In today’s post: These sweet raspberry rolls are like cinnamon rolls but even better!
I don’t love winter, but I do love BAKING, and there’s no better time to do it than on a cold winter morning. Honestly, these raspberry rolls (a close cousin to cinnamon rolls) almost make waking up to a foot of snow a happy occasion – if you’re going to be stuck inside, you might as well delight your family with a pan of deliciousness. Of course, they’re not only good in the winter – I’m pretty sure you and every single person you know would enjoy these any day of the year.
I dreamed these up years ago after having a roll from a local bakery that was topping with raspberry frosting. I’ve always liked my mom’s cinnamon roll recipe, but I actually find that cinnamon rolls are sometimes a bit too sweet (crazy, I know). But soft homemade bread wrapped up with raspberry filling and topped with cream cheese frosting? That sounded just about perfect.
I’ve made these rolls dozens of times over the years. I try to invite neighbors and friends over for brunch now and again and I know these rolls will always go over well.
These start with my homemade dinner rolls recipe (which I also use to make garlic breadsticks and buttery crescent rolls). I know making your own bread dough can be intimidating, but once you’ve done it a time or two it’s really not that hard! If you’ve never made bread before, visit my favorite dinner rolls post – I’ve included a 10 minute video in that post that walks you step by step through the process of mixing, kneading, rising and baking. Give the basic dinner rolls recipe a shot, and once you’ve conquered that you’ll be ready to turn the basic rolls into these showstopping raspberry rolls!
If you’re already familiar with making yeast bread, you’re all set to dive into this recipe.
How to make raspberry rolls
Here’s a quick video that shows the process for making raspberry rolls:
You’ll start with my basic dinner rolls recipe (recipe cards for dinner rolls and raspberry rolls found at the end of this post). Mix up the ingredients and knead as directed. Let the dough rise once for an hour or a bit more until nearly doubled in size. Then you’ll start shaping as raspberry rolls instead of breadsticks:
1. On a floured surface, roll out dough to a 12×18 rectangle. 2. Mix raspberry preserves and softened butter and spread evenly over dough, leaving 1 inch uncovered along top edge as shown. 3. Carefully roll up dough from the bottom, pinching to seal seam. 4. Use a sharp knife to mark 14 equal pieces. 5. Gently slide a 12 inch length of thread under roll until it’s even with the first mark. Criss cross thread across top of roll and pull ends gently to slice through. 6. Either discard end pieces or place them in separate, small baking dish. Place remaining 12 rolls in a greased 9×13 pan.
NOTE: You don’t have to cut off the ends and discard them or bake them separately, but I like to because I find using the entire amount of dough in a 9×13 pan results in an overfilled pan and slightly uneven baking. So I generally just put the two end rolls in a small, greased casserole dish and cook them along side the 9×13 dish. That makes an extra treat for the kids if I plan to serve most of the rolls to guests!
1. All 12 rolls are in the pan. 2. Let rise for 20-30 minutes or until rolls are puffed and just touching. 3. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden brown. (I like to gently pull two of the center rolls apart from each other to be sure the dough is fully cooked in the middle before I take them out of the oven – last time mine cooked for exactly 22 minutes). 4. Let rolls cool for at least 15 minutes before topping with frosting.
Here they are fresh out of the oven:
And after they’re topping with the sinfully delicious cream cheese frosting:
The rolls really are best warm, but they taste great cooled as well. Start to finish they take about 3 hours.
Raspberry Rolls recipe
Click here for the recipe card for the raspberry rolls:
And click here for the recipe card for the dough I use to make them. Remember to click through to that post for instructions on mixing up the dough.
Tips for making raspberry rolls
Tip #1: My recipe calls for raspberry preserves. I love homemade raspberry jam, but I use storebought raspberry preserves or jam for this recipe because storebought is usually thicker than homemade jam. After all, you don’t want all that raspberry filling leaking down beneath the rolls while they bake! I also tend to like the stuff in the jars labeled “preserves” better than what’s in the jars labeled “jam”, but either should work fine as long as it’s thick.
Tip #2: The frosting recipe makes quite a good amount of frosting – more than you see in the photos here. I usually go ahead and dump it all on – everyone loves frosting right? – and I’ve never had any complaints. But if you prefer a smaller amount of frosting on your rolls, feel free to scale down the frosting ingredients.
I haven’t had good luck making cinnamon rolls, but I tried these and they were a HIT!! I’m already looking forward to making them again. Yum!
Fantastic!
By the way, how do you get your dough so rectangular-looking? Mine never looks so nice … or so rectangular! 🙂
Which brand of preserves do you use?
I actually used Walmart Great Value brand. I’ve also used Smuckers. I love homemade jam, but it’s usually a little too runny for these. Preserves are the perfect consistency.
So using homemade is probably not a good idea? Have you tried it? I don’t want to run to the store. Lazy me.
Ash – so sorry it took me a few days to get back to you. Do you mean homemade dough that’s been refrigerated? You certainly could do that – just let it come to room temperature before you roll it out and add the jam. I hope you got it figured out!
Can I refrigerate or freeze before the second rise so I can take out and bake off in the morning? I just don’t have enough time in the mornings to get up and make the dough. Would like to do the night before if possible
I wouldn’t freeze them, but I bet you’d be ok refrigerating them overnight. I haven’t done it, so I can’t tell you for sure, but I often make normal dinner rolls using this recipe, rise once and shape, and then refrigerate for a few hours until I’m ready to cook them. You’ll want to check them first thing in the morning and see if it looks like they’ve risen at all – if they haven’t, they’ll need a little while to sit on the counter and come to room temp and then start to rise – maybe an hour? – and then you can bake them. It’s possible they’ll rise a bit in the fridge overnight, however. If you try it, come back and let us know how it works. Maybe next time I make them I’ll try starting them the night before so I can let everyone know how it turns out.
Thanks!
Yippee! I’ve been waiting for this post. I have tried to recreate them but they’ve never been as good. I made similar ones and added craisins and that was a fun addition. I am going to make these as soon as I get better.
Are you sick Katee? I hope you feel better soon!
how you doing yum:)
These look so delicious!! Thank you so much for linking up! I just pinned them!
Thank you!
I let mine raise overnight and it worked great!
Hey, fantastic! Thanks so much for letting us know!
At which rise did you refrigerate? First or second?
Is there a refrigerated dough that I could use instead?! Don’t get me wrong…I love the idea of homemade dough, but I work full-time and have a one-year-old! I don’t have the time or patience! Thanks!
I’m not sure, Kristine. You could certainly try using a loaf of refrigerated french bread, but I’ve never tried it so I’m not sure how it would turn out. I plan to experiment using some frozen Rhodes dough one of these days and see how it works – if I get around to it I’ll let you know!
Oh my goodness these look amazing! I can’t wait to give them a go tomorrow. Thanks for sharing such a yummy recipe x
You’re welcome – let me know how they turn out!
Thanks so much for this recipe. I love raspberry ANYTHING. Made these for a family brunch today & they were a huge hit! Next time I’ll use a bit more preserves, maybe 1 cup instead of 3/4. But we loved them!
Thanks for letting me know, Donna – I always love hearing that the recipes work out!
These look amazing!!! Pinning for later!
I’ve used Rhoades frozen rolls before for sticky buns and they turn out great. U take each frozen roll & roll into brown sugar (1/4 c with a box of butterscotch INSTANT pudding not the cooked kind) & place in a 9/13 in butterd pan. For sticky buns I also either use raisins or chopped walnuts on bottom of pan before I place the rolls in pan. Then sprinkle the br sugar & pudding mixture over the top of the rolls using all of it. Then put a pat of butter on each roll & cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit until morning. I usually try to get them ready by 11:00 at night & by the time I get up say about 7:00 in the morning I can remove the plastic wrap and place them in the oven at 350 for 25 min. Wallah enjoy your sticky buns delish. For your buns u would have to figure a way to thaw out the rolls enough to knead them together so u could roll them out to spread your preserves on them. Hope this works out for you.
This sounds amazing – I’m definitely giving it a try soon! Thanks!
I am in the process of making them for the first time at this moment! I am going to freeze them to be used next week on our vacation at the lake. At Christmas time I always make cinnamon rolls ahead of time, freeze them right after rolling and cutting them, then take them out on Christmas Eve to thaw and raise overnight to be cooked for Christmas morning breakfast. they always turn out great Don’t know why it wouldn’t work for this recipe! 🙂
Please come back and let us all know how it goes – do you thaw/raise overnight on the counter? I’d love to hear more!
Delicious
Just made these,but used my own cinnamon roll bread recipe..turned out AWESOME!
I made these using Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix (great to use) and homemade raspberry jam. The jam is to runny to use, most of the jam squished out when rolled into the log :o( They are still baking as I’m writing. I’m hoping the frosting will make up for the missed contents inside the rolls. This recipe just sounds so amazing. Next time I will have to buy preserves and make it right.
Can you make these the night before and then just bake them the next morning?