
These magnificent Orange Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls are both a tangy and sweet. They are guaranteed to brighten your day.
In case you have not noticed, I like creating unique cinnamons rolls. I love cinnamon rolls in the purest form, but I also like to experiment with different flavors and change thing but a bit.
The combination of just the slightest amount of spices can take a recipe to a completely different level.
Fruit of all kinds are commonly added to desserts. We all have our favorite fruit pie or cobbler. These desserts though have the fruit as the main star.
With my cinnamon rolls, the goal is not to turn the cinnamon roll into a pie or cobbler, but to uplift the cinnamon roll to a new level with the addition of fruit.
The fruit is not only in the center of the rolls, but the dough itself is flavored with the fruit, which makes the dough the star of the roll.
What makes the orange Raspberry combo work?
- The mandarin oranges complement the raspberries wonderfully.
- The sweetness of the mandarin oranges help balance the tartness of the raspberries.
- The orange glaze tops the rolls off with a nice sugary citrus flavor
Ingredients Needed From The Pantry
The ingredients for cinnamon rolls are what are referred to as usual pantry stables and/or baking stables. There is nothing that cannot be found in your local grocery store.
For the Dough:
- whole milk
- eggs
- butter
- all purpose flour
- sugar
- salt
- yeast
- mandarin orange
- cinnamon
For the Filling:
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
- butter
- mandarin oranges
- raspberries
For the Glaze:
- powdered sugar
- vanilla
- juice from mandarin oranges
Equipment
- Bread machine or Electric mixer with dough hook
- Rolling Pin
- 9×13 pan
- Serrated Knife
Recipe Tips
1. Use a Bread Machine
This dough works well in a bread machine. It is an easy alternative if you have a busy schedule and do not have the time for mixing the ingredients, kneading the dough with your mixer or by hand and then waiting for the dough to rise before starting to construct your cinnamon rolls.
All of the ingredients are added to the bread machine and then the machine does the work. It frees up about one and half hours of your time to do other things while the machine to delivery the perfect batch of dough. The bread machine will mix all the ingredients, knead the dough, and do the first rise of the dough.
No worries if you do not have a bread machine. This recipe can be adapted to using a mixer. Please note, this is a wet “dough” and will take a little longer to mix and knead due to the moisture.
2.Use a crafting Mat
I changed from a pastry mat /silicone mat to a craft mat for a couple of reasons. First, a craft mat is larger than a standard pastry mat. I use a craft mat that is 36x 24. This gives me a large surface to roll out dough. Second, a craft mat is self healing. Cuts made into it disappear unlike a pastry mat.
3. Use a Serrated Knife or Non-Waxed Dental Floss
Using a regular kitchen knife can sometimes make uneven cuts, smooch down the dough causing the filling to come out. A serrated knife allows for a clean cut with a slight sawing motion. Dental floss provides a clean cut. The floss is placed under the roll, the ends are brought up, tied ounce, and then followed by pulling the sting ends until the dental floss cuts through the dough.

Orange Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough:
- 15 ounces can Mandrin oranges
- 2 tsp yeast
- 4 cups flour
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 1 beaten egg
- 1/4 cup melted butter
Filling:
- 2 Tablespoons soften butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon
- 15 ounce can mandrin oranges
- 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 teaspoons juice from mandrin oranges
Instructions
Preparing the Dough:
- Open one can of Mandrin oranges and drain the juice into a bowl. Save the juice for the glaze.
- Add the Mandrin oranges to a blender or food processor
- Blend oranges. Pour contents from blended ( juice and pulp) into a measuring cup and set a side.
- Place yeast, flour, sugar and salt into the bread machine
- Add in melted butter, beaten egg, cinnamon , orange extract, and the one cup of orange juice and pulp
- Set the bread machine to dough setting. The bread machine mix the ingredients, and proof the dough for its first rise. The timeline should be about one and half hours.
Preparing the Dough for the Filling:
- Turn the dough out to a well floured surface
- If the dough is real tacky ( sticky), add just shy of a 1/4 cup flour to the top of the dough ball and knead inRoll out the dough out …about 1/4 inch thickness…into a triangle
- Apply butter to the dough. Using the paper cover from the butter stick makes it easy to spread the butter on the dough
- Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle all over the dough
- Open the second can of Mandrin oranges and drain well. Place the oranges on the dough. Follow with adding the raspberries.
- Roll the dough into a log. Cut the log into 1 inch pieces.
- Place the rolls into a parchment lined baking pan.
- Cover the pan with a kitchen towel for about 30 – 45 minutes for the second rise of the dough
- Preheat oven to 350
- Bake for about 25 minutes. At the 10 minute mark check to see if the dough is over rising.
- With a fork, gently press the dough down
- Remove from the oven when golden brown
- Cool the rolls before applying the glaze
Glaze…icing:
- Mix powder sugar, vanilla extract and juice from mandrin oranges one tablespoon at a time. Stir into smoothGlaze each roll with the icing
With all the gooey goodness of cinnamon rolls, how do you know when the center is baked?
Believe it or not, you can do the toothpick test. The toothpick can be inserted into the dough portion of the cinnamon roll.
Best Practices for Baking Cinnamon Rolls
- Do not crowd the rolls in the baking pan. There needs to be space between the rolls so they can expand while rising prior to going into the oven and also for the rise in the oven during baking. It is better to use an additional pan rather than crowding the rolls.
- Cut the Cinnamon rolls between one inch and one and half inches. The larger the cut, the greater the thickness will be and greater time needed for the center portion to bake.
I know you are going to love these Cinnamon rolls. Please let me a comment with your thoughts about them.
Cheers…..Happy Baking


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