This Cranberry Cinnamon Roll recipe combines soft, pillowy dough with a sweet-tart cranberry filling, perfect for the holiday season. Topped with a creamy, simple orange glaze, these rolls are a festive twist on the classic breakfast treat.
About these Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon rolls may be a bit of an undertaking, but they’re meant to be an enjoyable, rewarding process. These Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls with Orange Glaze are no exception—they’re a festive, flavorful twist on the classic treat.
From preparing the soft, fluffy dough and letting it rise, to rolling it out, spreading the delicious cranberry filling, and baking them to golden perfection, the process feels like crafting something truly special. While it’s detailed, it’s far from difficult—just take cranberry orange cinnamon roll recipe step by step, and you’ll be rewarded with 12 irresistible, homemade holiday rolls, perfect for Christmas morning (or try this Eggnog French Toast for christmas morning instead👀).
These cranberry-studded cinnamon rolls are finished with a bright, orange icing dotted with fresh orange zest that perfectly complements the sweet-tart filling. Each bite is a balance of warm spice, juicy cranberries, and citrusy sweetness—a treat that feels as elegant as it tastes!
Looking for other cinnamon roll flavors? After you try out thes homemade orange rolls with cranberry filling, also check out these Funfetti Cinnamon Rolls, Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls or these Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling, that you’ll love, too!
Recipe Ingredients
- Dough: You’ll need instant yeast, milk, sugar, butter, egg, and flour. I used all purpose and have not tried any alternatives so substitute with caution.
- Filling: The cranberry orange filling has four simple ingredients: fresh cranberries, fresh orange juice, orange extract and sugar.
- Orange Glaze: Confectioners sugar will make our glaze sweet and smooth. We’re adding cream cheese, orange extract and orange zest as well.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and Variations
- Not a citrus fan? Remove the orange flavor and make a cream cheese frosting instead, which is sure to go well with these fluffty cinnamon rolls, too! You can find a cream cheese frosting recipe in the recipe card for my Maple Bundt Cake.
- Have leftover cranberry sauce? Instead of making the filling spelled out in the recipe, use the cranberry sauce the rest of the family left behind on Christmas eve and use it as your filling for Christmas morning cinnamon rolls.
How to Make This Recipe
1. Prep the rolls first. The milk needs to be between 110°F and 115°F. Typically, ½ cup of milk microwaved for 20-30 seconds will get it to desired temp. Whisk active dry yeast into warm milk. Let it dissolve.
Pour the instant yeast mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer with the softened butter & sugar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed.
Ensuring the mixture is no longer warm, add the egg and orange zest.
Transition to the dough hook attachment and gradually add flour & salt into the bowl and fold together until a dough forms. The dough ingredients will be sticky—that’s OK.
Remove the dough from the bowl. Then, knead it on a floured surface for 6-8 minutes.
Grab a clean mixing bowl and spray with cooking spray. Then, place the kneaded dough in the greased bowl, cover with a linen towel or plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place.
2. After the dough has risen (about 3-4x in size), it’s time to punch it down and roll it out. Flour your surface once more. Using a rolling pin, glass jar, or wine bottle, flatten the risen dough until it’s about ¼” thick on the lightly floured surface. It shouldn’t be thin enough that you can see through, but should be thin enough to roll.
3. Next, make the filling: heat a sauce pot to medium heat. Combine cranberries, orange juice, orange extract, and sugar. Stir together.
The cranberries will start to pop and jam like texture will form. Continue stirring
Using a rubber spatula, spread the cranberry filling evenly across your dough leaving ~½ an inch on the border so juices don’t spill out too much and burn.
4. Then, starting at the end of your dough, begin to carefully roll it into a log shape.
Then, using a serrated knife (or unflavored floss! See Pro Tip below), slice the rolled dough into 12 cinnamon rolls.
Now, let’s get ready to bake. Preheat the oven to 350°F and layer a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper. Then, spray with cooking spray.
Place Cinnamon Rolls into the prepared pan and bake for 12-15 minutes until outside of the dough starts to turn golden brown.
5. While the rolls bake, let’s make the glaze. Gather all ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
6. Once your Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls are done baking, top with glaze and enjoy!
PRO TIPS
Check out this Taste of Home post on the 19 Tips for Making the Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls. Here are my biggest tips:
- Roll your Cranberry Orange Cinnamon Rolls tightly! If you fail to roll your cinnamon roll tightly, the delicious sweet, sprinkle filling will just seep onto the bottom of your baking pan.
- The rise is essential in achieving a fluffy texture. You can still bake cinnamon rolls that don’t rise, but your end product is likely to be very dense. Before calling it quits completely, you could also try dissolving additional yeast and incorporating it into the dough to see if it will rise at all.
- If your cinnamon rolls are tough, you most likely used too much flour. This dries out the dough and, as a result, it will not bake properly. You do need a floured surface when kneading and rolling out the dough to prevent sticking, but try your best not to get an excessive amount of flour incorporated into the dough itself.
- Instead of using a sharp knife to slice your log into regular cinnamon rolls, try using a piece of unflavored dental floss to slice. Simply wiggle the floss under the dough log and grab each end of the floss with each hand and simply pull upward. The result, perfectly shaped, fluffy cinnamon rolls that don’t get squished down.
Recipe FAQs
You can store these Orange Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
For best results, your homemade cinnamon rolls must be baked before freezing. Freezing raw dough will mess with the rising process. You can choose to freeze them frosted or unfrosted in a freezer-safe container for up to two months.
If you’d like to enjoy your sweet rolls warm, reheat in the oven (or toaster oven) at 350° for 10 minutes. If you plan to reheat, store the Cinnamon Rolls separate from the orange glaze and add the glaze once you’ve reheated it.
You can prep the cinnamon roll dough in advance and let the dough rise in the bowl overnight, just ensure that the saran wrap is completely covering the bowl so no moisture escapes. Alternatively, you could also let the dough go through the first rise, roll out and form the cinnamon rolls then cover the entire pan of raw cinnamon rolls with saran wrap, then bake the next morning.
Serving suggestions
Serve your Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls Christmas morning along with this Crustless Spinach Feta Quiche and these Crispy Breakfast Potatoes for a full breakfast spread that the whole family will love. Make it a boozy engagement with a Rosé Aperol Spritz.
More Recipes You’ll Love
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Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls with Orange Glaze
Ingredients
Dough
- 1/2 package dry yeast, ~1 tbsp
- 1/2 cup 2% milk, 110°-115°F
- 1/4 cup cane sugar
- 3 tbsp butter, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2-2½ cups all purpose flour, bread flour
- zest of 1 orange
Filling
- 1 bag fresh cranberries, ~4 cups
- 1 orange, juiced
- 1/2 tsp orange extract
- 2/3 cup sugar, or up to 3/4 if you like it sweeter
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 tsp orange extract
Instructions
- Prep the rolls first. The milk needs to be between 110°F and 115°F. Typically, ½ cup of milk microwaved for 20-30 seconds will get it to desired temp. Whisk active dry yeast into warm milk. Let it dissolve.
- Pour the instant yeast mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer with the softened butter & sugar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed.
- Ensuring the mixture is no longer warm, add the egg and orange zest.
- Transition to the dough hook attachment and gradually add flour & salt into the bowl and fold together until a dough forms. The dough ingredients will be sticky—that's OK.
- Remove the dough from the bowl. Then, knead it on a floured surface for 6-8 minutes.
- Grab a clean mixing bowl and spray with cooking spray. Then, place the kneaded dough in the greased bowl, cover with a linen towel or plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place.
- After the dough has risen (about 3-4x in size), it's time to punch it down and roll it out. Flour your surface once more. Using a rolling pin, glass jar, or wine bottle, flatten the risen dough until it's about ¼" thick on the lightly floured surface. It shouldn't be thin enough that you can see through, but should be thin enough to roll.
- Next, make the filling: heat a sauce pot to medium heat. Combine cranberries, orange juice, orange extract, and sugar. Stir together.
- The cranberries will start to pop and jam like texture will form. Continue stirring
- Using a rubber spatula, spread the cranberry filling evenly across your dough leaving ~½ an inch on the border so juices don’t spill out too much and burn.
- Then, starting at the end of your dough, begin to carefully roll it into a log shape.
- Then, using a serrated knife (or unflavored floss! See Pro Tip below), slice the rolled dough into 12 cinnamon rolls.
- Now, let's get ready to bake. Preheat the oven to 350°F and layer a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper. Then, spray with cooking spray.
- Place Cinnamon Rolls into the prepared pan and bake for 22-26 minutes until outside of the dough starts to turn golden brown.
- While the rolls bake, let's make the glaze. Gather all ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
- Once your Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls are done baking, top with glaze and enjoy!
Nutrition
Notes
more of our yummy Breakfast Treats…
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If you’re using MyFitnessPal, search ‘A Paige Of Positivity’ and find CRANBERRY CINNAMON ROLLS calories and nutrition facts. Disclaimer: for most accurate macronutrients and caloric breakdown, it is recommended that you input each ingredient into your MyFitnessPal food diary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved or just say hi!
This cranberry orange cinnamon roll tastes like the holidays threw a party in my mouth and forgot to clean up
these are lovely! such a great holiday bake.
These are just going in the oven! But I am wondering if I am missing something. It says “Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls” but I don’t see any cinnamon in the recipe. I added some with some brown sugar and butter under the cranberry mixture. Hope it will be yummy.
Hey Erica, hope they were delicious! We named them ‘cinnamon rolls’ since the concept of the baked good is the same, just without the cinnamon. Wouldn’t hurt if you did add some though 🙂