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Cranberry Orange Cinnamon Rolls

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These fresh cranberry and orange cinnamon rolls are a perfect and easy breakfast – whether you are celebrating a holiday or just looking for a special breakfast, these cinnamon rolls are delicious!

These Cranberry Orange Sweet Rolls are a perfect and easy breakfast - whether you are celebrating a holiday or just looking for a special breakfast, these cinnamon rolls are delicious! 
cinnamon roll with cranberry and orange on white plate with fork, with baking more in background
cranberry orange cinnamon roll on white plate with baking pan behind

There are moments in life when you need easy AND good and you need to turn to a shortcut. That is where these cinnamon rolls come in. Pre-packaged refrigerated cinnamon rolls get a quick flavor boost from cranberry sauce and orange zest.

Thankfully, when life makes it more difficult to make everything from scratch, there are easy ways that we can still eat great food with a minimal amount of work.

overhead view of baking tray with orange cinnamon rolls with cranberries and one on plate

How to make cinnamon rolls with cranberries and orange

These easy sweet rolls are a perfect way to “hack” your favorite refrigerated cinnamon rolls. You need 5 minutes of extra work in order to enjoy these semi-homemade autumn treats. For the full set of directions, make sure you scroll down to the recipe card below.

  1. Start by unrolling the cinnamon rolls in a sheet (make sure you put down some parchment paper first, it gets messy!).

2. Spread a good layer of cranberry sauce over the cinnamon layer.

Note: If you have ready-made real cranberry sauce (not that homogenous goo from a can, mind you) you can use that, or you can whip up your own really fast. I blitzed some cranberries and fresh squeezed orange juice in my food processor really quick and called it good – you still get the spreadability of a sauce, but you also still have some bigger chunks of cranberries for bursts of flavor.

3. Carefully roll the dough back up.

4. Separate the rolls out, place them in a greased baking pan, and then bake according to the package directions.

5. Take the frosting packets that came with the cinnamon rolls and squeeze them into a bowl. Mix in some fresh orange zest to further add to the fresh sweet-tart flavor. It takes seriously 5 minutes of extra work, but sooo worth it!

spreading cranberry sauce on prepackaged cinnamon rolls

How kids can help you make these

Involving your kids in the kitchen to help you make these rolls is a great idea! These rolls are so simple! Here is how they can help:

  • Kids aged 1-3 can help you mix the icing and spread the icing over the baked and slightly cooled rolls.
  • Kids aged 4-7 can help you zest the oranges, make the cranberry sauce with a food processor if needed, unroll and re-roll the sweet rolls, and spread the cranberry sauce.
  • Kids aged 8-10+ can help you do everything above.
cinnamon roll with cranberry and orange on white plate with fork, with baking more in background

Try these other orange cranberry flavored treats:

Food tastes better when its shared! If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and rate below! Love and links are always appreciated! If you’d like to share this post, please link to this post directly for the recipe, please do not copy and paste or screenshot. Thanks so much for supporting me! xoxo

cinnamon roll with cranberry and orange on white plate with fork, with baking more in background

Cranberry Orange Sweet Rolls

These Cranberry Orange Sweet Rolls are a perfect and easy breakfast – whether you are celebrating a holiday or just looking for a special breakfast, these cinnamon rolls are delicious! 
5 from 21 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Family Breakfast Recipes
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 23 minutes
Servings: 10 Servings
Calories: 97kcal
Author: Jenni – The Gingered Whisk

Ingredients

  • 2 packages refrigerated cinnamon rolls
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • 1 orange – the zest and the juice
  • 2 TBSP sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350.
  • Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
  • In a food processor, blitz the cranberries, the juice from the orange, and the 2 Tablespoons of sugar until mostly chopped. It doesn't need to be perfectly smooth, some chunks are good, you just don't want tons of big pieces..
  • Line your counter with parchment paper.
  • Unroll the cinnamon rolls from both packages, triying to keep the individual rolls together as much as possible, and spread the cranberry mixture evenly over the dough.
  • Carefully re-roll the cinnamon rolls. If big chunks of the cinnamon roll mixture are left behind on the parchment paper, just smear them back onto the dough.
  • Separate the dough into individual rolls and place them in the baking sheet.
  • Bake according to the package directions (350F for about 18 minutes) or until the rolls are golden brown. Do not over bake.
  • Allow the rolls to cool on a wire rack until almost room temperature – you don't want them too warm or the frosting will melt off.
  • Open the packages of frosting that came with the refrigerated cinnamon rolls and squeeze the frosting into a small bowl.
  • Stir in the orange zest. If you want the frosting to be a little thinner for spreading, you can add 1 TBSP of orange juice (highly recommend because its a good choice) or milk.
  • Drizzle and spread the orange frosting over the warm cinnamon rolls.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 97kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 152mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g

22 Comments

  1. Wow this looks wonderful! Love the idea of adding to the filling to make a quick but special breakfast!

  2. Val - Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids says:

    Great idea! These would be great for Thanksgiving morning when you have overnight guests!

  3. Lisa Bryan says:

    Love cranberry and orange together – it’s the best sweet and fruity flavor combo. And who doesn’t love sweet rolls? 🙂

  4. First of all, thanks for the coupon! Second, this looks absolutely delish and I love the ease of making it. I have to make these for Thanksgiving breakfast.

  5. Can I just have a plate of these for dinner?? Please?? They look seriously delicious!

  6. How simple are these and I love the additions that you made too!

  7. Luci's Morsels says:

    These look absolutely delicious! These would be perfect to make for Thanksgiving morning. I have to add these to my spread!

  8. This is my kind of “brunch food” on the weekends. I love sweet rolls, and just happen to love cranberries too. What a great combination…and I know these would not last long in our house.

  9. Catherine @ Whine and Dancing says:

    What a great idea! I love semi-homemade recipes and the idea of sprucing cinnamon rolls up with cranberry and orange filling is great.

  10. These are a great idea for the weekend when we like to have lazy mornings as a family! And I’ve got a whole bunch of cranberries on hand that I need to use up! Thanks for the idea!

  11. I don’t think I’ve seen this brand in our supermarkets here. Too bad. I am all about shortcuts now that I have a one year old. Congratulations on your new soon-to-be bundle of joy!

  12. This is perfect cosy breakfast food. I can see myself eating a lot of these. They look and sound lovely.

  13. I love all of the Immaculate Baking products… I can’t wait to make this twist on the standard rolls…. I am so into cranberries at the moment I am really looking forward to them!

  14. I love all of the Immaculate Baking products… I can’t wait to make this twist on the standard rolls…. I am so into cranberries at the moment I am really looking forward to them! ~~~

  15. dixya @food, pleasure, and health says:

    this sounds like a great idea for holiday brunch table.

  16. Karyl | Karyl's Kulinary Krusade says:

    Oh this would be so delicious for brunch or a holiday morning breakfast! I love the tart bite of cranberries

  17. These look absolutely lovely and so perfect for the holiday season! I am definitely going to look for their products. Sometimes, a person just needs a little help in the kitchen!

  18. Oh my goodness, two of my favorite holiday flavors! I’ve always just made them with orange, but holy moly I’m making them your way now! Thank you lady!!!

  19. YUM!! These are perfect for the holidays and I think I’m going to make a batch of this and take it to the party for Thanksgiving!

  20. These are so pretty! I love the idea of bringing in orange for a fresher, more modern take on cinnamon rolls.

  21. Neta Livne says:

    AMAZING post, ThanX!!

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