Cranberry Cinnamon Buns

Hope you all had a merry Christmas! I did; got a bunch of presents from my family that were marvelous and then I bought a bunch of presents for myself (oops) including shoes, fancy sprinkles (more on that soon), and star-shaped mini cake molds! 

But when I wasn't thinking about myself, I tried to keep my loved ones' bellies happy, one of these endeavors being these swanky cinnamon buns. Dan had been mumbling about wanting to get some cinnamon buns for weeks, so I took it upon myself to make some, though I have nothing against them babies from Cinnabon, mk? 

Rather than typical, meh, cinnamon buns, I dug into my pantry to try and spice things up a little bit. I pulled out a can of leftover jellied cranberry sauce that someone brought over as a half-joke at Thanksgiving, some chopped pecans, and some whole wheat flour that I've been avoiding since March.

The combo turned out a perfecto Christmas morning treat. We gobbled these buns up while ripping apart packages and trying on new clothes/waving around pretty new green spatulas. 

Oh, and if blogging goes slowly over the next few weeks, it's because I also bought myself the Alexander Hamilton biography and I cannot put this 800-pager down. 

Anyway, this recipe was inspired partly by this one from Epicurious.

Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls

For the Dough

• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
• 5 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Filling

• 1/2 cup whole cranberries
• juice of half of a lemon
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 can cranberry sauce
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon

For the Icing

• 6 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 Tbsp buttermilk
• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Cooking Directions

1. Stir together yeast and warm water and let sit until frothy for about 5 minutes. If the mixture doesn't foam up, discard and start again with fresh yeast, taking care that the water isn't too hot or too cold.
2. Combine flours, salt, and sugar in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Begin stirring dry ingredients with your stand mixer, affixed with a dough hook. Slowly pour in the eggs and milk. Then add in water and yeast. Mix together for about 2 minutes until fully incorporated. While still mixing, add in soft butter a tablespoon at a time and knead for about 5 minutes. Dough should spring back when pinched.
3. Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set aside until doubled in size, about an hour.
4. Meanwhile, combine cranberries, lemon juice, sugar, and can of cranberry sauce over medium high heat. When bubbling, reduce heat to low and simmer until whole cranberries have popped. Turn off heat and let cool.
5. When dough has finished rising, turn out onto a floured surface and roll out until it's about 16 inches by 16 inches. Using an offset spatula, spread with soft butter. Then sprinkle with sugar and brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans, and then pour cranberry sauce over, spreading it into an even layer.
6. Taking up the end closest to you, roll up dough. Get a rimmed baking sheet handy and then slice roll into 12 pieces.
7. Stuff rolls onto baking sheet and then set aside for a second rise, about an hour. Or, cove with plastic wrap and set in the fridge overnight. If you're reserving your rolls in the fridge overnight, take out in the morning and let them come to room temperature for about an hour.
8. 10 minutes before you're ready to start baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
9. Bake for 40 minutes. And let cool for 5 minutes.
10. While rolls are baking, whisk together icing ingredients using an electric beater for about 5 minutes. Set aside icing until rolls have cooled slightly and then smother in icing. Serve warm!