How to Make Homemade Sweet Rolls

Homemade sweet rolls recipe with blueberries or any filling you want inside. Best breakfast pastry or dessert everyone will love. Made from scratch for Christmas or the weekend with Cream Cheese Frosting Without Butter or a tub already made, these are an Old Fashioned comfort food.

I just love the way that the dough doubles in size by the time I’m ready to bake them. Homemade sweet rolls as is or with added flavors like our Peanut Butter Sweet Rolls are some of my favorite sweets to eat. 

Sweet Roll Recipe

The great thing about sweet rolls is that you can really change up the flavor easily. Some have the sweetness from the brown sugar while others are sweetened by a glaze that you pour on top. 

We added blueberries to ours but blackberries like in our strudel pastry are good too. Just want crushed nuts? Add those inside instead. I mean the possibilities are endless.

Sweet Roll

The great thing about cooking dessert rolls is that they’re pretty versatile and easy to make. You can easily make a wide variety of bread and rolls with a basic bread recipe. 

Before you even start to make the rolls, be certain to check your yeast that it’s active and good to use. If you mix a little bit of warm milk with some yeast, you’ll know within a few moments of time if the yeast is good or not to bake with. 

Yeast is still active when it starts to produce a foam almost immediately. If there is no foam after several moments of time, you need to buy some new yeast for your roll recipe. 

Homemade Sweet Rolls

When it comes to prepping and making the dough, there are a few things to keep in mind. One of the biggest factors in how the rolls are going to turn out is how well you make and mix the dough.

This is why I recommend using a dough hook on your stand mixer as it’s the easiest way to mix the dough. (and keep your hands clean!) I also like to add in the flour by 1/2 cups when making the dough as this helps it not get too thick or hard to mix in the process. 

Once you have the dough mixed and ready, it’s time to move on to the next phase of creating these delicious homemade rolls. 

How to make sweet rolls 

If you’ve used a bread machine to make your dough, the following tips will still apply. Start by taking the dough out of the mixer or machine and added it into a greased bowl.

The point of this is that you’re going to want to let the dough rise until doubled so that it makes the yeast rolls really get big and fluffy.

It all really depends on the temperature and altitude of where you are as to how long it will take the dough to rise. It’s going to take longer than 20 minutes and even 30 minutes of time, so plan accordingly if you’re trying to make these for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 

Homemade sweet rolls recipe

Once the dough has raised, sprinkle some of the remaining flour on the counter. (and save a little bit to sprinkle into the baking pan, too) Take the dough and put it on the floured counter and start to knead the dough. 

You can then use a rolling pin to roll the dough so that you’re ready to start cutting out the biscuits. When it’s time to cut the dough, there are a few other tips to know. 

There are a lot of people that actually use biscuit cutters for their roll recipes. I’m not always one of those people. I do like them, don’t get me wrong. But I also think that using the rim of a glass works just about the same.

Sweet rolls with fruit

When you’re cutting the rolls, just be certain to press down hard so that the roll gets cut out completely. The last thing that you want to happen after doing all of your hard work is to have your rolls tear and not be a circle. 

The other big thing to keep in mind when you’re adding the biscuits to the baking pan is that they’re going to continue to rise. Putting them close together means that as they bake, they’re going to stick together, too.

This is fine for recipes such as cinnamon roll and sticky rolls but you might not want all your roll recipes to do that. 

How to make sweet rolls

Last, but not least, don’t forget about the toppings. Some recipes have toppings and glazes that are to be added while others leave it up to the person who is baking the bread on what to do. 

I’m all about adding sweet glazes and lemon glazes to the top of any and all the rolls. I’m also totally fine with adding butter and honey as well. I might have mentioned a time or two that I’m a fan of the rolls no matter what, right? 

Chocolate Sweet Rolls

You could swap out chocolate chips for the blueberries if you wanted to change it up to even sweeter if you wanted. 😉

As long as you take your time and give the rolls a chance to raise and plump up, you really can’t go wrong with however you decide to make them. The great part about baking these rolls is that every recipe is going to be unique and delicious. 

The next time that you’re craving a yummy golden brown roll recipe that really hits the spot no matter what time of day it is, whip up your favorite recipe for sweet rolls and enjoy every single bite!

They’re perfect to pair with a cup of coffee or easy enough to just grab and go as you’re walking out the door. You’d love our Instant Pot coffee cake and Easter egg bread too.

Homemade Sweet Roll

Here are quick directions, there is a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post as well: In a mixing bowl, combine 1.5 c flour and yeast. Set aside. In a saucepan, heat the milk, ⅓ cup butter, sugar, and salt until 120 F.

• Remove from heat and stir until the butter is melted. Add to the flour and yeast. Mix on low using a regular paddle. Add the eggs in one at a time.
  • Change the mixer attachment to the dough hook.
• Beat the dough at low speed, add the remaining flour a little at a time. Increase speed to medium until a soft dough forms. This will take approximately 3 minutes.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, turning once to coat both sides.
• Cover with a clean dish towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until it’s doubled in size. This will take about 1.5 hours.
  • Punch the dough down and turn out onto a floured surface. Cover and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Combine the filling ingredients. Roll the dough into a rectangle, approximately 20 inches by 10 inches. Sprinkle with the filling mixture, leaving a 1-inch space on one long edge without filling.
• Starting on the long side, roll the dough up, working it tightly but without pulling the dough too much.
• Seal the long edge by pinching it shut. Cut the dough into 12 even slices by cutting the dough in half, cutting those halves in half and then the quarters into three slices each.
• Place each roll in a large bar pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, allowing about one inch between them.
• Cover and allow to rise in a warm place about 40 minutes or until doubled

Now bake at 350 F degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. While the rolls bake, combine the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla, stirring until well blended. Stir in the flour and then add the milk a little at a time until reaching the desired consistency. Remove rolls from the oven and spread with icing. Serve!

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