These tender, fluffy Cranberry Coffee Cake Pastries literally melt in your mouth. They’re made with a rich, buttery, yeast dough and topped with a tart, fresh cranberry filling and drizzled with vanilla glaze.
I’m sorta fixated on cranberries these days. I just can’t resist the large barrels of ruby colored fruit that dot the produce section of our local grocery store. I inevitably come home with a bag of fresh cranberries every time I go to the market. While loading my latest batch of cranberries into the fridge, I thought, what about making a dessert where the cranberries are the star? Usually cranberries are the supporting flavor in my desserts. Take these Apple-Cranberry Hand Pies and this Pear and Cranberry Pie for example. Cranberries are a supporting flavor in each dessert. The pears and apples take center stage. Wanting to showcase cranberries this holiday season, I came up with these beautiful Cranberry Coffee Cake Pastries.
It starts with a buttery, yeast dough. So rather than making a coffee cake with a cake batter or a Danish with a laminated pastry, these Cranberry Coffee Cake Pastries are more of a sweet bread topped with a fresh cranberry filling.
The process for making the dough is simple, and the best part about the whole recipe for these Cranberry Coffee Cake Pastries is that you can make them ahead of time. I mixed the dough and let it rise in the fridge overnight. Then the next day I shaped the cakes, let them rise at room temperature for an hour and a half. Then I placed the cakes in the fridge and baked them the next morning.
I love serving pastries like this when friends come over for brunch. The beautiful garnet colored fruit topping make these Cranberry Coffee Cake Pasties so stunning, and there’s nothing like a fresh, homemade pastry to make your guests feel special.
If you’re entertaining this holiday season or you just want to make something festive for your family, these Cranberry Coffee Cake Pastries definitively fit the bill 🙂
- For the Pastry:
- 4 1/2 tsp active, dry yeast (or 2 packages)
- 1/4 cup warm water (about 110 degrees F)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tbs whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 pound unsalted butter, slightly softened, cut into 1-inch cubes
- For the Cranberry Topping:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 12 ounces of fresh berries
- For the Egg Wash:
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1 tbs heavy cream
- For the Glaze:
- 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 3 1/2 tsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Place the warm water in the bowl of a standing mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the water. Stir to dissolve.
- Place a paddle attachment on the mixer, and add the sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla to the yeast mixture. Mix on low until just combined.
- Add 3 1/4 cups flour and salt to the bowl. Mix until just combined.
- On medium speed, add the cubes of butter one at a time, allowing the butter to dissolve before adding the next cube.
- Replace the paddle attachment with a dough hook, and add the remaining 1 cup of flour.
- On medium speed, kneed the dough for about 7 minutes longer.
- Scrape the dough into a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm location for 3 to 4 hours.
- Punch the dough down, and place in the refrigerator to thoroughly chill – about 4 to 24 hours.
- Once chilled, divide dough into 8 equal pieces.
- Take one of the pieces, and split it in half. Roll each half into a 10-inch rope. Twist ropes together, then coil ropes to make a circle. (See photos in the post of dough without the cranberry topping.)
- Place the roll on a parchment lined sheet tray.
- Continue to do the same with all of the other pieces of dough.
- Lightly cover the dough with a kitchen towel, and allow to rise at a warm room temperature for about 2 hours. Then bake or refrigerate overnight and bake in the morning.
- While the pastry rises for the final time, make the filling.
- Combine the water, orange juice, sugar, and salt in a sauce pan.
- Bring to a boil, mixing occasionally to make sure the sugar dissolves.
- Stir in cranberries, and bring back to boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes until thickened, and almost all of the cranberries have popped.
- Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Brush egg wash over the pastries.
- Mix all of the glaze ingredients together in a bowl.
- Top each pastry with a about an 1/8 cup cooked cranberries.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. The internal temperature of each pastry should be around 190 degrees F. (I check this with an instant read thermometer.)
- Allow the pastries to cool for about 20 minutes.
- Then drizzle with glaze.
This post is linked to these awesome parties.
Aida, these pastries look so decadent and delicious! Beautiful job. ;-D
Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe with us on Weekend Bites! We featured it in this post: http://practicalparentingideas.blogspot.com/2015/12/weekend-bites-64-cranberries.html