You have to make Orange-Cranberry Christmas Rolls at least once during the holiday season! The rolls are pillowy soft with a sweet-tart cranberry filling and a orange cream cheese frosting.
How to make cranberry filling
This cranberry filling is basically a jam that only take minutes to make! And it will make your kitchen smell amazing in the process.
I used a 5 qt. cast iron dutch oven and added all of the ingredients. Basically the cranberry mixture will need to cook on low/medium heat until the liquid has reduced and will coat the back of a spoon. This may take 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking! The filling will thicken into a jam-like consistency as it cools.
How to make Orange-Cranberry Christmas Rolls dough!
This dough was born from tweaking two or three roll recipes and making one that worked for me. I wanted a dough that would make big, fat, and beautiful rolls 🤷🏻‍♀️. I also wanted them to be soft instead of chewy. Finally, after a lot of testing and several bags of flour we have that recipe 🙌🏼!
Tips for what worked/didn’t work for me
- Use whole milk
- A good quality butter makes a huge difference in baking. I have had to shop around to find a brand that really works well. Just don’t skimp on the butter or you may have a sad face after you have worked hard on this recipe!
- Also, a little reminder here…Yeast dough can be rather temperamental and the outcome can vary because of the weather outside and the humidity level inside the house. I have been told that the humidity should be around 75% inside when baking. I have no way to prove this other than what I have experienced myself. After testing a lot of bread recipes on different days and keeping track of the humidity inside…I’m confident that whoever told me that is pretty much spot on!
As for making the dough, I usually start by letting the yeast dissolve in warm water. I measure the milk and butter and heat together just until the butter has melted. I sometimes heat for a minute or so in the microwave and then stir until the butter melts. You want the milk warm but, not steaming hot. If it gets too warm allow it to cool before adding to the yeast.
Nobody wants to knead bread dough by hand for 10 minutes! I am so glad that a mixer can do it for me 🙂 I use the dough hook attachment and let it knead at a high speed for exactly 5 minutes and it turns out perfectly! At first, the dough will seem too wet and stick to the sides of the bowl so I usually add a teaspoon or two of flour until everything comes together. All of the dough should after a minute or two be away from the sides of the bowl and around the dough hook. Beware of the mixer walking its way right off the counter during this process. Keep it contained somehow and remove all kids and pets from the room 🙂
The frosting is a basic cream cheese recipe with lots of orange zest! It is really what brings everything together and makes you want to face plant into your plate 🙂
Items used to make Orange-Cranberry Christmas Rolls
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Orange-Cranberry Christmas Rolls
Ingredients
- Dough Ingredients
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- Cranberry Filling
- 4 cups fresh cranberries
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 cup water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
- Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese,softened
- 2 cups 10x sugar
- 1 orange, zested
- 2-3 tbsp orange juice
Instructions
- Cranberry Filling
- In a 5 qt. cast iron pot add all ingredients for the cranberry filling except for the pecans.
- Allow to come to a simmer on medium/low heat. Simmer until alot of the liquid has reduced and coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. This should have a jam-like consistency when cool. Remove cinnamon stick.
- Roll Dough
- In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer pour in the yeast and warm water. Make sure the water is not hot.
- While yeast is dissolving warm the milk and melt butter together. I measure the milk into a glass measuring cup, add the butter and microwave for a minute or so. Stir the milk until butter melts.
- Add the sugar, egg, and salt to the milk mixture.
- Pour into the yeast.
- Add the flour and stir until everything is combined using the dough hook.
- Once the dough comes together increase mixer speed. Add a teaspoon or two of flour if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl too much. Allow to knead for at least 5 minutes.
- The dough should leave the sides of the bowl and be completely on the hook.
- Remove dough from the dough hook and move to a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place. Let it rest for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Punch down and on lightly floured wax or parchment paper roll out into a large rectangle shape.
- Spread the cranberry filling over the rectangle of dough as evenly as possible. Sprinkle with the pecans.
- Roll the rectangle as tightly as possible. Cut the roll into even widths. Lay into a buttered baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size.
- Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream all ingredients together until smooth. Add orange juice as needed until the frosting is a good spreading consistency. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. When rolls are doubled in size bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Allow to cool and spread each roll with frosting.