Cranberry Sweet Rolls with Orange Cream Cheese Icing

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Sweet, tart, pretty and tasty, these cranberry sweet rolls are made with the same dough as for cinnamon rolls and spread with homemade cranberry sauce. You only need about a cup so use up your leftover cranberry sauce from holiday dinners. Ice these sweet rolls with an easy, 4 ingredient orange cream cheese icing.

Cranberry Sweet Rolls in a pan with icing on top

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soft pillowy cinnamon roll dough with a cranberry orange twist

These sweet rolls are sophisticated and beautiful, with the contrasting red of the cranberries and the white cream cheese frosting. These would be so nice for a Christmas morning breakfast. They scream December to me.

They're like the older, city living, party-going, cool cousin to a cinnamon roll which in my eyes is rustic, homey, dependable, and comforting. Is that a weird way to describe these desserts? Absolutely, but I don't feel bad about it and I'm not going to take it back.

But anyway, these sweet cranberry rolls really are amazing. They're a certain amount of tart from the cranberry sauce. I use my homemade cranberry sauce. The sweetness of the cream cheese frosting really balances the sauce in my opinion. This is one of my favorite dessert recipes ever.

The dough I use is the same one I use in my Cinnamon Twists!

Ingredients for this recipe

Baking basics like flour etc, plus the cranberry jelly (sauce). We'll skip the butter. You'll need some cream cheese for the icing. I add orange zest to the icing also, I love citrus with cream cheese. I also love this cranberry orange combo.

Ingredient Substitutions

Make the cranberry sauce ahead of time if you want or use another recipe. I haven't tried this with store-bought cranberry jelly because it's just not an item I buy, but if you use it and try it, please leave me a comment and let me know how it went!

Let's Make the rolls

Start off by making your cranberry sauce. I make mine a day or two before I make these rolls because I've been using it for another meal first and then putting half of the recipe away for this dessert recipe. The cranberry sauce recipe makes 2 ¼ cups - so save about a cup or so.

Now make the dough. I use my stand mixer for this recipe, although you can make it by hand as well. In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the warm milk, sugar, oil, and yeast. If you're using instant yeast, move on with the recipe immediately. If you're using active dry yeast, let everything sit for about 10 minutes or so, or until the top is foamy.

Next, add the egg and mix it in well. Then add the flour and salt. Mix everything to combine and then let knead on medium speed for about 5 minutes. (About 7-8 minutes by hand. If kneading by hand place the dough on a countertop and push the dough into the counter with the heel of your hand and then pull and roll the dough back towards you. I alternate hands when I do this.)

You'll end up with a very smooth, soft dough.

With the dough in the bowl, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough sit and rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size. I like to do this in my oven, with the temperature OFF and the light on. This makes a nice environment for rising dough.

How to shape sweet rolls like cinnamon rolls

Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out into a large rectangle, about 12 inches by 36 inches or so. Spread the surface with cranberry sauce. Leave a half-inch along the long side empty of sauce. Start rolling the dough into a log, starting with the side opposite of the empty space.

spreading cranberry sauce on dough for sweet rolls

Once the dough is rolled, pinch the edge of the dough into the log to keep it sealed shut.

Cut the dough into 12 portions. To make this easy, cut the log in half and then in half again to get 4 portions. Then cut each of those portions into 3 more portions. You'll end up with 12 fairly even buns. I made the marks on my dough log using this method, and then I cut them one by one.

Place the buns into a baking pan. I used a 7 x 11 brownie pan similar to this one by Wilton. because it's all I have available at the moment. A 9 x 13 baking dish should work fine as well.

Once the buns are all loaded into the pan, cover with plastic wrap or a towel you don't mind getting cranberry sauce on, and let rise for about 30-45 minutes or until puffed up pretty good.

Preheat the oven to 350°F while they are rising.

cutting and place rolls in a pan to bake for cranberry sweet rolls

Bake rolls for about 25 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown and the dough is cooked through.

Let the rolls cool while you put together the glaze.

How to make orange cream cheese icing

Combine one brick, 8 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature) with half a cup of powdered sugar. Alternatively, you could use brown sugar, which I prefer the taste of in this recipe, but then the icing doesn't stay bright white, so do what you prefer here. Add the orange juice and the grated orange zest. I use a Cara Cara orange. Add a splash of vanilla extract too. Whip together into a smooth, pourable icing.

Once the rolls have cooled a bit, spoon or pour the icing over top. Serve. Keeps for a few days at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap.

Tips and Tricks

Make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature when making the icing so you get a really smooth icing without lumps.
For the dough to rise nicely, it needs a warm draft-free area. There are two really good ways to rise dough in your kitchen. You can use either your oven, with the temperature off but the light on. You can also use your microwave - just don't turn it on.

Recipes FAQs

What's the different between instant yeast and active dry yeast?

Instant yeast does not need to be proofed before using. It can be mixed directly into the dry ingredients. Active dry yeast needs to be proofed in warm water to activate it before moving on in a recipe. If you're using active dry yeast in this recipe, you may need to add 10-15 minutes to your rise times as it's slower to rise.

More Sweet Breakfast Recipes

Recipes using leftover Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Meatballs