If the dough is a little sticky, pull back the dough and add some more flour to your surface.
• Try to keep the dough as symmetrical of a rectangle as possible. This will help keep the size and thickness of the cinnamon rolls the same.
• You can use fresh berries if you would prefer, especially if they are in season in your area.
• When baking, check the center rolls to ensure they are baked through before pulling them out. 
• We’ve found this works best with smaller berries such as raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and huckleberries.  Costco sells a great frozen berry mix for an amazing deal.

More Sweet Roll Recipes

• Cinnamon Rolls
• Orange Rolls
• Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Sauce
• Einkorn Cinnamon Rolls
• Raspberry Sweet Rolls
• Lemon Sweet Rolls

More Breakfast Favorites…

• Baked Denver Omelet
• Vegetable Egg Bake
• Zucchini Banana Bread
• Applesauce Muffins
• Strawberry French Toast Bake
• Vegetable Quiche
• More Recipes for Breakfast
• More Breakfast Casserole Recipes

These Triple Berry Sweet Rolls are the perfect mix of sweet and tart all rolled into a rich and buttery dough and topped with the most amazing fresh lemon buttercream frosting. They are destined to become a family favorite.