These lemon sugar rolls are a soft yeasted lemon dough filled with a lemon sugar and drizzled with lemon glaze. A lemon lover’s dream!
I love lemon. I love the smell, I love the flavor but especially lemon desserts. All citrus but there’s something about lemon. My Sweet & Tangy Lemon Scone Loaf is one of my favorite bakes, but I wanted to create something with yeast that was equally bursting with lemon flavor.
These lemon sugar rolls are sort of like a lemon cinnamon roll but I wanted something a little bit different. I wanted individually formed rolls that were more like a pastry. This is what I came up with.
Baking Notes & Tips
Because the dough for these lemon sugar rolls has higher ratio of fat than most bread doughs it will take it a bit longer to rise. I tested this when it was cold out as well to see what a longer rise time might look like. The recipe states 1-2 hours but it could take closer to three if your kitchen is cooler. When it comes to yeast and bread, you always want to go off what the dough says more than what the recipe says.
I wrote this recipe to create 8 large lemon sugar rolls, however, it would be easy to make them a little bit smaller and have more. Instead of cutting the dough into 8 strips you could double it to 16 or really anywhere in between. Just choose how many you’d like and figure out how to evenly slice the dough, doing everything else exactly the same.
Additionally, I loved these with the sugar topping, but you could instead of sugar (or in addition) do a simple lemon glaze which I included in the recipe card. I hate wasting a perfectly good lemon just for the zest, so the glaze fixes that problem – at least partially – in using the juice in the simple glaze. Just drizzle it over the rolls after they have cooled a bit, or after sugaring them.
Lemon Sugar Rolls Key Ingredients
- Lemons – Real lemons, especially their zest, are always going to add such an aromatic factor to your bakes that cannot be replicated. You’ll use the zest of one lemon in the dough, the zest of a second in the filling and optionally the juice from one in the glaze. Make sure you have a good zester, and you zest lightly. Getting the pith (the white right under the yellow of the skin) can make the lemon flavor bitter.
- Butter – The butter in the dough of the lemon sugar rolls is going to add a ton of fat which adds to the soft and tenderness of the crumb. The butter in the filling is going to help bind the filling to the bread and add a little more richness.
- Lemon Emulsion – I know lemon emulsion is not the most common ingredient. Generally I really try to keep my recipes from using many/any hard to find ingredients or special tools but sometimes they are just going to make the recipe better. Extracts use alcohol to suspend the flavor (which can bake off in the heat of the oven) and emulsions use water. Emulsions tend to have a stronger flavor that holds. If you can’t find lemon emulsion, I would recommend lemon oil or extract. Lemon oil will be closer to emulsion but you will want to drastically reduce the amount – probably no more than 1/4 tsp.
Ingredients
Rolls
- 1 md-lg Lemon
- 50 g Granulated sugar ¼ cup
- 420 g Bread flour
- 6 g Sea salt 1 tsp
- 7 g Instant yeast 2¼ tsp
- 1 large Egg room temperature
- 240 g Whole or 2% milk 1 cup, room temperature or slightly warm
- 1 tsp Lemon emulsion or extract
- 56 g Unsalted butter 4 tbsp, softened
Filling
- 1 md-lg Lemon
- 65 g Granulated sugar ⅓ cup
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- 56 g Unsalted butter 4 tbsp, very softened
- 2 g AP or Bread flour 1 tsp
Topping
- 14 g Salted butter 1 tbsp
- 50 g Granulated sugar ¼ cup
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add your sugar and zest one of your lemons into the sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar until you have a sandy, coarse mixture.1 md-lg Lemon, 50 g Granulated sugar
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with dough hook attached, add flour, salt, yeast, egg, milk, lemon emulsion, and the lemon sugar. Mix for about 5 minutes until a dough comes together.420 g Bread flour, 6 g Sea salt, 7 g Instant yeast, 1 large Egg, 240 g Whole or 2% milk, 1 tsp Lemon emulsion or extract
- Cover the bowl and let sit for about 5 minutes.
- Turn the mixer back on, and while the dough is kneading add your butter 1 tbsp at a time. Let the butter be fully incorporated into the dough before adding the next piece. Repeat this until all the butter has been added into the dough.56 g Unsalted butter
- Let the dough knead until it is smooth and stretchy. The dough will be very soft, and stick to the bottom but not be too wet. 10-15 minutes.
- Remove your dough from the bowl and shape into a ball. Lightly grease your bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 1-2 hours or until the dough has at least doubled in size.
- When your dough is ready, prepare your filling before working with the dough. In a small bowl add your sugar and zest your lemon into the sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar just as you did for the dough.1 md-lg Lemon, 65 g Granulated sugar
- Your butter should be quite soft, so you will be able to mix it easily with a spatula but not melted. Add your butter, flour and vanilla to the lemon sugar and mix together to form a paste.½ tsp Vanilla extract, 56 g Unsalted butter, 2 g AP or Bread flour
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Punch down the dough and transfer to your work surface.
- Roll out your dough into approximately a 12×16 inch rectangle.
- Spread the filling over the rolled out dough.
- Take one of the long sides of your dough and fold it over towards the other long side, creating a long skinny rectangle of dough.
- Roll out the dough a little bit, widening the short side. You don't need to worry about doing this a ton as you will stretch the dough strips by hand as well.
- Cut your dough into 8 equal strips so the dough cuts should be about 2 inches wide and 6-7 inches long.
- Take each strip and pull it lightly, then twist it so it forms a sprial.
- Wrap the spiral around your fingers creating a scroll and tuck the end underneath towards the center. Place on your baking sheet.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Cover your rolls and let them proof again in a warm spot for 30-60 minutes.
- While your rolls proof, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Bake your rolls for about 16-18 minutes. The tops of the rolls should be a nice light but golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes.
- After your rolls have cooled enough for you to handle them well, brush them lightly with melted butter and dip the tops in sugar.14 g Salted butter, 50 g Granulated sugar
- Rolls will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Enjoy!
