Cranberry Orange Breakfast Buns

I can't help but snatch up bags and bags of fresh cranberries once they hit the stores. Did you know you can stick the whole bag as-is in the freezer, and then just rinse with cold water when you are ready to use them? No need to even thaw.  In the last two weeks, I've made several recipes containing fresh cranberries. I'm going to share three of them here--two of them are new, and one is an old standby. Perhaps one will appeal to you.


Cranberry Orange Breakfast Buns
-from smittenkitchen.com

I am not a fan of cinnamon rolls, but these are incredible. Not your traditional cinnamon roll, but similar in preparation, texture, and gooey-ness from the frosting. While they may require a bit of time, your actual hands-on time is low and they are totally oven ready the night before (just have to rise overnight). These will be baking in my oven Christmas morning.
 

Dough:
4 large egg yolks
1 large whole egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted, plus additional to grease pan
3/4 cup buttermilk (I just soured my own with vinegar and milk)
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated (to be used in dough and filling, below)
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting counter
1 packet instant dry yeast (also called rapid-rise yeast)
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse or kosher salt, or more to taste
1 teaspoon oil for bowl

Filling:
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup fresh cranberries
Orange zest leftover from above

Icing:
3-4 tablespoons orange juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Make the dough: In the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, buttermilk and 3/4 of the orange zest together (save the rest of the zest for the filling). Add 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; stir until evenly moistened. Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining 1 3/4 cups flour and let the dough hook knead the mixture on low speed for 5 to 7 minutes. The dough should be soft and moist, but not overly sticky. Scrape the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled, which will take 2-3 hours.

Make the filling: Melt the butter and set it aside. In a food processor, pulse the whole cranberries until they’re ground to a coarse, but not fully pureed. You’ll need to scrape the machine down once or twice. Set them aside.

Or you can just hand chop them very fine. 

Assemble the buns: Butter a 9×13-inch glass baking dish. Turn the risen dough out onto a floured work surface and roll it into a rectangle that is 18 inches wide (the side nearest to you) and 12 or so inches long. It doesn't have to be exact. Brush the dough with the melted butter. Sprinkle it with the brown sugar. Scatter the cranberries over it, then the remaining orange zest.

Roll the dough into a tight, 18-inch long spiral. Using a sharp serrated knife, very, very gently saw the log into 1 1/2-inch sections; you should get 12. I cut the ends off mine first to make sure all my rolls were fairly even and full of filling. Arrange the buns evenly spread out in your baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or up to 16 hours.

The next morning, bake the buns: Take your buns out of the fridge 30 minutes before you’d like to bake them, to allow them to warm up slightly. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Bake your buns (you could also toast your personal buns by the fire as you wait--ha! Sorry, I couldn't resist. I really prefer to call these types of pastries 'rolls') until they’re puffed and golden, approximately 30 minutes.

Transfer pan to a cooling rack and let cool slightly. Make the icing by whisking the orange juice and powdered sugar together. Spread a little on each bun, or drizzle it over the whole pan. Serve immediately. 

Let it be known that I ate these reheated from the microwave for 2 straight days and found them still fantastic. 

Ready to Rise

Out of the fridge the next morning. Gotta admit, I wasn't sure they had puffed enough, but I carried on.

Voila! Another instance of 'oven makes all things lovely'

With the glaze, ready to eat.

Seriously. Can you even stand this???

Are you ready to make these yet?