Cranberry Gingerbread Rolls

These rolls brighten up your morning with warm ginger spices, with a sweet-tart cranberry sauce, and topped with orange cream cheese icing. Doesn't that sound like an amazing breakfast to wake up to?

Why should you make these rolls? 

First and foremost, they are delicious!!!

They make the best breakfast of the season.

The spices used here warm you up.

Fresh or leftover cranberry sauce can be used.

The orange icing perfectly complements the flavor.

All these make this an addictive breakfast!

These rolls are just like cinnamon rolls but way better. These rolls are made with a dough that has the gingerbread flavors, and have cranberry sauce swirled in, and with a delicious and bright orange cream cheese icing. Now, this is what I would call a perfect holiday breakfast! 

The bread dough is eggless and uses aquafaba. The dough has molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves - the ones you will have in your gingerbread and it gives the perfect flavor twist.

Cranberry sauce - homemade or store bought sauce can be used. I prefer to use my own since it gives you the option to control the flavors and thickness. If your sauce is too runny, try to reduce it, else it would be messy to shape the rolls. This is a great roll to make when you have a cup of cranberry sauce leftover after the festive meal. 

Cream cheese icing - a delicious cream cheese icing with a burst of orange just elevates the flavors multiple folds in these rolls. Always use cream cheese at room temperature for smooth icing.

I have used a bread machine to knead the dough and prove it, it saves time and some elbow grease. It can be done manually too. Also, I have used active dry yeast, so it needs to be activated before proceeding with the recipe. If you are using instant yeast, add everything to the bread machine and set it on dough cycle. This recipe uses heavy cream instead of butter. If you do not have heavy cream, substitute with 3-4 tablespoons butter, and liquid content will have to adjusted to make a smooth dough. Whenever I have a little cream left, I would prefer to use them even in bread baking to get soft rolls. Since there is cream cheese, I would recommend to store the leftovers, if any, in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. Just warm them and serve. Or microwave for 15 seconds and serve.

A warm roll makes a lot of difference when you wake up for breakfast. As the winter progresses, I would love to have these Sweet Coconut Almond Rolls, Peppermint Swirls, or Gingerbread Melonpan for breakfast, and during fall/winter, these Pumpkin Paneer and Cranberry Rolls, and Tangzhong Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns are a great option.

This is is season of baking. Whether it is cookies, cakes, edible gifts, or breads, even comforting meals that are baked sound heavenly as the temperature plunges. I am sharing this recipe for Bakeathon 2022. In December, we share three recipes a week that are baked. Here are the links to the recipes I have shared earlier for Bakeathon 2022.

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Eggless Banana Almond Gingerbread

Pandesal

Samosa Chaat Pizza

Cheese Hatch Chile Tamale Cups

I am also linking this to Sundays on Silverado, What's For Dinner, and Happiness is Homemade.

Ingredients

For the Dough

All purpose flour - 3 cups pus 3 tbsp

Aquafaba - 4 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Brown sugar - 1/3 cup

Ginger - 1.5 tsp

Cinnamon - 1 tsp

Cloves - 1/8 tsp

Yeast - 21/4 tsp

Milk - 1/3 cup

Molasses - 2 tbsp

Heavy cream - 1/2 cup

For the Filling

Cranberry sauce - 1 to 1 and 1/4 cups

For the Icing

Cream cheese - 3 tbsp

Condensed milk - 3 tbsp

Orange zest - 1/3 tsp

Vanilla - 1/2 tsp

Method

Activate the dry yeast with warm milk and a tablespoon of molasses.

Add the flour, salt, ginger powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a bowl, mix and set aside.

Add the heavy cream, remaining molasses, activated yeast, brown sugar, and aquafaba to the bread machine bowl. Add the flour, set it in dough cycle to knead and complete the first proving.

Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer to a floured surface, punch, and knead to a smooth dough.

Roll into a 16X12-in rectangle.

Spread the cranberry sauce evenly leaving about an inch around the edges.

Roll into a log starting from one of the longest edge.

With a twine thread cut evenly into 12 slices. Transfer to a floured baking dish.

Cover and let it rise for 30-40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bake at 375 degrees for 22-24 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool.

While the rolls are cooling, beat cream cheese, condensed milk, orange zest, and vanilla.

Spread it on the baked rolls.

Serve warm.