It's time to think about Christmas breakfast. For me, it should be festive, easy to put together and of course delicious. It should stop everyone in their tracks and say: "Wow! This is amazing!".
Enter Cranberry Coconut Sweet Rolls with Spiked Eggnog Cream Cheese Glaze.
These rolls are just that. They combine my favorite holiday flavors, they feed a crowd and you can make them a day ahead and bake on Christmas morning.
These bars proved to me that cranberries and coconut go well together. Heck, they love each other! The tart berries are balanced by sweetened coconut in a perfect harmony.
Serve with hot chocolate or your favorite coffee and enjoy.
I used spiked eggnog ( already mixed with rum ) for the adult version of the cream cheese glaze. For our kiddos, I simply mixed cream cheese with milk and powdered sugar.
I have my very favorite recipe for dinner rolls and it works perfectly for making sweet rolls. If you don't feel like making the yeast dough from scratch, use store-bought crescent rolls dough and fill as I did my rolls.
I used frozen cranberries in the filling but you can use fresh ones as well. If you want to use dried cranberries because it's what you have on hand, I recommend soaking them in warm water until they plump up a bit.
You can use alcohol-free eggnog for the glaze. Or add a splash of rum to alcohol-free store-bought eggnog. Or you can skip it all together and use milk.
Cranberry coconut rolls
Ingredients
- 3 ¼ c all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoon active dry yeast 1 pkg
- 1 c milk
- ¼ c granulated sugar
- ⅓ c unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 beaten egg
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 c frozen cranberries
- ¾ c sweetened shredded coconut
- 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 4 oz . cream cheese softened
- ½ c powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon eggnog or milk
Instructions
- In a bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together 1 ¼ cup of flour and yeast.
- In a medium saucepan, heat together milk, sugar, butter and ¾ teaspoon salt until warm ( not hot! ) and the butter is almost melted.
- Add the milk butter mixture along with egg to flour yeast mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds.
- Increase the speed to high and beat 3 minutes.
- Decrease the speed to low and slowly add the rest of the flour.
- Transfer the dough onto your counter top, lightly dusted with flour. Knead until smooth and elastic.
- Place in a large bowl sprayed with cooking spray. Turn the dough few times in the bowl to coat it with the oil. Cover with kitchen towel.
- Place in a warm and draft-free place. ( see notes for tip )
- Let rise until doubled in size, at least 1 hr.
- Punch the dough down. Transfer the dough onto counter top. Let rest for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, cut your cranberries in half, sprinkle with granulated sugar. Set aside.
- Roll out the dough into a ¼ inch thick rectangle. Brush with melted butter. Do not over-saturate the dough. You may have some butter leftover. Set it aside.
- Sprinkle the dough with coconut. Top with sugared cranberries.
- Roll the dough, starting from the longest side. Roll it tight. When you get to the end, use the rest of the melted butter as a glue to close the seam.
- Slice the roll into 1 to 1 ½ inch thick disk. Place them in prepared pan. Cover and let rest in a warm and draft-free place for 30 minutes, until doubled in size and there is no more space between the rolls.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and bake the rolls for 18 to 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
- Prepare the glaze by mixing cream cheese with eggnog and powdered sugar. For a kid-friendly version, simply use milk instead of eggnog. Mix until smooth and drizzle over warm but not hot rolls.
Nutrition
However you make it, feel free to adapt this recipe to your likings. If you do, I would love to hear about it!
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What will you be making for Christmas morning breakfast?
xoxo,
Anna
oishiitreats says
I'am drooling over these sweet rolls. I want to make them for christmas breakfast. yum!
Serena says
Mmmm...These look incredibly delicious and I love the flavor combination. Totally wonderfully delicious. Merry Christmas my sweet friend.
CrunchyCreamySw says
Thank you so much!
Jennie @themessybakerblog says
Wow, these look amazing! They would totally stop me in my tracks. I love that glaze!
CrunchyCreamySw says
Yay! 🙂 Thanks, Jennie!
domesticfits says
Yes to all of this! I'm not of fan of drinking eggnog, but I love to bake with it. This looks fabulous 🙂
CrunchyCreamySw says
Same here. Thanks, Jackie!
Lizzy Do says
Wow...these are perfect for Christmas morning! Coconut plus eggnog plus cranberries just screams holidays...and they look DELISH!!!
CrunchyCreamySw says
Aww, thanks, Lizzy! 🙂
CrunchyCreamySw says
Yay! Thanks so much, Susan!
Nancy says
I just about licked my screen staring at your gorgeous photos of these amazing rolls! The flavour combination is pretty kick ass. I'd probably drink as much of that spiked eggnog glaze as I would drizzle onto the rolls 😉 Happy holidays!
CrunchyCreamySw says
lol The glaze is amazing! You will love these! Thanks, Nancy!
Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe says
Wow Anna, these look beautiful and decadent! What a perfect Christmas morning treat!
CrunchyCreamySw says
Yay! Thanks, Amanda!
Averie Cooks says
Anna they look and sound amazing - cranberries, coconut, eggnog &
cream cheese. Moist, soft, fluffy - mmm, so good! So is this your fave
sweet roll recipe ever?
CrunchyCreamySw says
Yes it is!! I think I can say I over-tested it. I made it so many times, I lost the count. 🙂 It never fails me! Thanks, Averie!
Curry and Comfort says
These look perfect for Christmas morning. 🙂 I can just imagine licking the glaze off my fingers. YUM! 🙂
CrunchyCreamySw says
Yep, done it! 🙂 Thanks, Ramona!