Decadent cinnamon rolls flavored with cardamom, orange, apricot, currants and chocolate.
We need company, pronto; and LOTS of it! Otherwise, we're going to eat all these decadent cinnamon rolls ourselves…
This month, I decided to hop on board the ABC (Avid Baker's Challenge) for some baking fun. This year the group is baking from Abby Dodge‘s book, The Weekend Baker, and each month we all bake the same recipe, make changes, and post our results. I'm not sure I qualify as an avid baker – that conjures up for me someone who can make extravaganza cakes with ease and grace – but I love to bake bread.
As luck would have it, this month's ABC Challenge is bread: Glazed Cinnamon Rolls. If you want to give yourself a treat, and don't want to spend the money for a day at the spa, this is my recommendation:
- Make these rolls.
- Select a good book you've been wanting to read.
- Brew a pot of piping hot tea or coffee.
- Set out a plate of a couple of these rolls, fresh from the oven, along with some butter. Have your pot of tea at hand.
- Grab an afghan, curl up on your sofa, pour some tea, butter a roll.
- Relax, and pretend you have all the time in the world.
This recipe wins top marks for ease to make, texture, and dough flavor; but I preferred them without the glaze. I like a cinnamon roll that's all about the dough and filling. If the first thing I bite down on is glaze, it tends to dominate. Just my opinion.
Changes I made from the original recipe:
- I infused orange and cardamom flavors into the dough.
- I amped up the filling with apricot jam, currants, chocolate and cardamom.
- I added a little cream cheese to the glaze.
Soft Orange Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup whole milk
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 long wide strips of orange peel
- 1 teaspoon smashed cardamom pods green pods
- 3 1/2 cups 15 3/4 ounces all purpose flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons 1 packet instant or Rapid-Rise yeast
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 large egg
Filling
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/4 cup apricot jam strained
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup currants
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Glaze
- 1 cup confectioners sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 tablespoon cream cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Dough
- In a small saucepan, combine the milk, the butter, orange peel and smashed cardamom pods. Set over medium heat to melt the butter. Once the milk starts to bubble at the edges (about 130º F), remove from the heat and allow to steep for 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, yeast, and sugar. Whisk until well-blended. Return the milk and butter mixture to the heat and heat back to 115º - 125ºF. Strain out the orange peel and cardamom.
- Fit the mixer with the dough hook. With the mixer on medium-low speed, slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the flour mixture, and add the egg and salt. Mix until the flour is completely incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is smooth and elastic, and pulls away from the bottom of the bowl, about 5 minutes. If the dough begins to climb the hook, stop the mixer and scrape the dough back into the bowl. Repeat as needed. Don't venture too far away while the dough is mixing, as the mixer might dance around on the counter because of the large amount of dough.
- Scoop up the dough and shape into a ball. Lightly grease the bowl and pop the dough back into it. cover the top securely with plastic wrap, and place in a warm spot of the kitchen free of any drafts. Let rise until the dough has nearly doubled in size, 45 - 50 minutes.
Filling
- In a small bowl, combine the sugars, flour, cinnamon, cardamom and orange zest. Warm up the apricot jam, strain it and add the butter. Stir until the butter is melted. Reheat if necessary. Set aside. Lightly butter a 9 X 13 inch baking dish.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and press down gently to deflate it. Roll out the dough into a 12 X 17 inch rectangle, using your hand to stretch the dough gently when necessary. Pour the apricot / butter mixture onto the dough and use a rubber or offset spatula to spread. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over the butter, spreading with your hand, if necessary. Sprinkle the currants and chocolate chips evenly over the surface.
- Starting on the short side, roll up like a jelly roll, slightly lifting as you roll due to the currants and chips. Pinch the long seam of the dough to the roll to seal. Position the roll, seam side down, on the work surface, and slice into 1 inch wide slices. Arrange the slices, cut side up, in the prepared pan, forming 3 rows of 4 slices each. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise in a warm spot until they're about 1 1/2 times their original size, about 40 minutes.
Rolls and Glaze
- Heat the oven to 350° F. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the rolls until they are puffed and well-browned, about 35-40 minutes. Transfer the baking dish to a rack and let cool slightly as you make the glaze.
- In a small bowl, combine all of the glaze ingredients, and stir until well blended, smooth and thick. It should form a thick ribbon when dropped from a spoon. Serve the rolls with a thick ribbon of glaze over each roll.
Hanaa says
Oh wow, that is decadent indeed!!! I love the orange and cardamom combo. I think you can almost endlessly play with the flavor combinations in these rolls. This is a great base recipe. Now if you’ll excuse me, the water kettle is whistling and my afghan and cinnamon roll are calling my name 🙂 Again, welcome to ABC!!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks Hanaa! They were really easy to make and you’re right this recipe is a great base for so many variations. I’ll definitely be making them again. And again.
LiztheChef says
Beautiful post and recipe. Larry will love these too…
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks so much Liz! I’ll send a couple down to you!
Lynda - TasteFood says
I will be right over!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Better hurry :-)!!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Very dangerous little guys, these are. Although one doesn’t need to go quite as decadent as I chose to do…
kitchen flavours says
Your rolls are wonderful! Love the flavours that you added in. Delicious rolls! We love it !
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks so much! They were really fun to make. I plan to make them again soon and keep experimenting with different flavors. I’d like to do a maple glaze on some version 🙂
Janis says
Wow orange and cardamom sounds like a very delicious combo!! And I love that you added chocolate chips in the filling…I’m sure this one tastes amazing! Orange and chocolate….can’t go wrong! 🙂
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
My husband LOVES chocolate – and I love orange and cardamom, so that’s how we ended up there. Thanks so much Janis!
Baking Soda says
looks like you have the perfect place to enjoy your rolls; some tea, a good novel and buns.. you don’t need company at all!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
That’s the problem – then I just eat them all!! 🙂
Julie @SavvyEats says
Mmm. These look wonderful!
Julie @SavvyEats says
I also meant to say ‘congrats’ on your Food52 win!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks so much, Julie!!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
I’m parsing them out one per day and keeping the rest frozen. Otherwise, I’d just eat them all day long…
Chris says
Twice now I’ve made these and the dough never comes together in the mixer, I wind up adding another egg. The dough comes out dry, and crumbles easily. The extra egg helps hold it together, but it’s not elastic as the recipe says it should be. This time I wound up using THREE eggs to get the right consistency.
Also, I don’t think there’s enough yeast being used. I always use one packet of rapid rise, but the dough doesn’t appear to actually rise when the recipe says to let it sit. Listen, I absolutely LOVE the ways these taste, and so does everyone else I make them for – they’re an enormous hit every Easter- but they’re not fun to make because of the guess work I have to do with altering the recipe to get them to turn out right, and I’m no baker.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
This is actually a recipe of a master baker, Abby Dodge, and comes straight from her book. I only changed up the spices used, but the dough I didn’t change. I’ve never had any trouble with it – I’m so, so sorry you had so much trouble. At three eggs, you’ve almost got a brioche bread! You’ve motivated me to make these again and see if I can duplicate what you’re experiencing. The only things coming to mind right now is whether you’re making them at higher altitude than sea level – although you still shouldn’t need 3 eggs. On the yeast – I’ll check that. Did you proof it ahead of time to ensure it was fresh? I appreciate your feedback – even if you ARE a baker, doing all the guesswork is never fun. I’ll get back with you once I’ve made them again!