These beautiful raspberry cheesecake sweet rolls are irresistibly delicious! Great for breakfast, brunch or a midnight snack!

I am so excited to post this recipe today! Mostly because I think the picture turned out so pretty! Seriously though, these raspberry cheesecake sweet rolls are soooo good. I am a big fan of berries and wanted something new to do with them. Since I’m in a sweet roll kinda mood lately this is what I came up with. I loved how pretty these turned out! I highly recommend trying them while they are warm. Totally ooey, gooey tastiness.

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What are sweet rolls?

A sweet roll refers to any of a number of sweet, baked, yeast-leavened breakfast food. They may contain spices, nuts, candied fruits, etc., and are often glazed or topped with icing.

How to make these sweet rolls:

I prefer to use my stand mixer (affiliate link) for my convenience, but this recipe can be done just as well with hand beaters (affiliate link). If using a stand mixer, fit it with the paddle attachment.
In the bowl of your mixer, place the butter, salt, and sugar.
In a small pot, over medium high heat, scald the 1 cup of milk. To scald milk, heat it until nearly boiling then remove from the heat. Pour the scalded milk over the contents of the mixing bowl. Allow to cool down to a warm but not hot temperature (a bit warmer than a baby’s bath water).
In a small measuring cup dissolve 1 Tbs. active dry yeast and 1/2 tsp sugar in 1/3 cup warm water and let stand 5 minutes until foamy. Pour the foamy yeast, 2 eggs, and 2 cups of flour into the mixing bowl. Mix on low just to get everything mixed together, then beat at a medium high speed for 5 minutes. Don’t skimp on the time. You need to beat the batter for 5 minutes.

Following 5 minutes of beating, add 1 1/2 cups more flour and mix just until incorporated. The top right picture above is what your batter/dough should look like. This particular kind of roll is called a batter roll or batter bread. Meaning it is not going to come together in a ball like typical doughs. It will be sticky and gooey.
Remove the paddle attachment and cover the bowl with a dish towel. Allow the dough to rise until doubled. This should take an hour to an hour and a half.
Gently punch down the dough, recover and allow to rise a 2nd time until doubled. This time it will rise in about half the time it took before.
While the dough is rising for a second time make the cream cheese filling according to the recipe instructions. A
Also prepare a 9×13 baking dish by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray.
Dump the risen dough onto a generously floured surface. As you can see in the bottom left hand picture above, this dough is very soft and kind of sticky. Gently knead the dough with a little flour just enough that it is not terribly sticky. Do not add a ton of flour. You really only need a bit. This dough should not toughen up and be a stiff dough like regular bread dough.
Roll the dough out with your rolling pin (affiliate link) into roughly a 20 x 14 inch rectangle on a floured surface.

Spread the cream cheese filling on the rolled out dough.
Place the frozen raspberries in a gallon size ziploc type bag, measure the cornstarch into the bag with them, close and shake to coat. You want to wait until this point to get the raspberries out of the freezer. If the raspberries thaw too much they just make a mess. The dough is harder to slice up nice, and the juice runs everywhere.
Sprinkle the cornstarch coated raspberries across the cream cheese filling and roll up the dough jelly roll style. Slice into 1 1/2 inch thick slices. I usually get 12-15 sweet rolls. I also use dental floss to slice these because you will get a nice clean cut every time and it is faster. Just take a long string of floss, slide it an 1 1/2 inches under the end, cross end in your left hand with the one in your right making an X, and pull each end tight. It will cut right through the roll.
Place the slices in a greased 9×13 baking dish (affiliate link). Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. These won’t double in size. The frozen raspberries will slow the rising down a bit.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while they rise. After 30 minutes you should see that they have risen some, but probably not doubled. That’s fine.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. The tops should be lightly browned and the center roll should be done.
Make the icing while these bake. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before drizzling with icing.

Can these sweet rolls be frozen?

Yes, just make sure they are completely cool before freezing. Thaw at room temperature.

Do you have any other sweet roll variations?

Yes! Check out my Lemon Danish Sweet Rolls they are seriously to die for! We also love these Orange Sweet Rolls. When peach season comes I made Peaches and Cream Sweet Rolls. They taste just like peach pie! And for a fall treat try my Caramel Apple Sweet Rolls.

Have you tried this recipe? If so, leave me a rating and a comment below!

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