Blueberry Sweet Buns with Lemon Glaze
These blueberry sweet buns taste like a Sunday morning any day of the week! Instead of reaching for that cereal box, why not make something special you can reheat and eat for days?
We love blueberries and use them in breakfast recipes a lot. Last year we had planned to go blueberry picking, but we just never found the time.
I do buy fresh blueberries a lot but, for baking, I think frozen is a great way to go. They work really well in this Blueberry Banana Smoothie, which pairs perfectly with these sweet buns.
This baked lemon donut recipe is similar in flavors to these sweet buns, so give them a try next!
If you’re a blueberry fan, too, check out this Blueberry Orange Muffin recipe, this low fat Blueberry Muffin recipe, or this healthy Baked Oatmeal with blueberries.
Your kids will love the flavors of this delicious meal for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. You’ll love how simple this is to make!
Even if this is the first time you’ve baked any kind of breakfast sticky buns or sweet buns, I think this will be pretty easy for you.
By the way, if you love breakfast cinnamon rolls, you’ve got to try these Apple Cinnamon Rolls. Think homemade Cinnabons and you’ll be on the right track!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Blueberries The star of the show! Whether you use small Maine blueberries as we have here or the bigger variety, the blueberries give these sweet buns that delicious flavor.
Lemon The tanginess of lemon is the perfect pairing for blueberries, and we’ve used lemon zest in the filling and lemon juice in the glaze.
Homemade Dough Sure, you can cut corners and buy dough, but when it’s this easy, why would you?
Equipment Needed
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Instructions
Make the Filling
You will want to make the filling for the sweet buns first.
Combine the frozen blueberries, sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl.
Zest one lemon.
Add lemon zest and gently toss and let sit while you prepare the dough.
Make the Dough
Set aside 1 cup of the flour. Did you know that flour is the most common ingredient that is measured wrong? Whether it’s bread flour, cake flour, all-purpose flour, or even gluten free flour, use the “spoon & level” method.
Most people scoop the flour out of the bag with a measuring cup. Don’t do this as you could end up with 50% more than you need! That’s more than enough to ruin your recipe.
Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and don’t pack the flour in. Tap the side of the measuring cup to fill in any air pockets.
After you’ve spooned the flour into the measuring cup, use the back of a knife to level off the top of the measuring cup.
In a large bowl, toss the yeast, remaining flour, sugar, and salt together. Set yeast mixture aside.
Melt the butter.
Combine milk and water and warm in the microwave for 60 seconds.
Combine the butter with the warm water and milk. It should be warm to the touch but not hot.
Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Add the egg and only enough of the reserved flour to make a soft dough.
Add the reserved 1-2 cups of flour a little at a time. (See notes if you live in a wet area.)
The dough will be ready when it gently pulls away from the side of the bowl and has an elastic consistency.
On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 5-6 minutes.
Place in a lightly greased clean bowl (olive oil or olive oil spray will work) and let dough rest for about 10 minutes.
Fill the Rolls
After 10 minutes, roll the dough out to a 14×8 inch rectangle on a clean work surface.
Once the dough is rolled out, brush on melted, unsalted butter to remove any excess flour remaining on the dough and to add another layer of flavor.
Pour the sugared blueberries on top and gently spread them to cover the dough surface. Roll up the dough tightly.
Cut into 12-14 equal pieces and place in a lightly greased baking dish. (You can’t go wrong with this Le Creuset rectangular baking dish.)
Cover the rolls with a towel and allow to rise in a draft-free, warm place for 1 hour.
After the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 375°F
Bake
Bake for 25-30 minutes until light golden brown.
If your oven runs hot, Cover the cut rolls with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning.
Make the Glaze
Right before serving, top your blueberry rolls with glaze recipe below.
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir with a fork or small whisk.
If you prefer a thicker glaze, add more powdered sugar. If you’d like it thinner, add more lemon juice or cream.
Pour the glaze over the blueberry sweet buns. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.
You can use pre-made dough, but this homemade dough recipe is really so easy! You could also use crescent rolls in a pinch, but if you’re going with pre-made, I’d go with Ready Dough.
You could use any kind of frozen fruit. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or even peaches would all be delicious. Fresh fruit would work, as well.
Store the rolls in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap for 3-4 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to a month.
More Blueberry Recipes
Blueberry Sweet Buns
Equipment
- Bowl
- Spoon
- Towel
- Aluminum Foil
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 1/3 C blueberries frozen, not thawed. If using small blueberries increase this to 2.5 cups of blueberries.
- lemon zested
- 1/4 C granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Dough
- 1 pkg Instant Yeast
- 1/2 C water
- 1/4 C milk
- 2 1/2 T butter unsalted
- 1 egg large, room temperature
- 4 C all purpose flour scooped and leveled
- 3 T granulated sugar
- 1 t salt
- 2 t olive oil For resting period
- 1 T butter melted
Glaze
- lemon juice from one lemon
- 1 C confectioner's sugar
- 1-2 T milk Can also use half and half or cream
Instructions
Make the filling first:
- Combine the frozen blueberries, lemon zest, sugar, and cornstarch in a bowl. Gently toss around and let sit while you prepare the dough.
Make the dough:
- Set aside 1 cup of flour.
- In a large bowl, toss the remaining flour, sugar, salt, and yeast together. Set aside.
- Melt the butter.
- Warm the milk and water in the microwave for 60 seconds.
- Combine the butter, water, and milk. It should be warm to the touch but not hot or you’ll kill the yeast
- Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture.
- Add the egg and only enough of the reserved flour to make a soft dough.
- Add the reserved 1-2 cups of flour a little at a time. *See note.
- The dough will be ready when it gently pulls away from the side of the bowl and has an elastic consistency.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 5-6 minutes.
- Place in a lightly greased bowl (olive oil or olive oil spray will work) and let rest for about 10 minutes.
Fill the Rolls
- After 10 minutes, roll the dough out in a 14×8 inch rectangle.
- Once the dough I rolled out, brush on melted, unsalted butter to remove any excess flour remaining on the dough and to add another layer of flavor.
- Pour the sugared blueberries on top and gently spread them to cover the dough surface. *See note.
- Roll up the dough tightly.
- Cut into 14 even pieces and place in a lightly greased baking dish.
- Cover the rolls with a towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.
- After the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned. Note: If your oven runs hot, Cover the rolls with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning.
Make the Glaze
- Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir with a fork or small whisk. If you prefer a thicker glaze, add more powdered sugar. If you’d like it thinner, add more lemon juice or cream
- Right before serving, pour the glaze over your blueberry breakfast rolls.
Notes
- In mild climates, only about 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup of flour will be needed. For areas with a lot of moisture in the air (from rain or snow) you will probably use the additional 1 cup of flour set aside in the beginning.
- If using small blueberries you may need additional to fill in gaps
