Cranberry Orange Sweet Buns

I think Sundays are my most favorite days. They just seem lazy to me. And right now I am all about lazy.  

I wanted to make homemade sweet buns for a while now. At least I have wanted to eat homemade sweet buns for a while. Each time it came down to making them though I wimped out. Homemade buns does equal lazy and I just did not have the energy.  

These are not the easiest or quickest recipe. In fact you have to spend the most time on this recipe the night before you actually want to eat the buns.  But...BUT they are well worst it.

This weekend I was bound and determined to have sweet buns Sunday morning. And look, we did!

I made the dough Saturday night. This morning it was actually super easy to pop the buns in the oven and whip up the frosting. These are some rich buns. The dough is rich with all of the egg. 

The cranberries made them much more festive looking and added a bit of pucker to all of the sweetness of the buns. 

At first 12 seemed a bit much for just the two of us.  And then we each had two for breakfast. I am sure we will manage. 

Cranberry Orange Sweet Buns

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 30 minutes, plus rise time

Cook Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients (12 buns)

For the 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
• 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 (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant dry yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse or kosher salt, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon oil for bowl

For the Filling:

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

For the Icing:

• 1 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 cups powdered sugar
• 2 oz cream cheese, softened

Instructions

+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 (saving the rest 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 it with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled, which will take between 2 and 2 1/2 hours.

Prepare the filling:

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

Assemble the buns: Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish, a heavier ceramic or glass dish is ideal here. Turn the risen dough out onto a floured work surface and roll it into a rectangle that is 18 inches wide and 12 inches long. 

Brush the dough with the melted butter. Sprinkle it with the brown sugar. Scatter the ground 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. Arrange the buns evenly spread out in your baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

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 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 cream cheese, and powdered sugar together. Spread a little on each bun, or drizzle it over the whole pan. Serve immediately.

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