Cranberry Orange Sweet Rolls

Made with my favorite sweet roll dough, these cranberry orange rolls are rich and fluffy, loaded with fresh orange flavor and filled with a delicious cranberry jam! Topped with a sweet orange glaze – I know your family will love this cranberry orange roll recipe!

In this blog post, I’ll share every step of this sweet roll recipe with you! From making the soft dough to cooking up the fresh cranberry filling, I’ll tell you how each step makes these sweet rolls incredible! If this is your first time making a roll dough or if you aren’t confident in your bread making skills, you might find my virtual Orange Sweet Roll Class helpful! I have several recipes that I offer as a virtual class with a pre-recorded video, to help guide you through the recipe from start to finish! It really helps remove any apprehensions you might have about baking with yeast and you will get great results! You can find my classes and videos HERE.

Orange Rolls have always been a treat we love enjoying on Christmas morning! It’s one of my most favorite things to eat this time of year! Adding fresh cranberries to an already amazing sweet roll is just about as close to bread heaven as you can get! During the Holiday season, cranberry and orange are two flavors that go so well together! I’m confident you will absolutely love these cranberry-orange rolls!

Oranges

You can use just about any type of oranges for this recipe. Typically a juicing orange like Valencia, navel or even a blood orange will work well! The most important part of the orange that you’ll be using is the peel, or zest. This is what will give your cranberry orange rolls all of their delicious citrus flavoring! If you don’t have access to citrus trees, most likely you’ll be able to get oranges at the grocery store that will work just great!

How to bake with yeast

Working with yeast dough can be intimidating at first, but the more you do it, the more comfortable you will get! Yeast is a living organism that just needs the right conditions to thrive. It feeds off of sugar and starches. When it feeds, it releases carbon dioxide gas in the form of air bubbles in the dough. This process is also known as “fermentation”. This is what gives bread dough its volume and airy texture.

If you want more information about yeast, check out my article about Active Dry Yeast vs. Instant Yeast. I also have a Guide to making Sourdough Starter, which is how to make a natural yeast.

Ingredients

There are some unique ingredients in this recipe that makes it so delicious! Each serves an important role in how this dough and these cranberry orange rolls will turn out.

• Bread flour: Most bread recipes will use bread flour. It has a higher protein content (11-13%) than an all-purpose flour. Higher protein flours also mean a higher gluten flour – yielding a bread with a strong crumb structure.
• Powdered milk: In baked goods it provides a creamier flavor and helps yield a more golden brown color when baked. Look for powdered milk that is fine in texture. If you are looking for a non dairy option, try using a milk powder substitute like coconut, soy or rice powder.
• Eggs: Eggs in bread help to create a fluffy, big rise. They are perfect for these rolls, since it’s meant to be soft and fluffy.
• Potato Flakes: Potato flakes in bread make the crumb more moist and tender. They also extend the shelf life of homemade bread.
• Butter Flavor Shortening: Vegetable shortening has a high melt point, allowing it to create more steam in the dough when baked. This produces a lighter, airy texture bread. The butter flavor gives it a more rich, butter flavor. If you can’t find the Butter Flavor Shortening, use plain shortening – it will still turn out amazing!
• Fresh Orange Zest: The flavorful impact of fresh orange zest can’t be beat! Using it in the butter filling and in the orange glaze will give these sweet rolls amazing flavor! I use a microplane like this one to zest my oranges and other citruses.
• Cranberries: You can use either fresh or frozen cranberries for the filling. Cooking them on the stovetop with fresh orange zest and orange juice will help infuse that amazing flavor into the cranberry filling! The color will stay vibrant and beautiful, even after baked into the rolls!

Mixing the Homemade Dough

I love baking with this dough! It’s such a pillowy, soft dough that’s so easy to work with! I use it in several other recipes like my Homemade Orange Sweet Rolls, traditional cinnamon rolls, Crescent Dinner Rolls and S’mores Sweet Rolls! You’ll see it is so easy to mix up and use.

You will need to use some type of a stand mixer to make this dough. My favorite mixer to use for bread doughs is by far my Bosch Universal Plus mixer! It is widely known as one of the best home kitchen mixers for mixing bread dough with ease. It has a high mixing capacity and high performing motor – making it an excellent option for mixing denser doughs like bread. It also allows you to mix larger quantities. I will usually double this recipe if using my Bosch mixer. Go HERE to learn more about my favorite mixer that I’ve baked with for over 20 years!

If you don’t have a Bosch mixer, the recipe I’m providing you with will fit nicely in a Kitchen Aid type stand mixer. Whichever mixer you use, be sure to use your dough hook attachment.

1. Measure out all of your ingredients ahead of time. I always do this when making a recipe – it helps to prevent me from making any mistakes in measurements or leaving out ingredients. It also makes the mixing process go much smoother. I always suggest weighing out your ingredients with a food scale – you will get much more accurate results!
2. In a large bowl, combine the warm water, powdered milk, potato flakes, sugar, salt, yeast. Whisk them together – this helps to break up the powdered milk and potato flakes and gets all of those ingredients incorporated before adding the heavier ingredients. Pour the yeast mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
3. Add the eggs, room temperature butter and shortening. Add 3 cups of the flour (about half) and mix on low, just until all of the ingredients are combined and smooth.
4. While the mixer is on low, gradually add two cups of the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. This is where getting to know your dough comes into play. You’re looking for the dough to clean the sides of the bowl as it’s mixing. It should be concentrated around your dough hook. Once you get it to this point, stop the mixer and lightly tap on the dough with your finger. If it feels soft, but not wet and sticky & is cleaning the sides of the bowl, it’s ready to knead. Return to mixing it on low and allow your mixer to knead it for 5 minutes.

My number one tip for mixing this dough

Avoid the urge to add more flour. This dough is very soft and easy to work with – it’s very forgiving! You may see a little bit of dough sticking to the sides of the bowl when it’s kneading – don’t panic! Go by how it feels. You want to use just enough flour so that it doesn’t feel wet or excessively sticky. Too much flour in your dough will give you dry, dense rolls. You can always add a bit more flour after it has kneaded if it’s too sticky to work with.

Double Rise

Like most bread doughs, this roll dough will have a double rise – meaning you will let it rise twice. Remember, the process of “rising” is simply allowing the yeast to feed and create those magical air bubbles in the dough.

The first rise happens right after the kneading is over, but before you divide and roll out the rolls. The first rise in bread making is called the “Bulk Fermentation”. It is vital to the development of your dough structure. It creates important volume and gluten development. You’ll see that after the bulk fermentation, your dough will be much easier to work with!

For the first dough rise, place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Put it in a draft-free place in your kitchen. The first rise typically takes about 60-90 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature of your kitchen. You want to keep your dough covered, in a warm place in your kitchen. You are looking for your dough to double in size.

The second rise happens after you have shaped the rolls and place them onto the pan. This is called “proofing”. The second rise will usually take about half of the first rise time. Your beautiful homemade orange rolls will puff up to double in size at this point, usually taking about 45 minutes.

Making the Cranberry Sauce

The cranberry sauce is almost like a jam and will be the only thing you spread onto the dough for a filling. Cooking it on the stovetop with the brown sugar, orange zest and orange juice will give it an amazing sweet and citrusy flavor! You can use either fresh or frozen cranberries. While the sugar will add some sweetness, the jam will also retain a little bit of tartness from the cranberries – making it the perfect flavor companion to the sweetness from the dough and orange icing!

1. In a medium saucepan, add the cranberries, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice and a pinch of salt. Combine the ingredients, stirring occasionally and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to a low to medium low setting so that the mixture is simmering. Stirring constantly, continue to let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes as it thickens up.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the melted butter into the cranberry mixture.
4. Let the cranberry jam cool to room temperature before spreading it onto the dough.
5. Refrigerate any leftover cranberry sauce for up to one week.

This jam is so delicious! It could easily be used as a topping for toast, pancakes, waffles or even on turkey sandwiches! It’s hard to resist just eating it with a spoon!

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Rolling up your sweet rolls

Get your work space all ready with everything you need at your fingertips. You’ll need a small bowl with flour, a rolling pin, floss, your orange filling and brown sugar.

1. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, about 28-30-ounce portions. If you don’t have a scale you can eyeball it. Round each portion to an oval shaped ball by pulling and tucking the dough under. This will make it easier to roll out into a rectangle.
2. Flour your work surface and roll the dough out to a rectangular shape, about 10 inches by 18 inches and 1/4 inch thick.
3. Spread the cranberry jam on the dough, leaving an inch border on the top side of the rectangle. Leaving this border will help in sealing the dough shut when rolled up.
4. Start with the long side, closest to you and working from left to right begin to roll the dough up. You can tug and pull as you go which will tighten the roll and make more swirls.
5. Once it’s all rolled up, pinch the seam shut.
6. Using a piece of dental floss, make a light indentation where your cuts will be. Each of these roll outs will give you 9 rolls. This will be your guide to know where to cut and to help make them all the same size.
7. When ready to make your cuts, slide the floss under one end of the dough, bring the ends of the floss up, cross them over and tug to cut through the dough to make a 2-inch-wide roll. Continue to cut to get 9 equal sized sweet rolls.
8. Place the rolls on a greased baking pan about 1-2 inches apart. You could also bake them in a metal, ceramic or glass baking dish like a pie pan or casserole dish. Just keep an eye on your rolls as they bake since different type baking dishes will cook them slightly differently. Cover with clean kitchen towel for about 45 – 60 minutes, or until they at least double in size.

Save some time

I have a couple of ways you can prepare ahead of time so that you can have freshly baked cranberry orange sweet rolls without having to start from the very beginning!

1. You can freeze rolls to bake for later: After rolling up and placing the rolls on a nonstick cookie sheet, put the entire pan in the freezer and allow the rolls to freeze for 24 hours. Once frozen, remove the sheet pan and you can pop them off and place them in a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for later use. When baking frozen rolls, remove them from the freezer bag and place on a baking sheet. Allow them to rise and bake as usual. Rising frozen rolls could take 3-5 hours, depending on how warm your kitchen is. 
2. Roll out your cranberry orange sweet rolls in the evening, place on your pan and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Place them in the refrigerator. Allow them to proof in the refrigerator overnight and bake them the next morning! Overnight rolls are a great way to enjoy them freshly baked without all of the work!

My number one tip for baking cranberry orange sweet rolls

Make sure you preheat your oven for at least 30 minutes before baking. Truly, using an oven thermometer helps immensely in knowing your oven’s true temperature! It has changed my baking so much! When your oven is fully preheated, bake the orange rolls for about 18-22 minutes or until the edges are just golden brown. If your rolls are light, without any golden color, they most likely are a bit doughy inside.

Icing your sweet rolls

Make sure your rolls have cooled completely before icing. Mixing up an icing that is on the thicker side will ensure two things: it sets up nicely and doesn’t soak into your rolls & the orange flavor will be much more present in each and every bite! Allow the icing to set for about 10-15 minutes. While the icing recipe suggests using milk, you can definitely use the juice from your orange instead – it will turn out wonderful! I prefer to use milk as it gives the orange icing a more creamy texture and flavor.

Your family will absolutely love these cranberry rolls! It’s the best sweet roll recipe for the perfect Holiday breakfast or anytime you want to enjoy an amazing sweet and tart citrus treat! Try this recipe today! Be sure to post your results on Instagram and tag me! @thatbreadlady and #thatbreadlady. I love seeing how your family is enjoying my recipes!

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Have you heard about my virtual baking classes?

If you are new to bread making, or just looking to improve your baking skills, be sure to check out my Virtual Baking Classes! They are pre-recorded videos, showing you how to complete a recipe from start to finish! Included in my Class Library is Orange Sweet Rolls so if this recipe seems a bit daunting, my video will help you to make these yummy rolls successfully!

If there’s several classes you’re interested in, my Baking Academy is a great option for you – you can get access to ALL of my classes for one low price!

You can go HERE to learn all about it!

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