Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls
Taking Cinnamon Buns to the next level and introducing Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls! Soft, sweet bread rolls with a sugared cinnamon filling, a simple homemade blueberry jam and a cream cheese frosting. Totally divine.
It's actually somewhat amazing there are any pictures of these Cinnamon and Blueberry Rolls on this post at all, and I hold my hand up as the guilty party to that. Having not created any more cinnamon rolls recipes since my Cinnamon and Maple Syrup Buns, I'd forgotten just how good they are...and once you have one...
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The Secrets of perfect Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls
So there are a few reasons this recipe creates the very best Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls...
Simple blueberry jam 🫐
To create the very best Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls you need to make your own blueberry jam (don't be put off by this, it's a really simple blueberry jam I promise).
The jam is used within the rolls and on top to decorate them.
A mixture of 2 flours are used🫐
This results in a dough that is both cakey, due to the plain (all purpose) flour and egg, and yet has a slightly bready texture, due to the extra gluten in bread flour.
Both a sugary cinnamon AND a blueberry jam layer🫐
Not just one but two layers of glorious goodness! First a layer of cinnamon brown sugar and then a layer of your gorgeous homemade blueberry jam.
This can only be a good thing!
Cream cheese frosting AND more blueberry jam🫐
Cream cheese frosting is hands down THE best topping for ANY cinnamon buns. Blobbed with a teaspoon of your jam makes these rolls irresistible.
Ingredients
Full ingredients are listed in the Recipe Card below.
- Frozen blueberries
- Bread flour and plain (all purpose) flour
- Golden caster (superfine) sugar
- Plain flour
- Granulated sugar
- Soft light brown sugar
- Dried yeast
- Full-fat milk
- Eggs
- Unsalted butter
- Icing (confectioners) sugar
- Soft cheese
- Vanilla extract (optional)
- Lemon
Don't have all of these ingredients? See Substitutions below for some alternatives.
Instructions
Full instructions are in the Recipe Card below.
Blueberry Cinnamon Roll Dough
Combine both the flours and salt in a large bowl and then rub in the butter until the mixture has a sand-like texture. Stir in the sugar.
Warm the milk and then mix in the yeast. Beat together an egg and an egg yolk.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in both the milk and beaten eggs. If using, fit the dough hook to your mixer and knead on the lowest setting for 2 minutes.
Or knead for approximately 8 minutes if kneading by hand. The dough is ready when it is stretchy, smooth and sticking to the dough hook.
Remove from the bowl, oil the bowl and then return the dough and cover with oiled clingfilm. Leave to rise for 1.5-2 hours or until doubled in size.
Easy Blueberry Jam
Whilst your dough rises make your Blueberry Jam. Place frozen blueberries, granulated sugar and lemon juice into a small saucepan and heat on a medium setting, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the heat up toa fast simmer, on a medium-high setting, for 15 minutes. Then place a little jam on a chilled plate to see if it sets. If not continue simmering for another 5 minutes. Leave to cool.
Creating your Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls
Mix together softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to form a paste.
Roll your risen cinnamon roll dough out into a large rectangle and then spread over your cinnamon, butter and sugar mixture.
Spread over two-thirds of your cooled homemade blueberry jam.
Starting at the shorter end, carefully roll the dough up to form a tight roll. Cut the roll in half, then in half again and then each quarter into three.
Place the dough rolls into a buttered and lined roasting tin, cover again with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 30-45 minutes until touching,
Bake for 20 minutes until golden all over and then leave to cool in the tray.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat softened butter a few times, and then beat in cream cheese until equally mixed in
Add vanilla extract and then sifted icing (confectioner's) sugar and beat on a fast setting until no lumps of butter remain and the icing is silky smooth.
Spread the frosting equally over your cooled Blueberry and Cinnamon Buns.
Add a teaspoonful of your remaining blueberry jam on the top and spread out a little Optional - add a whole fresh blueberry to the top of each one.
Substitutions
Don't have all of the ingredients listed? Replace them with the following:
- Flour - you can use either all bread flour or all plain (all-purpose) flour, rather than a mix of the two.
- Golden caster (superfine) sugar - can be replaced with white caster (superfine) ugar.
- Full-fat milk - the milk can be replaced by semi-skimmed milk.
- Frozen blueberries - can be replaced with fresh blueberries plus 3 tablespoons of water.
Variations
Fancy a change? Here are some suggestions to alter this Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls recipe:
- Lemon and Blueberry Cinnamon rolls - add a hit of citrus to your dough by adding the zest of a lemon along with your milk and eggs. Add the juice of the lemon to the blueberry jam for a lemony zing.
- Blueberry and Pecan Cinnamon Rolls - add chopped pecans to your Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls for a nutty crunch. Mix them in with your brown sugar, butter and cinnamon and spread over your rolled-out dough and then cover with blueberry jam and roll up.
- Blueberry glaze - replace the cream cheese frosting with a simple blueberry glaze made from icing sugar, blueberry puree and a little milk.
See this other recipe for Cinnamon and Maple Syrup Buns on my website!
Storage
These Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls are at their best consumed on the day they are baked. See Expert Tips below if you want to bake them fresh in the morning.
Due to the cream cheese frosting, they should be kept refrigerated in an airtight container and will keep for up to 3 days.
They can be frozen without the icing and should be consumed within 3 months.
Expert Tips
Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls Top Tips
- Fresh rolls in the morning: leave your cinnamon rolls to rise covered in the fridge overnight and then bake them the next morning. They are at their best when freshly baked.
- To help shape the dough into a rectangle - use the sides of your hands to run along the sides of the dough as you roll it to keep pushing it back into a rectangle shape.
- Using a small palette knife helps to spread the cinnamon butter and jam out evenly.
Blueberry Jam
- Can't decide if your jam is ready or not? Then I advise you to always err on the side of caution and remove your blueberry jam from the heat earlier rather than later. Better for it to be a bit runny than a caramelised chewy goo (I speak from much experience of making this error myself!).
You can invest in a sugar thermometer, but personally, I always find the chilled plate method far more reliable. - To speed up the cooling process, spread your jam out onto a large plate and place it in your fridge. Just be aware though that the hot jam will bring the temperature of your fridge down a little and that may affect other contents of your fridge.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Don't worry if your frosting looks lumpy, often the butter takes quite a while to beat out and the cream cheese frosting can take up to 10 minutes of fast beating before it is smooth.
- If your frosting to a little runny just beat in a little more sifted icing sugar.
FAQ
To check if your jam is ready, chill a plate in the freezer and then place a little jam on it. It should only spread a little and then quickly set if it is ready.
Try to resist stirring your jam too much when it is simmering. Stirring introduces air to the jam and therefore cools the mixture, meaning it will take longer to turn into jam.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls
Here's what you'll need...
- Stand mixer with a dough hook (or can be kneaded by hand)
- Small saucepan
Ingredients you'll need...
Cinnamon Bun Dough
- 300 g Strong white bread flour
- 200 g Plain (all purpose) flour (all purpose flour)
- ½ teaspoon Fine salt
- 100 g Unsalted butter cub into small cubes and at room temperature
- 50 g Golden caster (superfine) sugar
- 230 ml Full fat milk
- 14 g Fast-acting dried yeast
- 2 Large eggs at room temperature
Blueberry Jam
- 350 g Frozen blueberries softened
- 200 g Granulated sugar
- Juice from ½ a lemon
Cinnamon Layer
- 75 g Unsalted butter softened (⅓ Cup)
- 75 g Light soft brown sugar (⅓ Cup packed)
- 2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 50 g Unsalted butter softened
- 115 g Soft cheese (Philadephia is best)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 135 g Icing (confectioner's) sugar sifted
Here's what we do...
Blueberry Cinnamon Buns
- Add both flours and your salt to a large bowl and mix together.
- Rub in your softened butter, you can do this by hand or in a food processor.
- Stir in your sugar.
- Heat your milk until just warm, add your yeast to it and stir in,. Don't worry if it remains a bit lumpy.
- Beat together one whole egg and one egg yolk.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the milk mixture and the beaten eggs.
- Mix together in a stand mixer with a dough hook fitted on a low-medium setting for 2 minutes (lowest setting if using a KitchenAid). Or knead by hand for 8 minutes. The dough is ready once it sticks to the dough hook in a clump, it is slightly sticky and also stretchy and smooth.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, oil the bowl with some flavourless oil (or grease with butter), return the dough to the bowl and then cover the bowl with an oiled piece of clingfilm (plastic wrap).
- Leave in a warm place to prove for 1½-2 hours, until doubled in size.
- Whilst your dough proves, make your blueberry jam, so that it has time to cool.
- Place a small plate into your fridge or freezer to chill.
- Place your frozen blueberries, granulated sugar and juice from half a lemon into your small saucepan and heat on a medium setting, whilst stirring, until the sugar has all dissolved.
- Turn up the heat and bring to a rolling boil.
- Turn the heat down a little and fast simmer on a medium-high temperature, without stirring. After 15 minutes place a teaspoonful of the jam onto your chilled plate. If ready it should spread out just a little and then set. If that does not happen and the jam juice is still very thin and runny, then continue simmering for another 5 minutes and then test again.
- Once ready remove from the heat and leave to fully cool (spread out on a plate if you want to speed up the cooling).
- After your dough has risen remove it from the bowl and gently knead it by hand on a lightly floured work surface just 2-3 times.
- Grease and line the base of your roasting tin.
- Roll the dough out to a large rectangle measuring approximately 52cm x 32cm. You may need to keep shaping the sides with your hands to ensure you end up with a rectangle.
- Mix together your brown sugar, soft butter and cinnamon to form a paste.
- Spread the cinnamon filling out onto your rolled out dough, making sure you get right to the edges.
- Then spread over about two thirds of your cooled blueberry jam.
- From the shortest side, gently and tightly roll the dough up.
- Using a sharp serrated bread knife, cut the roll in half, then cut each half in half and then each of the quarters into three equal-sized rolls, so that you have 12 rolls. You will need to wipe your knife and coat it in flour between each cut, to keep it clean and thus the buns clean from jammy smears.
- Add the rolls to your greased and lined baking tin in 3 rolls of 4 (4 on the longest side), making sure they are equally spaced so they have room to expand whilst they prove.
- Again, cover with oiled cling film and leave to prove for 30-45 minutes, until they are all touching.
- Heat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/350°F/Gas Mark 4
- Bake in the middle of your oven for 20-22 minutes, until just golden all over.
- Leave to cool in the tin.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Your butter needs to be really nice and soft for your frosting. Fit the beater attachment and give it a mix a few times to ensure it spreads out.
- Add your soft cheese and beat together until just combined.
- Add your vanilla extract and a dessert spoonful of your sifted icing (confectioner's) sugar and beat together on a low setting.
- Continue to gradually beat in the rest of your icing sugar and then turn the mixer speed up and continue beating until all of the lumps have been beaten out of the frosting and the icing is smooth and silky. This can take up to 10 minutes.
- Spread evenly over your cooled Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls and then place a teaspoon of your remaining blueberry jam onto each roll, and spread out a little.
- Split the rolls apart and enjoy!
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