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Cranberry Orange Walnut Sweet Rolls

December 16, 2016

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Pillowy soft and squishy sweet rolls, filled with a tart, tangy, and sweet spread of cranberries, orange juice, and walnuts, drenched in fresh orange glaze! The most beautiful holiday brunch!

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Dang… I felt so ready for Christmas a few weeks ago, but now that it’s only 9 days away, I feel way behind.

It mostly has to do with shopping for gifts. I am ready in almost every other possible way. Decorations went up weeks ago. Baking: check. Done plenty of that.

Christmas movies and music – I’ve covered a lot of ground there.

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I actually carved out a Friday night to spend online to shop for gifts for people. That’s my evening. I am dedicating my entire night to this project. Wish me luck. It’s so hard to come up with unique and creative ideas year after year – please point me to any great gift guides! Wine is also in my future, for sure.

Meanwhile, my current brunch obsession. I’m sharing this on a Friday so that you have this last weekend before Christmas (eep!) to make it, or so that you can plan to have this recipe for Christmas morning.

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I made these Fig & Walnut Orange Cinnamon Rolls a few years ago, and they are incredible. To this day, that is still one of my favorite recipes on the blog. I made sort of a ‘quick jam’ by soaking the figs in orange juice, and then putting them in the food processor until smooth like a jam or spread. Those rolls were the inspiration for these Cranberry Orange Walnut Sweet Rolls.

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Although there is a key difference – the Fig rolls were made with a no rise, no yeast dough, and these use a yeasted dough. I like both. A no yeast, no rise dough is really nice and convenient and quick. It’s still soft and flaky, but slightly more biscuit-like. The yeasted dough is definitely more fluffy and pillowy. However, as with all things yeast, it requires a bit more time. It’s idle time where you can do nothing, but it does take extra time so that it can rise.

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Besides that, the fillings are similar. For these, I made a spread out of dried cranberries, orange juice and zest, walnuts, and brown sugar, and that’s what gets used as the filling! It’s crazy good! I suppose you could even use this spread on crackers or crostini or something! Or on a grilled cheese sandwich with melty brie or havarti!

Oh my mind is racing with ideas now.

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But that’s not what I did. I made you these sweet rolls and used the cranberry-orange-walnut spread as the filling. The rolls are pillowy soft and squishy. They are fluffy, doughy, and chewy. All the best things you want in a sweet roll.

The filling is sublime (look at it!), and the orange glaze on top… well, I think we can all agree there is almost nothing on the planet more perfect than orange glaze. Especially orange glaze made with fresh orange zest and juice.

These are totally irresistible, and I had a hard time being around them without wanting more, more, more. Such a beautiful brunch dish for the holiday season!!

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5 from 1 vote
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Cranberry Orange Walnut Sweet Rolls

Pillowy soft and squishy sweet rolls, filled with a tart, tangy, and sweet spread of cranberries, orange juice, and walnuts, drenched in fresh orange glaze! The most beautiful holiday brunch!
Course Breakfast
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings 4 -6
Author Sarah @ The Gold Lining Girl

Ingredients

For rolls:

  • 1 c. warm water about 110 degrees
  • 3 tbsp. sugar
  • 1 - 1/4 oz. packet active dry yeast
  • 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tbsp. unsalted butter melted

For filling:

  • 2 tbsp. unsalted butter melted
  • 1 c. dried cranberries
  • zest and juice of 1 orange
  • 3/4 c. walnuts
  • 1/2 c. packed brown sugar

For glaze:

  • zest of 1 orange
  • juice of 1/2 orange
  • 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Instructions

For rolls:

  1. In a large mixing bowl fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir together water, sugar, and yeast.
  2. Let stand for 5 minutes, or until the yeast foams and is frothy.
  3. Add flour, salt, and butter to the mixing bowl.
  4. Beat at low-medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until dough is soft, smooth, and elastic.
  5. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning over once to coat the top, and cover.
  6. Let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until double in size.
  7. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
  8. Roll into a 12x14-inch rectangle.

For filling:

  1. Brush the dough with the melted butter to within 1/2-inch from the edges.
  2. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the dried cranberries, orange zest, and orange juice.
  3. Microwave on high for 1 minute, or until cranberries are soft.
  4. Transfer to a food processor, and add walnuts.
  5. Process until walnuts and cranberries are finely minced.
  6. Stir in brown sugar.
  7. Spread evenly over dough.
  8. Starting with one long side, roll dough jelly-roll style into a log.
  9. Cut into about 10 rolls. They will be pretty packed with filling, so transfer them carefully to the skillet so they don't spill or fall apart.
  10. Arrange rolls in a greased 12-inch cast-iron skillet.
  11. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until nearly double in size.
  12. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until edges are golden, and when you press toward the center, it feels set. It shouldn't feel doughy when lightly pressed toward the middle.
  13. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, and prepare glaze.

For glaze:

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together orange zest, orange juice, and powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, if needed, to achieve desired consistency.
  2. Drizzle over warm sweet rolls.

You may also like:

Lemon Raspberry Sweet Rolls

lemon raspberry sweet rolls with lemon mascarpone frosting 7

Butter Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

glazed butter pecan cinnamon rolls 18

Orange Sweet Rolls

orange sweet rolls with orange cream cheese glaze 12

Maple Bacon Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Maple bacon brown sugar pecan no yeast no rise cinnamon rolls 20

Fig & Walnut Orange Cinnamon Rolls

orange fig walnut cinnamon rolls 23

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

pumpkin french toast casserole 16

Cranberry Apple Croissant French Toast Casserole

cranberry apple croissant french toast casserole with apple cider glaze 12

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Filed Under: Breads & Muffins, Breakfast, Christmas, Recipes 22 Comments

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Lovely comments

  1. Janet Vinyard says

    December 18, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    Yummy! I love the flavors of orange and cranberries together in a yeast roll! You hit this one out of the park! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Blessings, Janet

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      December 19, 2016 at 8:14 am

      Thank you!! Happy holidays!

      Reply
  2. Angela Howard says

    December 19, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    Looks amazing! Visiting from #overthemoon

    Reply
  3. Sammi Ricke says

    December 19, 2016 at 11:37 pm

    I’m totally crushing on this recipe right now! Ha! I am craving sweet rolls and orange and cranberry are the perfect flavors for this time of year. Thanks for sharing this delish dish with all of us!!

    Reply
  4. Helen at the Lazy Gastronome says

    December 20, 2016 at 10:13 am

    Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing on the What’s for Dinner link up!

    Reply
  5. shelley says

    December 20, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    These look absolutely mouthwatering! Thanks for sharing at Over the Moon. We look forward to seeing what you have to share with us in the new year.

    Reply
  6. Erica Schmidt says

    December 20, 2016 at 10:57 pm

    5 stars
    I’ll admit I pinned these before I was halfway through your post! Beautiful photographs and I just love ANYTHING with orange flavor! Can’t wait to give these a try! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  7. Amy says

    December 21, 2016 at 9:10 pm

    These look amazing! I’m a sucker for any type of homemade bread/roll, and I absolutely love cranberry orange. I will definitely be trying these at some point. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
  8. Erlene Amat says

    December 22, 2016 at 3:04 am

    Yum! I’m putting this on my breakfast menu and pinned. Thanks for sharing this on Merry Monday. I will be including this in a Christmas breakfast roundup with a link back.

    Reply
  9. Ai @Ai made it for you says

    December 24, 2016 at 10:28 am

    Yummyyy! These would be perfect for Christmas morning! I love cranberries and anything in sweet roll form is amazing 🙂
    Merry Christmas and Happy Fiesta Friday!

    Reply
  10. Beverly says

    December 24, 2016 at 11:01 am

    Wow, these look so amazing. Love things with cranberries. My husband would love the ones with the figs. We have a fig tree so need to make those. Our figs are in full ripe mode now.
    Thanks for sharing at Turn It Up Tuesday,
    Bev

    Reply
  11. Wendy says

    December 24, 2016 at 11:51 am

    I absolutely love sweet rolls! Your collection of sweet roll recipes has my mouth watering! Cranberries sound especially fabulous in a sweet roll. Their sweet-tart flavor is a great balance to the sweet icing!

    Reply
  12. Cristina at Ava's Alphabet says

    January 8, 2017 at 12:00 am

    Yum! What a great idea to use cranberries and orange in a sweet roll recipe! They look amazing. Pinned and sharing. Thank you for linking up at Family Joy Blog Party. We hope to see you at our next party starting on Sunday at noon EST!

    Reply

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Hello, It’s Nice to Meet you!

I'm Sarah! A baker and dessert maker, craft addict, beauty product hoarder, and fitness enthusiast. I have a special affinity for shiny gold objects. I get distracted by glitter and sequins. If it's gleaming and lustrous, I need it. Welcome! Please stay awhile! Read More…

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