Cranberry Orange Biscuits for Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving.  I love this Holiday … with all of the delicious food, family, and memories. I’m particularly thankful this year for my freedom and the blessings of family and friends. I didn’t host the family dinner this year and I’m also thankful for that. I needed a break. Instead, we went to my mom’s house. All I had to do was bake some rolls and bring a couple of other items so I decided to do something different. I saw these festive Cranberry Biscuits a couple of months ago and have been waiting for the opportunity to make them.  This was it!

These cranberry orange biscuits have the texture of potato rolls and the flavor of orange-cranberry bread. The neatest thing about them is that the dough can be made in the bread machine. Once the bread machine is finished its dough cycle, just roll out the dough, cut it with a biscuit cutter, let the biscuits rise, then bake them. That made things really easy. In fact, I baked them yesterday so all I had to do when I got to my mom’s house today was heat them up.

Cranberry Orange Biscuits

Adapted from Taste of Home 2010 Fall Baking Cookbook

Yield: About 1-1/2 dozen Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1-2/3 cups warm milk (70 to 80 degrees)
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup mashed potato flakes
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Orange Glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 to 3 tablespoons orange juice
• 3 tablespoons chopped dried cranberries, optional

Directions:

In bread machine pan, place the first 10 ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed). Just before final kneading (your machine may audibly signal this), add cranberries.

When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Cover and let rest for 15 minutes. Roll or pat to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut with a 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter.

Place in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 40 minutes.

Bake at 375° for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

You can drizzle them with a sweet glaze for a delicious treat; however, I opted to just serve them warm with butter.

Although I’m sure the glaze would have been very tasty, these cranberry biscuits were delicious without it.  They went really well with the turkey and dressing, beans, squash, sweet potato crunch, cranberry sauce, and other delectable items that were on the Thanksgiving menu.

If you want to use the glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar and enough orange juice to achieve a glaze consistency. Drizzle over warm biscuits. Sprinkle with chopped cranberries if desired.

Note: Using the bread machine’s time-delay feature is not recommended for this recipe.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 slice) equals 198 calories, 3 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 32 mg cholesterol, 306 mg sodium, 39 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 6 g protein.

 

Happy Baking!
Cathy