The cold waiting days before Christmas are here. What better to do than make comforting desserts every day? Since I have been stuck at home for the last who knows how long, I wake up on a Tuesday morning and think what a wonderful Saturday it is to make some sticky gingerbread rolls with orange glaze. Cinnamon rolls are one of those easily adaptable recipes when you can smear anything in the dough, be it sweet or savory and you will end up with delicious rolls. Since cinnamon is the most common, I just added a few more spices and some orange zest into the mix, et voila, Christmas style gingerbread rolls were born.
To make these sticky gingerbread rolls with orange glaze, all you have to do is make some buttery Brioche dough. Let it proof, slather it with melted butter, and sprinkle the spice / sugar mix. Massage it in the dough, roll, cut, proof, and bake in a cast iron or cake pan. You don’t have to make the glaze, then just let them cool, pull apart and eat like a simple pastry. If you do make the glaze, pour it over the rolls and enjoy it with a spoon or a fork. My advice is, do it straight from the pan!
I am truly convinced that this year we need comfort food more than ever. Don’t reserve these cooking projects for only the weekends. Do some on weekdays too. It will make you and the people who live with you much happier. There is no better pick-me-up than a soft and warm sticky gingerbread roll with orange glaze, for me. That’d not just because I have lost track of what day today is. And I really am not a sweet and dessert kind of person. But I do like to bake something that just melts in my mouth.
Sticky gingerbread rolls with orange glaze
Equipment
- 25 cm Ø cast iron or cake pan
Ingredients
For the dough
- 17 g fresh yeast
- 100 g milk room temperature
- 35 g sugar
- 230 g flour
- 1 whole egg
- 8 g salt
- 30 g butter
For the gingerbread filling
- 80 g melted butter
- 5 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- zest of 1 orange
For the orange glaze
- 50 g butter
- juice of 1 orange
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 100 g white sugar
- 100 g cream cheese
- 1 egg yolk
- 30 ml brandy
Instructions
To make the orange glaze
- In a pot melt the butter with the white sugar and orange juice
- Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with a hand mixer until smooth
To make the gingerbread spice mix
- Mix all the dry ingredients and the orange zest together
To make the dough
- In a bowl mix the sugar with milk and yeast and whisk together until frothy
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix
- Knead for a few minutes
- Transfer to a buttered or oiled bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1,5 - 2 hours
- Preheat your oven to 190°C
- Once the dough is proofed, punch it down and place on a well floured surface
- Roll it out to 0,5 -1 cm thickness
- Smear with the melted butter and sprinkle with the gingerbread spice mix
- Roll into a log and cut into individual rolls
- Place the rolls in your pan and let proof for 30 minutes
- Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes
- Remove the foil and bake 15 more minutes
- Serve with the glaze while warm
To double the amount of bread and make more people happy, make this babka instead. You could also fill this with the gingerbread spice mix instead!