Cranberry Orange Rolls

Hello there! I have one last holiday goodie to share with you today. For the six months before Christmas, I’d mostly given up gluten and sugar. I felt great! The cravings pretty much went away but every now and then I would tell my husband that I was really wanting to sink my teeth into a warm fluffy cinnamon roll and that it would be one of the treats I was going to enjoy making and eating during the holidays. Then, by the time Christmas rolled around, I was in a very cranberry mood and decided it was a cranberry roll I wanted! So, one day between Christmas and New Year’s when my husband was out and the kids were down at the creek, I went into the kitchen and started to experiment.

I used a buttermilk yeast dough recipe that was given to us by some friends many years ago when my girls were younger and we would get together with a group of homeschool mamas and daughters on a monthly basis to learn a skill–baking, sewing, flower arranging, etc. Sweet memories! This dough is really more of a biscuit dough but works deliciously for a soft, squishy cinnamon roll or other breakfast pastries! For the filling, I played around with some cranberries, sugar, orange juice, and orange zest. And then for the glaze I experimented with powdered sugar and more orange–YUM! I wish I could have taken more step-by-step photos, but, as you can imagine, my hands were quite messy, and I didn’t have anyone around to snap photos for me.

Ok, so on to the recipes!

Buttermilk Yeast Dough

Ingredients:

1 package of yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp.)

1/4 warm water

1 Tbsp. sugar

5 1/2 cups self-rising flour (plus more for kneading)

1 cup softened butter (plus 1/2 c for filling)

2 cups buttermilk

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, add the sugar, mix and put in a warm place for 5 minutes. Measure 5 1/2 cups self-rising flour into a large bowl. Blend 1 cup of soft butter into the flour with a pastry blender. Pour the foamy yeast mixture into the flour and add the buttermilk. Mix together, adding additional flour as necessary to form a soft, pliable dough.

Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and roll the dough out to about a 12×18″ rectangle. Spread the 1/2 cup of softened butter over the dough, followed by the cranberry filling (recipe follows). Carefully start rolling the dough from one of the long sides until completely rolled up. Using dental floss, slice the roll into 12 equal parts. Place individual rolls in a pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. I use a larger casserole pan (11×15, I think it is) for this to give them room to spread out and up. A 9×13 works just fine too but sometimes doesn’t allow the rolls in the middle to rise as well.

Bake at 350 degrees until risen and just beginning to get a little golden on top. Remove from oven, let cool for a couple of minutes, and pour the glaze evenly over the tops, following up with a spatula or the back of a spoon to help spread it evenly and allow it to ooze between the rolls and around the edges and corners.

Serve right away! Hurry and eat one while it’s warm!! (But these also heat well the next day in the microwave.)

Cranberry Filling

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed

1 cup granulated sugar or cane sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

zest of one orange

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened almost enough to spread. Remember that it will thicken a little more as it cools.

Orange Glaze

1 Tbsp. melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

3+ Tbsp. orange juice

2 cups powdered sugar

zest of one orange

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Start with just 3 Tbsp. of orange juice, adding more as needed to make a pourable/spreadable consistency.

I sat down to enjoy my warm cranberry orange roll with a tea blend called “Nutcracker Sweet” and one last Christmas movie. This cranberry roll was melt-in-my-mouth delicious!! Sweetness from the sugar, a smidge of sour from the buttermilk, a tad tangy from the cranberry, and zesty fresh from the citrusy orange! And very moist! I delighted in every bite and sip. It was everything that I’d been craving in a roll the last several months. Mission accomplished.

About halfway into the movie, my two kids came in from the creek–chilly, wet, sandy, messy–and joined me for the rest of the movie and a warmed up cranberry roll. They raved about them, so we put this recipe on the “bake-again” list.

I went ahead and put half in the freezer because it was too many for our family to eat before they expired, but you could also package up half to take to a friend or neighbor for a comforting winter treat!