Orange Cranberry Rolls

 

When I say these are the next big dessert, they 100% deserve to be. 

I took our Jumbo Cinnamon Rolls recipe (HERE) and changed them into a different, equally delicious, ridiculously sized breakfast/dessert/treat. 

Instead of a cinnamon brown sugar filling I used cranberry sauce and orange rind AND THEN topped it with an orange buttercream. 

So. Freaking. Good.

Use your favorite dough recipe, buy store bought dough, or use our recipe (for best results we recommend our recipe). The filling  and frosting are super simple but WOW do they ever make a difference!

Orange Cranberry Rolls

Dough

Recipe HERE

(Jumbo Cinnamon Rolls)

**Important note - use the juice of the 2 oranges in the filling in the dough for even more orange flavor in the rolls - I add it the milk before I warm it. No, I don't lessen the amount of milk, it just means adding a bit more flour when forming the dough.**

Filling

1 can (348 ml) whole berry cranberry sauce

1 can (348 ml) jellied cranberry sauce

zest of 2 large oranges

Orange Buttercream

1 cup butter, softened

3 - 4 cups icing sugar

zest and juice of 1 large orange

Directions

Prepare dough to the point it has had it's first rise. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside. 

Roll dough out to a 24 X 17 rectangle. Mix the 2 cranberry sauces together and spread evenly over the dough. Leave a good inch or so empty around the edge as the filling will spread out as you roll the dough. Sprinkle the grated orange zest over the sauce. 

Roll up, jelly roll style, starting with the widest edge. Pinch the roll to seal it. Some filling will leak out, it's okay, these are messy rolls. Your rolled up roll should be 24 inches across.

Slice the roll with a serrated knife into 2 inch slices. You will get 12 rolls. 

Place the rolls evenly spaced on the prepared cookie sheet. Flatten them slightly with your hand. Scoop up any of the filling that leaked out and put it on top of the rolls. 

Cover the rolls with a tea towel and set them somewhere warm to rise for an hour. 

After the hour is up, preheat the oven to 350. Bake until dough is a deep golden brown and cooked through, approximately 30 minutes. 

You can enjoy the buns as is OR you can make the orange buttercream and make them even better!

To prepare the buttercream: beat together butter and 3 cups icing sugar until smooth. Beat in the orange juice and zest. Beat in more icing sugar until spreadable consistency is reached. The icing can be refrigerated until ready to use - this helps it firm up as well. 

Spread on cooled buns. 

I usually have extra frosting leftover but you can spread it on as thick as you like!

Orange cranberry is such an amazing flavor combo. Perfect for the holidays, summer, even spring. It's very light and cheery. If you are going to freeze the buns, I recommend freezing them after baking and then frosting them when you are ready to serve them. 

This recipe makes 12 very large buns, you can slice them into 1 inch slices if you prefer and get 24 instead of 12.