These fresh milled lemon raspberry sweet rolls are heavenly soft, and bursting with real raspberry and lemon flavor. Filled with a perfectly sweet and tart raspberry lemon filling, and topped with a honey lemon cream cheese frosting, they’re a delicious twist on traditional cinnamon rolls. They come together quickly with just one rise, and are sure to be a crowd pleaser for breakfast or brunch!

Close up of a lemon raspberry sweet roll with fresh milled flour

If you haven’t tried my fresh milled cinnamon rolls, you need to add them to your must bake list.

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Why You’ll Love These Fresh Milled Lemon Raspberry Sweet Rolls

Real fruit flavor – These rolls have amazing flavor from fresh raspberries and real lemon. The combination of sweet & tart is perfectly matched.

Soft & fluffy – These rolls aren’t dense, but they are so light and fluffy.

Creamy lemon cream cheese frosting – every roll needs a good frosting, and this one is sweetened with honey and absolutely delightful. It has the perfect amount of sweet, and tartness from real lemon juice + zest.

Fun twist on traditional cinnamon rolls – While these rolls look like a traditional cinnamon roll, they are a fun and fresh twist on the classic.

Fresh milled flour – fresh milled flour is amazing in so many ways. It brings incredible nutrients and health benefits, and a really nice flavor to these sweet rolls.

Not overly sweet – The filling is sweetened with a little bit of real cane sugar, but otherwise these rolls use honey for added sweetness. You can feel good about enjoying this sweet treat, without a crazy spike to your blood sugar.

Just one rise – These rolls won’t take hours to make. With a little planning you can have rolls on the breakfast table without multiple rise times. My favorite way to make them is to make them in the evening, and put them in the fridge. They will rise overnight and be ready to bake in the morning!

Tray of lemon raspberry rolls next to two rolls on plates

Looking for more fresh milled recipes? Try one of these next:

Why Make Sweet Rolls With Fresh Flour?

So why freshly milled flour? While making anything homemade, (even with all-purpose white flour) is still better for you than traditional store-bought treats, they are still not very nutrient rich. The problem is, that when flour is processed from wheat berries, nearly all of the nutrients are stripped away (20 key nutrients!) A few are synthetically added back in, but the end results is still vastly different.

The other problem is that the longer flour sits after it is milled, the less nutrients that it will maintain. As soon as the wheat grain is broken, 40-45% of the nutrients deplete after just 24 hours of the flour being milled, and 95% are depleted after 3 days (source). However the nutrients from freshly milled flour are “locked in” after the first bread rise or after baking, due to the enzymatic activity. So as long as you bake with your flour within 24 hours (or at the most 3 days) of milling it, you are ensuring higher nutrient density in your sweet rolls.

Tray of freshly baked rolls with lemon and raspberries

Ingredients for Fresh Milled Raspberry Lemon Sweet Rolls

Real food ingredients make for great recipes. Here is what you will need:

For the dough:

Hard white wheat berries, or fresh milled flour – for the best nutrition, mill the wheat berries right before you plan to make cinnamon rolls. A hard wheat berry will yield the best rise and texture. I would not recommend using a soft wheat variety as you won’t get a good enough rise. Hard wheat berries have a higher protein content which is the best for this recipe!

Milk – I like to use raw, whole milk in this recipe, but you can use whatever milk that you drink. In a pinch, water will work too.

Softened Butter – I love kerrygold grass-fed butter for all my cooking & baking. I primarily use salted butter because that’s what I buy and always have on hand.

Eggs – My favorite eggs for everything are pasture-raised eggs for the best nutrition & quality! Eggs can vary so much based on how the chickens were treated and what they eat.

Honey – I love to find local, raw honey to use in my home. Whatever honey you have works great!

Salt – Did you know that salt can be refined, bleached, and processed? Always look for unrefined mineral salt. I love redmonds real salt.

Instant Yeast – Make sure your yeast is fresh for best results.

Half & Half or heavy cream – In my opinion this is the secret that takes rolls from average to outstanding. This is the ingredient that makes them perfectly ooey gooey.

For the filling:

Softened butter – More butter. The best rolls don’t skimp on butter, in my opinion.

Lemon zest – Lemon zest from real lemons just makes the best lemon flavor. You can’t beat the real thing.

Real cane sugar – While not overly sweet, a little bit of real cane sugar helps to balance out the tartness from the raspberries and lemon.

Fresh raspberries – avoid using frozen raspberries, they will get much too liquid-ey and messy when you try and roll up the dough. I learned this from experience!

For the frosting:

Softened butter – Yes more butter!

Cream cheese – the perfect match for lemon, if you ask me. The creaminess is the perfect compliment.

Lemon juice & zest –

Raw honey – The perfect touch of added sweetness to top off these rolls. I love to use real, unrefined sugar whenever possible.

Vanilla Extract–

Pinch of salt

Other Supplies You Will Need

Grain Mill – If you are going to mill the flour yourself you will need a mill. I have really loved my MockMill 100.
Stand mixer with dough hook attachment, and whisk attachment (for the frosting)
small sauce pan
9 x 13 glass baking pan
Rolling pin
parchment paper
pizza cutter or sharp knife
measuring cups and spoons

Vertical image of a lemon raspberry roll with lemon zest on top and fresh raspberries.

How To Make Fresh Milled Sweet Rolls with Lemon Raspberry filling

Before you begin, make sure you set out your butter and cream cheese to soften. It will make the process much smoother!

Make The Dough

Step 1: Use your grain mill to mill your hard white wheat berries on the finest flour setting. Set aside.

Step 2: Warm up the milk in a small saucepan over low heat until it is warm to the touch but not hot.

Step 3: To the bowl of your stand mixer, add the warm milk, eggs, honey, salt, flour, and instant yeast. With the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients together until combined.

Step 4: Next add the softened butter a little bit at a time.

Step 5: Switch the dough hook attachment, and knead your dough until it is smooth and elastic, and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. You know the dough is ready when you can achieve a nice windowpane. Depending on your mixer, this can take a while. In my kitchen aid mixer this often takes between 20-30 minutes.

Prepare The Filling

Step 1: While the dough is kneading, prepare your filling. In a small bowl or glass beaker, mix the softened butter with the lemon zest and sugar.

Glass cup with sugar, lemon zest, and butter mixed together and a spoon.

Make The Rolls

Step 1: Once your dough is ready, line a 9 x 13 baking pan with parchment paper.

Step 2: Lightly oil a work surface with olive oil or coconut oil.

Step 3: Remove the dough from the bowl, and gently roll it into a large rectangle, about 12 x 20″, as even as you can.

Top view of two hands rolling out fresh milled flour dough onto a cutting board.

Step 4: Spread the lemon sugar filling evenly across the dough, as close to the edges as you can.

Step 5: Sprinkle the raspberries evenly on top of dough. Use a fork to gently smash them onto the dough. You want them to stay in place when you roll up the dough.

Hand mashing fresh raspberries on top of lemon rolls dough.

Step 6: Using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 even strips across the shortest distance of the dough.

Step 7: Using your hands, carefully roll each individual strip into a roll and place it into the prepared pan.

Hand carefully rolling up lemon raspberry rolls.

Step 8: Finish rolling the rest of the sweet rolls, and place them evenly in the baking sheet. Cover them with plastic wrap to allow them to rise.

Rise & Bake The Rolls

Step 1: Allow the rolls to rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes until slightly puffy.

Step 2: While the rolls rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Step 3: Once the rolls are puffy, gently pour the half and half or heavy cream evenly over the tops of the rolls.

Step 4: Bake the rolls for 35-40 minutes, or until they are golden brown and cooked all of the way through.

Step 5: While the rolls bake, make the frosting by combining the cream cheese, butter, honey, lemon zest and juice, and salt in a mixer and whipping on high speed until it is really creamy and no lumps remain.

Homemade lemon cream cheese frosting in a kitchen aid mixer.

Step 6: When the rolls come out of the oven, let them cool for 5-10 minutes, then spread the icing evenly. Enjoy!

How to Make Lemon Raspberry Sweet Rolls Ahead of Time

Want to make these sweet rolls ahead of time to freeze or overnight? They are so easy to make ahead of time!

To freeze lemon raspberry sweet rolls, after rolling them up freeze them individually on a baking sheet, then store in a ziplock bag. When you are ready to bake them, first thaw the rolls for 90 minutes and then bake as usual.

To make overnight: This is my go-to method! After shaping the rolls and putting them in the parchment lined pan, cover with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. The next morning, set them out at room temperature for 30 minutes and then bake as usual. This is a really easy way to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

Frosted lemon raspberry rolls in a glass pan.

Tips For Success

Patience while kneading – Under-kneading the dough can result in dense rolls.
Don’t add too much flour – this is a sticky dough, but will come together when kneading.
Don’t over-bake – There is a fine line between perfect rolls and overdone ones. Try not to over-bake, or your rolls will be dry.
Let the rolls cool slightly before frosting – to avoid the frosting melting too much while spreading, let the rolls cool for 5-10 minutes before frosting them.
Use fresh raspberries – frozen raspberries are really messy and have too much liquid when thawed.

Frequently Asked Questions

You can if that is all that you have, but keep in mind that once raspberries thaw they are much juicier and contain more liquid than fresh raspberries. If you are going to use frozen raspberries, thaw them first, and try and squeeze out some of the excess liquid before spreading on your dough.

In my experience hard wheat varieties work the best in this recipe. The higher protein content will result in a better rise in your sweet rolls.

You can substitute regular whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour, but the results may be slightly different.

Absolutely! This is my preferred way to make sweet rolls (and cinnamon rolls!). After shaping the rolls, cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while the oven preheats, then bake as directed.

Yes. You can freeze the shaped, unbaked rolls or freeze them after baking. For best results, wrap them tightly to prevent freezer burn. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking or at room temperature for 90 minutes (before baking).

Your sweet rolls might be coming out dense because you didn’t knead them long enough, or your yeast might not be fresh. Make sure to use fresh yeast, and try to knead your dough until you reach windowpane.

I would stick to hard wheat varieties, for best results.