Fluffy, pillowy sweet rolls with a tart raspberry filling and a sweet and smooth white chocolate icing. These White Chocolate Raspberry Rolls are a match made in heaven. We have step by step instructions to take the fear out of bread making. We'll be with you every step of the way to make these divine rolls.
Why This Recipe Works
Making bread can seem overwhelming, but there are really only 3 steps to making these raspberry sweet rolls. 1 - make the dough. 2 - make the filling. 3 - make the frosting and assemble. If you end up liking these you must also try our birthday cake rolls and classic cinnamon rolls.
You are going to love this recipe because:
- The dough can be made the day before.
- The are absolutely delicious. I promise you will love these sweet rolls.
- The are simple to make.
About The Ingredients
Everything you need for this recipe can be purchased at your local grocery store. Here are a few items to note:
- dry active yeast - this is the levener in the recipe and what makes the bread rise. I suggest regular active dry yeast. The rapid rise doesn't do great in recipes where it has to rise twice.
- pantry items - you'll need several pantry items like granulated sugar, salt, flour, butter, eggs, and water
- frozen raspberries - we will be making our filling from this. You can find frozen berries in the freezer aisle of your grocery store. You can use fresh but I prefer to use frozen raspberries.
- heavy whipping cream - we will use this in our icing. This is readily available near the milk.
- white chocolate chips - this is also used in our icing. It makes it so divine. You can also use a chopped white baking bar if you prefer.
For a complete list of ingredients and amounts, see the recipe card below.
How to Make Raspberry Sweet Rolls
Don't let dough making intimidate you - it's very simple. The toughest part is waiting for the dough to rise. I'm an impatient person, so this step is always tough for me. I'm going to take you thru this process step by step, starting with the dough. I like to use a stand mixer with a dough hook, but this can also be done by hand.
The Dough
- Start off by Dissolving yeast in ¼ cup warm (room-temperature) water with 1 tablespoon sugar. The sugar gives the yeast a little boost. Your yeast should foam up. If it doesn't, your yeast is dead and you will need new yeast.
- To the yeast mixture add beaten eggs, melted butter, sugar, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Add flour, one to two cups at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Dough will be very soft. Cover with a cloth and let rise to double. This will take about an hour.
- Cover with a damp cloth, or transfer to a large zipper bag. Chill dough 2 hours, up to overnight.
Pro Tip - I like to start my dough the day before and let it chill overnight. The colder the dough, the easier it is to handle.
Pro Tip - Use luke warm water to help yeast grow, but DO NOT use hot water. Hot water will kill the yeast
The Raspberry Filling
While the dough is chilling you can prepare your raspberry filling. This will give it time to cool.
- Take frozen raspberries, sugar, and cornstarch and place in a saucepan.
- Simmer in a saucepan for about 15 minutes, or until raspberries are broken down. Let cool.
The Icing
This step is slightly out of order, but I want to make sure you know how to do it before we assemble the rolls.
- Combine the heavy cream and white chocolate chips in a small saucepan.
- Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate chips are melted.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and add in powdered sugar.
- Mix with a hand or stand mixer until well combined.
Now Let's Roll Them Up!
Once your dough has chilled it is time to assemble the raspberry rolls.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a large, long rectangle. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just make sure it is about ¼ inch in height, and roughly 15x10 inches.
- Brush melted butter over the entire surface of the dough.
- Spread raspberry sauce over the butter, covering the entire surface of the dough.
- Carefully, roll the dough up lengthwise into a long tube.
- Cut into ½-1" discs using a piece of dental floss (slip floss under roll; bring ends up to top and cross floss, pull floss, cutting dough as you pull to cross. Move to next area you want to cut. This method keeps the discs round and prevents flattening the roll.)
- Place on a greased baking sheet or pan about ½ inch apart. Let rise until double. (About an hour). Bake!
- Frost will still slightly warm.
- Enjoy immediately!
Pro Tip- Use dental floss to cut your slices from the roll. This method keeps the discs round.
How To Serve
Once you've smothered the rolls with the icing you will quite literally have heaven on earth. I have NEVER met someone who didn't LOVE these raspberry rolls. They are THAT good. These taste amazing next to a cup of hot cinnamon milk, or a milk steamer.
May I suggest that you make these for:
- Valentine's Day?
- Brunch?
- Or Thursday? Ha ha!
FAQs
You'll want to store baked sweet rolls in an airtight container. They will keep for about 5 days - if they last that long! I like to pop them into the microwave for a few seconds before eating leftovers - the warm roll with melty icing is divine!
Sweet rolls freeze really well. There are two methods. Both allow freezing up to 3 months.
Freeze after baking and frosting: Let the rolls cool completely, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag. Thaw and reheat when ready to serve.
Freeze before baking: Prepare up to the point that you can rolled up the rolls and placed them on the pan. Rather than rising, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag. Put in the freezer immediately. When you remove from freezer let them thaw and rise until they are doubled. Then they are ready to bake!
Yes! You can sub frozen strawberries, blueberries, or blackberries for a delicious combo!
Yes - I recommend using the frosting recipe from these cinnamon rolls.
Pro Kitchen Tips
- Use lukewarm water to help yeast grow, but don't use hot water or you will kill the yeast.
- Let the yeast sit and bubble for about 10 minutes. This makes sure it's alive and working.
- Don't add all the flour at once. Incorporate the first four cups of flour and then add the next 1-2 cups slowly until the dough pulls away from the sides, but still has a slightly sticky texture.
- Knead dough long enough. Let it go until it has a nice sheen to it. about 5 minutes.
- Frost the raspberry cinnamon rolls while they are still warm.
- Use dental floss to cut your disks. This allows a more uniform circle.
More Raspberry Recipes You'll Love
If you liked this sweet rolls recipe, you'll also like:
If you love berries, you should also check out this Strawberry Cinnamon Roll recipe. So delicious!
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White Chocolate Raspberry Sweet Rolls
Equipment
- stand mixer with dough hook optional
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 TBS. dry yeast
- ¼ cup water to soften yeast
- 1 TBS. sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup water divided
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 3 beaten eggs
- 4 ½ cups flour
Filling
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 6 ounces frozen raspberries
- 1.5 TBS. sugar
- 1 TBS. cornstarch
Icing
- 16 ounces white chocolate chips
- ½ cup heaving whipping cream
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Rolls
- Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup warm (room-temperature) water. (*I like to add a TBS. or so of sugar to boost it's activating power). Let sit for about 10 minutes. It should bubble up.
- Add beaten eggs, melted butter, sugar, salt, and ½ cup cold water.
- Add flour, one to two cups at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Dough will be very soft.
- Let rise until double - it usually takes about an hour. Stir down. Cover with a wet tea towel (or damp cloth) and put in refrigerator. The longer left in the refrigerator, the easier it is to handle. 2 hours up to overnight will do the trick.
- Roll out on floured board into a large rectangle.
- Brush with melted butter.
- Spread raspberry sauce evenly over dough.
- Moisten dough edges with a little water (dip finger in water and rub around outside edges) so dough will cling to itself. Carefully roll up, lengthwise. Cut into ½-1" discs using a piece of dental floss (slip floss under roll; bring ends up to top and cross floss, pull floss, cutting dough as you pull to cross. Move to next area you want to cut. This method keeps the discs round and prevents flattening the roll.)
- Place on a greased baking sheet or dish about ½ inch apart.
- Cover with a towel and let rise until double (about an hour).
- Bake 400°F (200°C) for 15-20 min. or until lightly or golden brown.
- Ice while still slightly warm.
- Store in an airtight container.
Raspberry Sauce
- Combine raspberries, sugar, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Cook on medium until raspberries are cooked down, stirring occasionally.
- Let cool to room temp.
Icing
- In a small saucepan combine white chocolate chips and whipping cream.
- Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until melted and combined.
- Remove from heat.
- In a mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and melted white chocolate. Mix with a hand or stand mixer until smooth.
- Use immediately.
Judy Brown says
I haven't made them yet... 2 questions- In step #5 what's the size of the rectangle ? How many rolls should you end up with? Your picture shows 12, but later it says 20 servings. Did you use a 9x13" pan ? o.k. that's 3 questions...................
Kadee says
You want to roll it out to about 12x18 inches.
You want to place them about 1/2 inch apart. It doesn’t really matter what pan you use. If you use a 9x13 like I used in this photo you will have to make two pans of them. I have done them on a sheet pan before or even a pie pan as well. You will end up with about 20 rolls.
Forgive this recipe - it’s on my list to give a facelift to. I need to redo photos and instructions. This is a very old recipe, but honestly a really delicious recipe! But it doesn’t have some of the detailed instructions we normally provide.
Guy says
Recipe just states flour. Is it plain or strong white bread flour.
Kadee says
I use all purpose flour.
Emily Kemp says
Wow these look soo good, white chocolate and raspberry is the best combo!
Jeanette says
Oh my these look amazing! I am most certainly going to make them for my family. Thanks for sharing!