Sourdough Brioche Blueberry Cheesecake Rolls (Tarts)

You are going to love these sourdough brioche blueberry cheesecake rolls! They are a cross between a roll, a tart and a Danish! Golden, buttery sourdough brioche dough, baked to perfection and filled with a baked cheesecake filling (pastry cream), topped with juicy blueberries. Doesn't matter what you call them ... they are straight up delicious!

Seriously, these sourdough brioche blueberry cheesecake tarts are going to be your new favorites! My family and I love preparing them the day before for an easy weekend breakfast.

Now, they might seem complicated, but they're really easy! If you've made brioche dough before, it's literally just a case of making the dough, shaping into into rounds and filling them with cream cheese filling and blueberries before baking them for just 30 minutes.

If you love brioche, you might also like to try this easy sourdough brioche loaf or these sourdough brioche chocolate donut balls. And if you've got some extra blueberries, why not add them to this cinnamon pecan sourdough coffee cake or use them to make some other sourdough snacks.

How To Make Sourdough Brioche Blueberry Cheesecake Brioche Rolls

Whether you call these tarts, rolls or Danishes, you are going to love making blueberry cheesecake filled delights! There's really 3 parts to this recipe - preparing the brioche dough, preparing the fillings and then assembling them. 

I've made my sourdough brioche blueberry cheesecake rolls quite big at 90g each, however you can choose to make them any size you like. If you are serving them as finger food, making them around 40g a roll is perfect ... and you'll get more this way too!

I think that at 90g they are more like a roll, at 40g they are more like a tart - the great thing is you can choose!

I've written the instructions using a stand mixer, however you can knead the dough by hand if you prefer.

Making the brioche dough:

1. Warm milk to around 37C (you don't want it to be cold, but not too warm either). Add the milk and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and mix until the sugar is dissolved.
   
2. Now add the sourdough starter, flour and egg to the bowl. Mix into a rough dough and let it sit for around 30 minutes.
   
3. Once the dough has sat for a little while, add the butter and salt and use the stand mixer to knead it really well. You want the butter to mix all the way through and the dough to become very soft and elastic.Depending on the type of mixer you use, this could take 3 minutes, it could take 20 minutes.
   
4. Once the dough is silky and elastic (it can be slightly sticky but you should be able to pull a window pane). It should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough into a large bowl for bulk fermentation. Cover with plastic and set aside. Just remember that this is an enriched dough and will take longer to bulk ferment than a leaner dough.
   
5. Once the dough has risen a bit (it doesn't have to double, 50% rise is ok in this instance) you'll need to shape the sourdough brioche rolls.
   
6. Turn the dough onto the counter and divide into equal portions. I have used 90g portions to make 8 pieces.
   
7. Form each piece of dough into a smooth ball and then flatten the ball out with your fingers. Place all the rounds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and set aside for a second rise (they need to be a bit puffy).

I've popped a video further down to show you how I shaped these.

Making the filling:

1. While the dough is proofing, it's time to prepare the cream cheese filling and the blueberries.
   
2. You can make the filling with a stand mixer or electric hand mixer. Add the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla bean extract together and whip until thick and creamy (this only takes a minute or two). Set aside in the fridge.
   
3. Add the blueberries, sugar and corn starch to a bowl and toss the blueberries through the dry mixture until they're well coated. Set aside. Don't do this step too soon before you're ready to fill the tarts because the blueberries will go really mushy.

Baking the Sourdough Brioche Blueberry Cheesecake Rolls:

1. Once the rounds have puffed up, it's time to add the filling before you bake them.
   
2. Preheat the oven to 180C/356F.
   
3. Use a small measuring cup (I've used ¼ cup) to push a small indent in each tart. Fill each indent with cheesecake filling and top with blueberries.
   
4. Mix the egg and milk together and then use a small pastry brush to egg wash the outside of each tart.
   
5. Bake the donut balls for around 30 minutes at 180C/356F or until they are golden brown. If you're using smaller dough portions, just reduce the time slightly.
   
6. Once they are out of the oven, brush them with lashings of butter to keep them soft. Allow to cool slightly before you dig in!

Ingredient Notes

Flour: You can use all purpose flour or bread flour for this recipe instead of bread flour, just use a little less milk to accommodate for the change.

Butter: I've used salted butter, but you can use unsalted if you prefer.

Blueberries: I've used frozen blueberries, but you can use fresh if you prefer.

Cream Cheese: You'll need to use block cream cheese, not spreadable cream cheese to get the right consistency.

Baker's Timeline

These sourdough brioche blueberry rolls do take a bit of time to make, but most of it is hands off time waiting for the brioche dough to rise! Here's how I work them into my schedule.

Remember that the time they take to bulk ferment will depend largely on your sourough starter and the temperature in your home. I have used a proofing box to help mine proof a bit faster than they would at room temperature.

10pm - Feed sourdough starter (1:3:3 so it's ready when I get up).

Next morning

7am - Mix the brioche dough and set aside to bulk ferment.

3pm - Shape the sourdough blueberry brioche rolls and set aside to rise while I make the fillings

7pm - Preheat the oven and add the fillings ready to bake.

7.30pm - Bake! Then set aside for breakfast tomorrow.

Recipe Variations

These sourdough blueberry brioche tarts are just divine as they are, but if you like a little bit of variety, here are a few different ideas for ways you can change them up:

Berry Toppings: instead of blueberries, use strawberries or raspberries or even a combination of all of these berries for some extra color and flavor. You can really use any seasonal fruits you like.

Lemon Blueberry: instead of the cream cheese filling, add a generous dollop of lemon curd before topping with the frozen blueberries.

Chocolate Ganache: once the blueberry cheesecake rolls are baked and cooled, drizzle them in lashings of chocolate ganache (just melt together chocolate and a dash of cream).

Chocolate Chip Brioche: add chocolate chips to brioche dough while you're kneading it for some extra sweetness.

Lemon Cheesecake: If you prefer a lemon cheesecake filling, add lemon zest to the cream cheese mixture instead of vanilla extract.

Vanilla Pecan Cheesecake: Add chopped pecans to cheesecake topping instead of blueberries.

If you love all things chocolate, you might like to try these chocolate filled sourdough baked brioche donut balls (this recipe uses the same dough).