If you have followed my Musings, you know I'm a baker. I love to bake. I decided to see if I could use this cranberry sauce in some type of baked good. A short search brought me to Cranberry Sauce Cinnamon Rolls. I have often used dried cranberries in place of raisins in cinnamon rolls. But I have never tried using cranberry sauce!
This recipe is wonderful. I like that it has whole wheat flour (a bit more than 50-50 to all purpose flour). I made this recipe as written, using organic ingredients where possible. My experience was that the dough was rather wet and sticky. I added just a bit more flour while it was mixing so that the dough pulled away from the bowl, but it was still a rather wet, sticky dough. I've learned that whole grain flours take a little longer to absorb liquids, so I resisted the temptation to add more flour to achieve a proper dough texture before the first rise.
I turned the dough out from the mixing bowl onto a lightly floured cutting board and using a bench scrape and a small bit of flour, I folded the dough several times until I made a manageable dough ball. Folding the dough a few times reduced the sticky consistency, and helped form a nice smooth dough ball. I also learned that oiled or wet hands will help keep dough from sticking to your hands. I then used the bench scraper and my hand and lifted the dough ball into my oiled proofing bowl. I put the bowl, covered, in my oven (turned OFF) with the light on.
When the dough was doubled, I dumped it from the proofing bowl onto a lightly floured cutting board. I rolled my dough out a bit larger than the recipe called for, ending up with 3 extra rolls (15 total). The dough was very manageable, with a great texture. I placed the sliced rolls on a greased jelly roll pan and put it back in the oven (turned OFF) with the light on for the second rise.
When doubled, I removed the pan, preheated the oven and then placed the pan back in to bake. When they had cooled enough from baking, I drizzled glaze on the rolls. The glaze I used is different than the recipe. I always make a drizzle glaze with powder sugar, milk and in this case, almond flavoring. I mix it up to a drizzle consistency and then top the rolls.
This recipe is going into my regular sweet goods rotation, but it will be an extra special treat to make for the holidays! I'm going to experiment with adding orange zest, or pineapple, or dried cranberries or raisins in future bakes.
Here is the link to the recipe:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/11/cranberry-sauce-cinnamon-rolls-for-thanksgiving-recipe.html