What do you get when you combine the flavors of lemon with crème brûlée? You get a sunny, zesty treat that’s also incredibly sweet and creamy. These Lemon Crème Brûlée Donut Rolls are filled with the most delectable lemon cream. The glaze on top gives that caramelized sugar flavor that you’d expect from crème brûlée and the roll is actually a shortcut we love to use in the kitchen: Hawaiian rolls!

This fun and delicious dessert doesn’t actually require that many ingredients thanks to the aforementioned Hawaiian rolls and some no-bake cheesecake filling. These two ingredients do the heavy lifting in these sweet, yet tangy, rolls.

Some lemon curd and lemon zest up the ante on the lemon flavor in the filling and make it taste more like homemade. It’s a great way to add some extra flavor to this quick recipe.

We are using a piping bag here to get the filling into the rolls. If you don’t have one you can also split the rolls as you would to butter them after baking and then slather the bottom halves with the filling and then add the tops back on.

The rolls are baked in butter before filling to give them a flavor more like donuts – rich and just a little crisped on the outside.

We’re also making a dark syrup on the stovetop to pour over these rolls as the final touch to give them a deeper, richer flavor. This mimics that lovely, crispy top of burnt sugar that you get with crème brûlée. But, the glaze is thin enough to ensure the rolls are still tender after being glazed.

The fluffy roll with the creamy lemon filling and the sugary glaze is a combo that just works. And, with all the shortcuts we’re using these treats take a lot less time than you might expect.

These Lemon Crème Brûlée Donut Rolls have so much going on, but in the best possible way!