Lemon Sweet Rolls

These lemon sweet rolls are packed with delicious flavors, and they’re so easy to make from scratch. Made with fresh lemon, vanilla, and butter to produce perfectly soft rolls that are drizzled in a sweetened lemon glaze. You’ll want to have these for breakfast and dessert!

When the weather is so nice, we want to celebrate in the best way possible: with food. My lemon sweet rolls made with fresh lemon are the best way to celebrate. Whether you’re making these for yourself, guests, or some other occasion like Mother’s Day or Easter, then be prepared to fall in love with the sticky and sweet flavors of these lemon buns.

If you like to make cinnamon rolls, then you will definitely enjoy making this lemon recipe that is perfect for almost anything. Flavors of bright citrus and buttery vanilla are intertwined with a sweet filling that is just irresistible. A gooey center fills these rolls, and they’re coated in an easy homemade glaze that is made with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar. 

Lemon Sweet Rolls

Who doesn’t love a soft sweet roll? You’re going to want to make this recipe because the leftovers are even better, and you can eat these lemon sweet rolls either warmed or chilled. Either way, both ways result in comforting flavors that will leave you begging for more.

In my household, this recipe is one of my favorites to make from scratch because of how stress-free it is and because there isn’t THAT huge of a mess to clean up afterward! This recipe reminds me of some other simple recipes we love to use for baking in our house such as Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls, Ice Cream Sticky Rolls, or Sweet Molasses Brown Bread Roll Recipe.

Ingredients for Lemon Sticky Buns

Dry Ingredients:

Sugar– Two forms of sugar are used in this recipe: granulated and powdered. Powdered sugar is used for the lemon glaze and the granulated sugar is what gives the dough its moisture and prevents it from drying out too quickly 

Salt– This ingredient is essential for the formation of these lemon sweet rolls. The salt strengthens the dough and also enhances the flavor of the dough making it perfectly balanced.

Flour– We like to use an all-purpose flour here. In case you want to make these lemon rolls gluten-free, you can use a gluten-free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum included.

Wet Ingredients:

Yeast– This ingredient acts as a leavening agent for the rolls in this recipe. In order for the rolls to rise, then yeast is definitely needed. During the dough-making process, the yeast expands and multiplies throughout the dough which is responsible for the dough getting bigger during the rises.

Milk– You will need to warm your milk to 170°F for this recipe which is roughly second seconds in the microwave. The milk contains lactose which breaks down into sugar and feeds the yeast. An important step of baking!

Eggs– Room temperature eggs are best, and they act as a binding agent for the dough and other ingredients. The eggs are responsible for the structure, height, and overall form over the lemon rolls.

Butter– The butter adds moisture to this recipe and gives it that buttery flavor we all love. Not only does the butter give these sweet rolls a light and airy texture in the dough, but it makes the lemon filling extra flavorful, too.

Lemon– Fresh lemon juice and zest is used in this recipe for a rich flavor of citrus. We like to use freshly squeezed lemon juice, but bottled lemon juice will work, too. You will need to have a lemon on hand for the zest.

Cream– Heavy cream is used for making the glaze to add some delicate creaminess to it in addition to thinning the glaze out a bit. Milk or half and half can be substituted here!

Vanilla Extract- Flavorful vanilla extract is used for this recipe to provide that rich vanilla flavor.

How to Make Lemon Sweet Rolls

With a large mixing bowl, stir together yeast and warm milk. (One cup of cold milk in the microwave for one minute yields milk that is around 107° Fahrenheit). Allow the yeast to proof for five minutes.

Once the yeast has proofed, add the eggs, butter, sugar, salt, lemon zest, and flour. Stir the ingredients together until combined. Pull out the mixer if you are using one. 

Using the dough hook attachment for your standup mixer, mix the dough. When it begins to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl, then set a timer for five minutes, continuing to mix with the dough hook attachment until dough forms into a ball.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and spray the bowl with non-stick cooking spray oil. Place the formed dough into the greased mixing bowl and cover it with a lightweight, dry towel. Let the dough to rise for 45-60 minutes or until it has doubled in size. 

Next, lightly flour countertop and roll the dough in a large rectangle approximately 1/4″ thick. 

After that, combine lemon zest and sugar. Brush the top of the dough with melted butter and then sprinkle the lemon sugar over the dough.

Roll the dough, from the long side, to form one large roll, then cut into 1 1/2″ thick slices. 

Grease the bottom of a 9×13″ baking pan, and place the rolls into the pan. Cover again with the towel you used before and allow the lemon rolls to rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. 

Place rolls in the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, but watch them to make sure they don’t overcook! When they are golden brown, gently pull them from the oven and let them cool while you prepare the glaze.

Whisk in the powdered sugar, lemon zest, cream, fresh lemon juice, and vanilla extract until combined. Apply the glaze generously to the tops of the warmed rolls.

Tips for This Recipe

• Make sure to properly measure your flour here. Too much flour, and you’ll end up with super dense and dry rolls. Not good! 
• Don’t kill your yeast! The milk your milk to exceed 110°Fahrenheit or to go below 107° F. 
• Mix just enough, but not too much! The dough should be somewhat tacky, but not super sticky. With gluten-free flours, stickiness is expected, but it can be fixed. Just generously add more flour to the dough while rolling. 

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An Affair from the Heart Celebrates Ten Years

Today’s recipe for Lemon Sweet Rolls is part of my Tenth Anniversary Giveaway Extravaganza!  Today’s giveaway is centered around my most favorite candle scent. I used to always find it with the name of “volcano,” but now I can’t find that one anymore, so when I found the same scent with the name “Midnight Citrus” I was so happy!

Speaking of things that make me happy — the winner of today’s giveaway will also get one of my 10th Anniversary T-Shirts! 

(Prizes are only available to my readers in the US, I am so sorry about that, but it can’t be helped. T-Shirts come in limited sizes)

But WAIT. There’s MORE. 

10th Anniversary Prizes

I am also giving away a KitchenAid Mixer to one lucky winner!  It couldn’t be easier to get entered to win it — all you have to do is make one of my recipes!

That’s it. Bake, make dinner for your family, try a new appetizer or drink recipe, then take a photo of it and email it to me! (info@anaffairfromtheheart.com)

I will take entries from March 1 til 11:59 PM CST on March 31st. You can make as many recipes as you want, just send a photo of it to me in an email, tell me what you made and what you thought of the recipe and you get entered to win. Pretty easy right?

Bonus Entry

You can get a bonus entry for each recipe photo you share and tag me on social media. (please don’t share the complete recipe, just the photo and the recipe title with a tag to my Facebook page or to my Instagram page and include this hashtag: #AnAffairFromTheHeart Due to many people’s social media accounts being set to private, I may not be able to see them, so I am asking that you send a screenshot of the share to my email as well. 

But guess what? I am not done there! Nope! There are 9 more prizes that you can enter to win! It’s easy — and all 10 recipes (the nine I mentioned + today’s prize) are all explained here in this one huge Rafflecopter Giveaway. You can enter to win some of them every single day in the month of March — so visit me and share often!

But guess what? I am not done there! Nope! There are 9 more prizes that you can enter to win! It’s easy — and all 10 recipes (the nine I mentioned + today’s prize) are all explained here in this one huge Rafflecopter Giveaway. You can enter to win some of them every single day in the month of March — so visit me and share often! 

It may be MY 10th (anniversary) BIRTHDAY — But I AM the one giving the presents!! 

Why? Because giving gifts is one of my MOST FAVORITE THINGS to do! 

ENTER TO WIN ALL of the PRIZES HERE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Other Baked Goods to Check Out

• Blueberry Sweet Rolls
• Cinnamon Monkey Muffins
• Cherry Limeade Sweet Rolls
• Lemon Bars
• Raspberry Lemon Bundt Cake

 

 

Let’s make some lemon sweet rolls! 

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Print Recipe

Lemon Sweet Rolls

These lemon sweet rolls are packed with delicious flavors, and they’re so easy to make from scratch. Made with fresh lemon, vanilla, and butter to produce perfectly soft rolls that are drizzled in a sweetened lemon glaze. You’ll want to have these for breakfast and dessert!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Additional Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course: Rolls-Biscuits-Muffins

Cuisine: American

Servings: 18 rolls

Author: Michaela Kenkel

Equipment

• 9x13 Pyrex Baking Dish with a Lid

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 1 cup of warm milk 105 - 115 degrees F
• 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 stick 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 4 cups all purpose flour

For the Lemon Filing

• 3 teaspoons lemon zest
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter melted

For the Lemon Glaze

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 Tablespoons cream
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl stir together yeast and warm milk. (One cup of cold milk in the microwave for 1 minute = 107 degrees F.) Allow yeast to proof for 5 minutes.
• Add in eggs, butter, sugar, salt zest and flour. Stir until combined.
• Using your dough hook attachment, mix dough, when it begins to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl, set a timer for 5 minutes, continuing to mix with the dough hook attachment.
• Remove dough from mixing bowl, spray the bowl with non-stick cooking spray, and place dough back in the bowl, and cover with a lightweight, dry towel. Allow dough to rise for 45-60 minutes, or until it's doubled in size.
• Lightly flour the countertop and roll the dough into a large rectangle approximately 1/4" thick.
• Combine lemon zest and sugar. Brush the top of the dough with melted butter and then sprinkle lemon sugar over the dough.
• Roll the dough, from the long side, to form one long large roll. Cut into 1 1/2" slices.
• Grease the bottom of a 9x13" baking pan, and place the rolls into the pan. Cover again with the towel and let them raise for another 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Bake rolls for 25-30 minutes. Watch them. When they are golden brown pull them from the oven and let them cool while you prepare the glaze.
• Whisk glaze ingredients together and apply generously to the top of the warm rolls.

Notes

You will need about 4-5 good sized lemons for this recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 1