Cranberry Orange Rolls

Course Bread, Breakfast, brunch

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword cranberry-orange-sweet-rolls, orange-bread-rolls

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 45

Rise time 2

Total Time 3 10

Servings servings

Calories 414kcal

Ingredients

4 1/2-5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 (1/4 oz each) packages rapid rise yeast
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 large egg lightly beaten
1 14 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup dried cranberries (i.e. Craisins) optional
Sweet Orange Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp cream
2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp fresh orange zest plus additional for garnishing

Instructions

Rolls Dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt.
In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat simmer butter, milk and orange juice until it reaches a temperature of 120°-125F.
Add warm milk mixture and egg to the flour mixture in the mixing bowl. Mix using the dough hook on low speed adding additional flour 1 cup at a time until it forms a soft dough.
Increase the speed of the mixer and knead for 5 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (Alternatively, this can be done by hand on a floured surface.)
Add dough to a lightly buttered bowl. turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise 60-90 minutes or until doubled.
Punch down dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll into roughly an 18x14-inch rectangle.
Spread cranberry sauce from end to end leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edge. Sprinkle with dried cranberries. Begin to roll the dough starting with the long side, jelly roll style shaping as you go, ending seam side down.
Use a sharp knife or unflavored dental floss to cut into 12 equal slices. (about 1 1/2 inches thick)
Place rolls in a 13x9-inch baking pan lightly buttered or sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled. (Spray plastic wrap with nonstick cooking spray to prevent sticking.)
Bake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Uncover orange cranberry rolls and bake for 35-45 minutes or until puffed and lightly golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Orange Glaze: In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar, heavy cream, orange juice and orange zest. Frost the sweet rolls.
Serve orange sweet rolls warm garnished with additional orange zest.

Notes

Special Note - The dough for these sweet rolls is made very much like classic cinnamon roll dough. While classic cinnamon rolls require you to "bloom" the yeast, the yeast is mixed into the dry ingredients for this recipe.
Active Dry Yeast - You can use active dry yeast in place or rapid rise yeast. When using active dry yeast the orange rolls will take longer to rise.
Flour - You can use bread flour in place of all purpose flour. Bread flour has a higher protein content and will result in a chewier texture. I recommend using all purpose flour.
Cranberry Sauce - Whole berry cranberry sauce is usually located in the canned fruit section of most grocery stores. It can usually be found year-round along with canned pumpkin.
Chocolate Chips - To add another layer of texture, you can sprinkle the cranberry sauce filling with 1/2 cup white chocolate chips.
Double the Orange Glaze - The glaze can be easily doubled to suit your taste. You can also add two ounces of softened cream cheese to the glaze ingredients for an orange cream cheese glaze. When doing so, add more heavy cream or orange juice until it reaches spreading consistency.
Knead the Dough by Hand - If you don't have a mixer that uses a dough hook, you can certainly knead this dough by hand on a lightly floured non-stick surface, instead. It typically takes longer to knead by hand so knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Check the Temperature with a Thermometer - It's important to use an instant read thermometer when heating the liquid. This allows you to monitor the temperature so it doesn't become too hot or it could possibly kill the yeast and you'd have to start over.

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