Orange Cranberry Caramel Rolls Quick & Easy!

 

What to do when the man of the house is craving cinnamon rolls and you don't want the thick gooey frosting? Compromise and create a yummy caramel roll infused with orange, and slathered with cranberry sauce in the center. 

 

 We bought a bag of oranges that are hit and miss. Some are flavorful and juicy, others are rather dry. Thus the reason I usually don't by bagged anything in the way of fruit. All is not a loss though, because I juiced a couple of the oranges and grated the peel on one to make the most amazingly flavorful rolls, if I do say so myself, and I just did!

These rolls are soft, with a nice caramel topping, buttery and sweet, with a touch of sunshine and Autumn all rolled into one. Yes, I know it's officially winter, but I had leftover cranberry sauce that was crying to be used, and I associate cranberries with Autumn mostly. The plus side is that these are relatively quick and easy. Enough of this chatter though, lets get cooking!


ORANGE CRANBERRY CARAMEL ROLLS

TOPPING

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted in a 9" x 12" baking pan
2 T honey
1 T. grated orange rind

ROLLS

3-3 1/2 c.  flour
1/4 c. oats
2 T. flaxseed meal
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. yeast
1 t. salt
1/2 c. each orange juice, and water
1 T. each butter and oil
1 egg
1 T. grated orange rind

FILLING

2 T.  cinnamon sugar + 1/4 cup brown sugar
 brush rolled out dough with some of the melted butter in the baking pan
1/4 - 1/2 cup cranberry sauce
1 T. grated orange rind

Grease 13 x 9 inch pan. melt one cube of butter in the pan by placing in the oven heated to 250. Check after five minutes. Combine all dry ingredients listed under ROLLS, except for 1 1/2 c. flour in your mixer bowl. Heat to very warm the orange juice and water. Add the liquid, orange rind and egg to the dry ingredients and mix on low using the dough hook,  until combined, turn up to medium and continue to mix about 3 minutes, then gradually add 1- 2 cups of additional flour until a nice soft dough forms and pulls away from the side of the bowl.

On a  clean, floured, dishcloth roll out the dough to a 15x7 inch rectangle  Brush the dough with some of the melted butter in the baking pan. Using a wide spatula spread a very thin layer of the cranberry sauce on the buttered dough. Sprinkle the combined sugar over the cranberry sauce, the orange rind, and then roll the dough up starting on a long side.

Add the orange rind, 1/2 cup brown sugar and two tablespoons of honey to the baking pan and mix with the melted butter. Cut the dough into twelve slices. Place them in the baking pan and cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap or a dishtowel. Let rise until doubled in size, in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes.

Taking off the plastic wrap or towel, place the rolls in the oven on an upper rack, and turn the oven on to 375 degrees. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden. Remove from the oven and let sit for 1 minute, then turn out onto tinfoil. Whaalaa! Pure heaven for breakfast! Enjoy!

Almond Joy Cake For Two

 There are days or nights I should say, that I wake up in the middle of the night with ideas floating around in my head. I wanted to make a chocolate cake for two for Valentine's Day, and found a recipe that fit the bill, except that is for the frosting. For some reason the night before I made this I woke up thinking about Almond Joy bars.... oh yum! Then that went to thinking about the cake, and then why not make a frosting that is coconut flavored with a touch of almond, to okay, I need to look this up. So I found a recipe for coconut frosting, and tweaked it to my liking.
I must confess that for some reason my cake didn't end up being a cake for two, it was more like 4-6. My cake turned out tall and fluffy, so I probably should have cut the top to flatten it for stacking. You will see why when you read the directions. Give it a try, you will be amazed at the soft luscious chocolate cake and the coconut creamy frosting. Not bragging, it's just that good!




Cake
Cooking spray
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup hot water

Frosting

3 1/2 tbsp Coconut milk

1 1/2 cups Powdered sugar

1/2 tsp each almond extract and vanilla

1/4 cup each butter and coconut oil

Toasted slivered almonds and sweetened coconut to top the cake with. 

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan with parchment paper, and spray with cooking spray. Or, if you are lucky like me you have an old fashioned pan with a slider that goes around the pan to loosen the cake from the pan. I greased and floured the pan and it worked great.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat together the buttermilk, egg and vanilla in a measuring cup. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and beat with a wooden spoon until well combined, scraping the side and bottom of the bowl once or twice with a rubber spatula. Stir in the hot water until it is all absorbed and the batter is smooth (it will be thin).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake until the top is shiny, the cake is just beginning to pull away from the side of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a crumb or 2 attached, about 20 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper and let the cake completely cool on the rack, right-side up, about 1 hour. (The cake will be thin, but don't worry-it will magically be OK once it's stacked with frosting.) This is where the original instructions and mine differ as my cake turned out fluffy and rounded on top so I should have leveled it to make it stackable.

To assemble: Cut the cooled cake into 4 even quarters. Frost the top of each quarter with about 2 tablespoons of the frosting. Stack the frosted quarters directly on top of each other on a serving plate, resulting in a 4-layer wedge of cake with frosting between layers and on top. Frost all 3 sides of the cake with the remaining frosting until completely covered. Press coconut into frosting, at your preference, both on top and the frosted sides. Sprinkle toasted almond slices on top. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Halve and serve.