These soft and fluffy high altitude lemon poppy seed rolls are filled with creamy lemon curd and drizzled with tart and sweet lemon icing. These are a fresh and zingy alternative to cinnamon rolls, delicious served warm with a cup of coffee or tea.
Looking for more recipes like this one? You’ll love these fluffy buttermilk cinnamon rolls, apple butter rolls with maple icing, and strawberry rolls with cream cheese.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
So Soft and Fluffy. These lemon buns are perfectly soft and so fluffy, especially when they’re warm from the oven.
Bursting with Lemon Flavor. With lemon extract or lemon paste in the dough, lemon curd filling, and lemon icing, there’s no shortage of bright lemon flavor in these delicious rolls.
Easy to Make. If you’ve made cinnamon rolls, you can make these lemon rolls, as the process is exactly the same. And if you haven’t, you’ll find lots of helpful step-by-step photos in today’s post to guide you through the process.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Dough
- Butter. Unsalted butter adds richness and flavor to the yeast dough.
- Milk. Use either whole milk or buttermilk to add flavor and tenderness to the dough.
- Yeast. You can use either instant/rapid-rise yeast or active dry yeast. I’ve included instructions for both in my recipe. The yeast is what makes the rolls rise, making them soft and pillowy.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar adds sweetness, but also feeds the yeast to help the lemon poppy seed rolls rise.
- Flour. Bread flour has more protein than all-purpose flour, and the protein helps with gluten development. The gluten gives the rolls a soft, chewy texture, rather than cakey or crumbly.
- Salt. A pinch of coarse Kosher salt balances the sweetness.
- Eggs. This is an “enriched” dough, meaning it has a fairly high fat content from the eggs and butter. But the amount of sugar called for in the dough itself is relatively low. The result is a soft, pillowy dough that bakes into a beautifully rich-tasting roll.
- Poppy Seeds. The poppy seeds add a nutty flavor to complement the lemon and look so pretty speckled throughout the rolls.
- Vanilla + Lemon Extracts. Flavor.
Filling
- Lemon Curd. The lemon curd gives the rolls moisture, sweetness and more lemon flavor.
- Poppy Seeds. The poppy seeds add a nutty flavor to complement the lemon and look so pretty speckled throughout the rolls.
Icing
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
- Lemon Juice. Adds a tart lemon flavor.
Instructions
Dough
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the buttermilk and stir. Warm the mixture just until it reaches between 110-115 degrees F. If it gets too hot, let it sit for a few minutes until it cools down to the correct temperature. It’s important that you check the temperature – if it’s too cold, it won’t activate the yeast, and if it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until it begins to foam and bubble; this will let you know that the yeast is active.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together 3 cups of the flour (reserve 1/4 cup for rolling out the dough later) with the warm milk mixture, the sugar, salt, poppy seeds, eggs and extracts into a rough shaggy dough. With the dough hook, knead on medium/low speed for 10 minutes. The dough will be soft, sticky and loose, but don’t add more flour. Even though the dough is soft, when you scrape it out of the bowl with a spatula, you should still be able to gather it into a ball with your hands.
- Lightly spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. This could take any where from 45-90 minutes, depending on the warmth of the environment, and the type and freshness of your yeast. If your oven has a bread-proofing setting, you can use that to proof your dough. If not, let your oven preheat to the lowest setting, turn the oven off, and then set your dough inside to rise.
- Set the bowl of dough, still covered, in the refrigerator to chill for 1-2 hours, or overnight. The chill time allows the gluten to rest and the dough to develop flavor. It’s also much easier to work with the dough when it’s cold, since this is a soft dough.
Filling
- Line a 9×13 pan with a sheet of parchment paper, or spray with non-stick spray.
- Turn the cold dough out onto a lightly floured work surface (using the last remaining 1/4 cup of flour to keep the dough from sticking). Roll your dough out into a rectangle measuring approximately 12×18 inches.
- Spread the lemon curd over the dough, and sprinkle with the 1 teaspoon of poppy seeds.
- Roll up the dough (starting on one of the long sides) into a log, keeping it as tight as you can, and trying not to squish out the lemon curd.
- Very carefully, cut the dough into 12 equal portions. This can be difficult with a knife, which will squish the dough, and you may find it easier to use a piece of unflavored dental floss. Just slide the floss under the dough, then cross the floss over the top to cut the rolls. This step is pretty messy, since the lemon curd is extremely slippery. Don’t worry if your rolls get a little misshapen as you cut them.
- Place the rolls, cut side up, in the pan. Cover the pan with a towel, and set in a warm place for 20 minutes to puff up a little, just until the rolls are touching.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Bake the rolls on the center oven rack for about 25 minutes, until they appear done in the middle, and the top is a pale golden brown.
Icing
- In a bowl, stir together all the icing ingredients until smooth. Immediately drizzle over the hot rolls.
- Let the rolls cool for about 10 minutes and serve warm.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Did you use homemade or store bought lemon curd for the filling?
I used store bought lemon curd for my lemon poppy seed rolls. You can definitely use homemade, but it tends to not be as thick and set as store bought, and might squish out more when you roll up your rolls.
Can I use non-dairy milk in the dough?
Yes, you sure can. But I don’t recommend using skim or low fat milk, since the flavor won’t be as rich.
Should my ingredients be warm or cold when making the dough?
Your eggs will be too cold if you use them straight from the fridge, and the chill could prevent your dough from rising. Let them sit out for about an hour (or place the eggs in a glass of hot water) to warm up to room temperature before adding to your dough.
It’s very important that you check the temperature of your melted butter and warmed milk. The temperature noted is not just a suggestion; it’s essential to correctly activating your yeast. Too cold, and the yeast won’t be activated. Too hot, and it will kill the yeast.
Can I make the dough without a stand mixer and dough hook?
You can make the dough without a mixer and dough hook, but it will be more difficult to knead the dough by hand. Since the dough is soft and sticky, it’s tempting to add too much flour, resulting in a drier roll. If kneading the dough by hand, you might try using a Danish dough whisk instead of using your hands. You’ll also need to knead the dough by hand for about 20 minutes, compared to 10 minutes with a stand mixer, which is extremely tiring.
How long do lemon poppy seed rolls stay fresh?
They’re really best served warm from the oven. But if you’re eating leftover rolls the next day, just warm them for 30-40 seconds at 50% power in the microwave.
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High Altitude Lemon Poppy Seed Rolls
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¾ cup whole buttermilk or whole milk
- 2 ¼ tsp (1 packet) instant/rapid rise yeast or active dry yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
- 3 ¼ cups bread flour, spooned and leveled, divided
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon extract or lemon paste
Filling
- ½ cup lemon curd (plus extra for serving)
- 1 tsp poppy seeds
Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
Dough
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the buttermilk and stir. Warm the mixture just until it reaches between 110-115 degrees F.If it gets too hot, let it sit for a few minutes until it cools down to the correct temperature. It's important that you check the temperature – if it's too cold, it won't activate the yeast, and if it's too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until it begins to foam and bubble; this will let you know that the yeast is active.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together 3 cups of the flour (reserve 1/4 cup for rolling out the dough later) with the warm milk mixture, the sugar, salt, poppy seeds, eggs and extracts into a rough shaggy dough. With the dough hook, knead on medium/low speed for 10 minutes. The dough will be soft, sticky and loose, but don't add more flour. Even though the dough is soft, when you scrape it out of the bowl with a spatula, you should still be able to gather it into a ball with your hands.
- Lightly spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes.If your oven has a bread-proofing setting, you can use that to proof your dough. If not, let your oven preheat to the lowest setting, turn the oven off, and then set your dough inside to rise.
- Set the bowl of dough, still covered, in the refrigerator to chill for 1-2 hours, or overnight.The chill time allows the gluten to rest and the dough to develop flavor. It's also much easier to work with the dough when it's cold, since this is a soft dough.
Filling
- Line a 9×13 pan with a sheet of parchment paper, or spray with non-stick spray.
- Turn the cold dough out onto a lightly floured work surface (using the last remaining 1/4 cup of flour to keep the dough from sticking). Roll your dough out into a rectangle measuring approximately 12×18 inches.
- Spread the lemon curd over the dough, and sprinkle with the 1 teaspoon of poppy seeds.
- Roll up the dough (starting on one of the long sides) into a log, keeping it as tight as you can, and trying not to squish out the lemon curd.
- Very carefully, cut the dough into 12 equal portions. This can be difficult with a knife, which will squish the dough, and you may find it easier to use a piece of unflavored dental floss. Just slide the floss under the dough, then cross the floss over the top to cut the rolls.This step is pretty messy, since the lemon curd is extremely slippery. Don't worry if your rolls get a little misshapen as you cut them.
- Place the rolls, cut side up, in the pan. Cover the pan with a towel, and set in a warm place for 20 minutes to puff up a little, just until the rolls are touching.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Bake the rolls on the center oven rack for about 25 minutes, until they appear done in the middle, and the top is a pale golden brown.
Icing
- In a bowl, stir together all the icing ingredients until smooth. Immediately drizzle over the hot rolls.
- Let the rolls cool for about 10 minutes and serve warm.
- The lemon curd filling absorbs into the dough as the rolls bake, so if you like, serve some more lemon curd on the side with each roll.
Notes
- Yeast: This recipe calls for instant or rapid-rise yeast, which does not require any proofing first, so you can just mix it right into the dough. If you only have regular active dry yeast, you should proof it first, before adding to the dough. To do this, heat your butter and buttermilk as instructed, then sprinkle the yeast, and 1 teaspoon of sugar, over the liquid. Stir in and let sit until foamy, about 5-10 minutes. Add to your dough and mix as instructed.
- Eggs: Your eggs will be too cold if you use them straight from the fridge, and the chill could prevent your dough from rising. Let them sit out for about an hour (or place the eggs in a glass of hot water) to warm up to room temperature before adding to your dough.
- 110-115 Degrees: It’s very important that you check the temperature of your melted butter and warmed buttermilk. The amount noted here is not a suggestion; it’s essential to correctly activating your yeast. Too cold, and the yeast won’t be activated. Too hot, and it will kill the yeast.
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls: To get a jump-start on breakfast prep, you can make and proof the dough, then roll and shape the rolls the night before. Place the cut rolls in your baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, take them out of the refrigerator, and set in a warm place to take the chill off, which will take about an hour, then let them puff up a bit. Bake as instructed.
Sandra Drechsler
Have lemon curd that you need to use? Give this recipe a try! The dough rolls out with ease and has a tender crumb. The rolls are sweet without being overly sweet. I baked these in large muffin tins so I could share them with friends.