By Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus 3 hours' rising
- Rating
- 4(125)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Here's a delightful, tangy twist on the fluffy breadbasket staple; cranberry butter is brushed between two layers of dough then baked until golden. They're fun, they're unexpected, they're delicious. (Bonus: they can be made ahead and frozen up to two weeks before.)
Featured in: A GOOD APPETITE; Bringing the Breadbasket Back to Thanksgiving
Learn: Melissa Clark’s Thanksgiving
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Ingredients
Yield:24 rolls
- 1(¼-ounce) package dry active yeast
- 3tablespoons plus 1 pinch sugar
- 1cup milk at room temperature
- 2large eggs, lightly beaten
- 5cups all-purpose flour
- 1tablespoon kosher salt
- ½cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 4cups (1 pound) fresh cranberries
- 1cup sugar
- 2cups (1 pound) unsalted butter, softened
For the Rolls
For the Cranberry Butter
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (24 servings)
334 calories; 21 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 219 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Use an electric mixer, fitted with dough hook if possible, or a paddle. In mixer's bowl, combine yeast with ¼ cup tepid water and a pinch of sugar. Stir until yeast dissolves; let stand until mixture gets foamy, about 10 minutes.
Step
2
Add milk, eggs and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar. Mix on a low speed until mixture is combined.
Step
3
Add flour ½ cup at a time, mixing for several seconds after each addition. Sprinkle in the salt and mix until dough comes together in a ball, 3 to 5 minutes. With mixer running at a medium speed, add cubes of butter one at a time. Mix until butter is completely incorporated, and dough is glossy and comes away from sides of bowl, about 5 minutes.
Step
4
Spray a bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Form dough into a loose ball and place it in bowl. Lightly spray plastic wrap and cover dough loosely with it. Allow dough to rest at room temperature for 2½ hours, or until it has doubled in size.
Step
5
While dough is rising, make cranberry butter. Place cranberries in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Add ½ cup water and sprinkle in the sugar. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until berries are mushy and water evaporates. Transfer to a bowl to cool.
Step
6
Place softened butter in bowl of an electric mixer and beat on a low speed with paddle attachment. Add cranberries and beat until well combined. Keep butter covered with plastic wrap at room temperature until ready to use.
Step
7
Lightly spray 2 (12-cup) muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray. When dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each eighth into a 6-inch-long cylinder. Set one aside and cover remaining 7 cylinders with plastic wrap to prevent drying while you work.
Step
8
Cut first cylinder into 6 equal round pieces about 1 inch thick. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and flatten with your hands into a 2½-inch round. Spread a generous amount of cranberry butter (about 2 teaspoons) on the face of each round and place each in a muffin cup, butter side up. Repeat this process with second cylinder of dough, this time placing the rounds butter side down on top of rounds in tin. Using your thumb, gently press center of each roll, making an indentation in middle. Place a dot of cranberry butter in each indentation. Repeat with remaining dough. Loosely cover muffin tins with plastic wrap.
Step
9
Allow rolls to rise until tops are puffed up to edge of muffin tin, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and bake rolls until golden brown, about 22 to 28 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Turn rolls out of muffin tins. Serve warm with additional cranberry butter on the side.
Tip
- To make ahead: Assemble rolls in muffin tins and refrigerate, covered, overnight. Let them stand at room temperature until puffed, 2 to 3 hours, then bake as directed. Or assemble rolls in muffin tins and freeze, covered, for up to 2 weeks. Defrost rolls in refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight. Let stand at room temperature until puffed, about 2 to 3 hours, then bake as directed.
Ratings
125
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Cooking Notes
Amber
These were the hit of Christmas dinner! Everyone loved them, and they are beautiful. Two tips: First, if you have a kitchen scale, weigh your dough ball, then divide by 48 and weigh it out into 48 equal little balls. Two of those make one roll. Second, you can make half as much butter and still have some left over. A scant tsp. in the middle and a 1/2 tsp. on top of each roll gave us that beautiful color without making a mess while baking. Put the extra butter on the table at dinner!
Nancy
These were great, I halved the recipe and still had way too much cranberry butter for the rolls. I would halve the butter recipe for the full roll recipe in future.
Catherine DiNardo
Made these for Thanksgiving, baking them the week before and freezing. Gave them a quick warm-up in the oven right before serving. The rolls looked beautiful and tasted nice and buttery. Halved the cranberry butter as others' suggested and still had plenty of butter. Froze a cylinder of the leftover butter for other uses -- thinking will be great on pancakes.
Ally
These are addictive. I decided to make the cranberry butter as a condiment for the freshly baked rolls, as opposed to baking the rolls with the butter. I halved the amount of butter, and the resulting buttery cranberry sauce mixture was EPICALLY GOOD. By far my favorite cranberry preparation ever. So so delicious on hot rolls, fresh from the oven. The rolls themselves are delicious on their own as well.
abarrow
Like others said, the recipe for the cranberry butter was way too much. I halved the recipe and still had way too much. I would honestly quarter the recipe. If you have leftover butter it’s great on French toast!
Joyce
This is a wonderful recipe, but I have modified it. As the other readers have said, half as much cranberry butter is more than enough. I also reduced the amount of the butter by 25%, and really loved the strong flavor of the berries that resulted.
butter tip
Make sure to let cranberries properly cool before mixing with butter or it melts too much
Alanna
Delicious! Made for Thanksgiving this year and instead of making cranberry sauce and rolls separately for our small dinner, we just had these! They were delicious and even my small picky children ate them. I actually baked half of the rolls immediately as a test run and put the other half in the freezer as described in the notes, and they came out perfect after 1 week in the freezer.
Find a happy medium on the butter
These came out quite tasty and very pleased as they were a good amount of work. I did listen to the comments that talked about putting too much of the cranberry butter on the rolls before baking and found that I went too conservative. I'd probably recommend 2-3 of the 4 tablespoons the recipe suggests in between the two pieces of the roll. Fortunately because I went conservative, it is easy to supplement with plenty of extra butter after baking,
chris
Made these today as a practice run for T-Day. Much more trouble than they are worth. I'd suggest making the cranberry butter and serving it with simple take-and-bake rolls served warm.
E
I had some trouble getting these to look anything like the picture. They taste great though! The two circles of dough just didn't seem to want to merge into a single roll-- they look kind of like a sandwich cookie.
Catherine DiNardo
Made these for Thanksgiving, baking them the week before and freezing. Gave them a quick warm-up in the oven right before serving. The rolls looked beautiful and tasted nice and buttery. Halved the cranberry butter as others' suggested and still had plenty of butter. Froze a cylinder of the leftover butter for other uses -- thinking will be great on pancakes.
Amber
These were the hit of Christmas dinner! Everyone loved them, and they are beautiful. Two tips: First, if you have a kitchen scale, weigh your dough ball, then divide by 48 and weigh it out into 48 equal little balls. Two of those make one roll. Second, you can make half as much butter and still have some left over. A scant tsp. in the middle and a 1/2 tsp. on top of each roll gave us that beautiful color without making a mess while baking. Put the extra butter on the table at dinner!
Nancy
These were great, I halved the recipe and still had way too much cranberry butter for the rolls. I would halve the butter recipe for the full roll recipe in future.
Julie
What a mess, I made just as written, but the rolls had way too much of the cranberry butter - guess I took it too literally and used too liberal an amount. Next time, I'll cut way back on the amount to use. Delicious though.
Susie
This recipe made a mess all over the over the oven. Would recommend using 1/2 the cranberry butter. What a mess!
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