Orange Cardamom Rolls | Savory Gourmet Dessert Recipe

Orange and cardamom roll

Orange cardamom rolls are an excellent choice when looking for savory dessert recipes. A unique aspect of cardamom, with its warm, aromatic, and spicy flavor, is that it is adaptable as a delicious gourmet pastry, enjoyable at any time of the day. In this recipe, the warm taste of cardamom is enhanced with orange oil and orange liqueur to create a very appealing after-dinner dessert with a sweet and savory flavor. The appearance of the rolls has classic dark specks of ground cardamom contrasted with a topping of white pearl sugar. The savory rolls make for an enjoyable dessert that is paired well with a warm cup of coffee.

This recipe is a variant of the traditional Swedish cardamom buns, kardemummabullar. The traditional Swedish bun is made with a twisted knot of dough that would take some time to master. This is a simple recipe; the dough with the filling is rolled, then cut into equal lengths. Muffin pans are used to keep the rolled dough from over-expanding and unwinding. The taper of the muffin pan cups also facilitates easy removal of the rolls from the pan after baking. The recipe will fill twelve large muffin pan cups. The results are a dessert with outstanding orange and cardamom flavor.

 The recipe lends itself well to a make-ahead dessert for entertaining. The make-ahead aspect allows for the yeasted enriched dough to cold-proof in the refrigerator overnight. As this is intended to be an after-dinner dessert, limited prep is needed the day of serving. On the day of serving, remove the rolls from the refrigerator several hours ahead of baking to allow the dough to warm and rise at room temperature. This is followed by a simple topping and then the baking.

 The recipe is presented in four sections:

1. Preparing the dough.

2. Preparing the fillings

3. Filling and forming the rolls

4. Topping and baking the rolls

Dough Ingredients For Orange Cardamom Rolls

• 3-1/3 cups (400 g) All-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup (183 g) 2% low-fat milk

• 1/3 cup (66 g) granulated sugar

• 1-1/2 tsp (9 g) fine grain sea salt

• 2 tbsp (28 g) fresh yeast or 3 tsp dry yeast

• 4 tbsp (56 g) unsalted butter

• 1 tbsp (14 g) vegetable shortening

• 1/2 tsp (2 ml Ref.) orange oil

• 2 tsp (10 g) ground cardamom (ground decorticated cardamom seeds)

Preparing The Dough

The cardamom sweet dough uses cold proofing. The initial bulk fermentation is replaced with an overnight cold proofing of the filled dough rolls in muffin pans. This process is best with about 18 hours or more of refrigeration time. Cold proofing the dough provides several benefits:

• Better flavor

• Improved texture

• Better control over when you want to bake the rolls

 The preparation on day one is much quicker because you don't have to wait 90 or so minutes for the bulk dough to rise before rolling out the dough. The dough is immediately rolled and shaped after pre-forming into a rectangle, followed by a rest in the refrigerator to cool. This makes the dough easier to roll. On the second day, pay attention to removing the dough from the fridge several hours before baking for the final proofing rise.

 There are several things in the recipe that work against yeast growth. The ingredients that slow yeast growth include the quantity of sugar, orange oil, salt, and cardamom. The dough does not overproof with the extended stay in the refrigerator.

Instructions For Making The Dough

1. Warm the milk to about 105°F to 110°F, and dissolve 1/2 tsp of the sugar into the warm milk. Add the yeast, let it sit for 10-15 minutes for the yeast to mix with the milk mixture to bloom and froth.

2. Add the frothing milk and yeast mixture to your stand mixer bowl, then add the flour, butter, and sugar on top. Run the mixer with the dough hook for 5-6 minutes on low to medium-low. The salt, orange oil, cardamom, and shortening are not introduced at this step. The delayed introduction of these ingredients allows for gluten development and for the yeast to establish and thrive more effectively.

3. Add the shortening with orange oil and add the ground cardamom and salt. On my ingredients post for pure orange oil, there is a tip on how to best emulsify the orange oil into the shortening. My cardamom seed post also outlines how to grind cardamom for a fresh, intense flavor.

4. With all the additional ingredients now added to the dough, run the mixer at medium speed for 3-4 minutes.

5. Dump the dough out of the mixer bowl onto a plastic cutting board that is lightly greased with shortening.

6. Shape the dough into a rectangle on the cutting board, approximately 9 x 13 inches. Lightly grease a rimmed quarter sheet pan with shortening, which is also about 9 x 13. See my shortening page for a tip on how to evenly apply shortening to your pan.

7. Place the rectangular dough into the quarter sheet pan, spread the dough uniformly to the edges and corners of the pan. Cover the sheet pan with the dough using clear plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. This preps the dough for rolling out in a later step, as it rolls better when it's cold and relaxed.

Prepare Orange Liqueur And Cardamom Flavored Filling

The filling flavor is predominantly orange and cardamom with a background flavor of vanilla.

Orange Cardamom Roll Filling Ingredients

•  8 tbsp (112 g) unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 cup (109 g) granulated sugar

• 1/2 tsp (3 g) finely ground sea salt

• 2 tbsp (30 ml) Grand Marnier - orange liqueur

• 1 tsp (7 g) ground cardamom

• 1 tbsp (15 g) vanilla paste

The softened butter and other ingredients are added to the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix at low speed for a few minutes, followed by a few more minutes at medium speed. Stop as needed to scrape the bowl sides during this process.

Filling And Forming The Rolls

1. To maintain the rectangular shape, invert the pan to place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough out, using a rolling pin, to about 14 x 20 inches.

2. Trim the dough edges to square them off, making the edges straight. Having a uniformly rectangular dough sheet helps to yield rolls of equal size and shape.

3. Coat the dough sheet with the filling to within about ½ inch of the edges. Using an offset spatula to create an even filling layer works well.

4. Roll the sheet from the shorter side, creating a log shape 20 inches long.  

5. Cut the 20-inch roll of dough into 12 sections, each 1- ½ to 1- ¾ inches in length.

6. Use two Jumbo muffin pans with 6 cups at about 6 to 7 oz each. This recipe is sized to yield twelve rolls, utilizing two pans. Grease the muffin pan cups with vegetable shortening.

7.  Place each dough disc into the muffin cups, cover with clear cling wrap, and refrigerate for 12-18 hours.

Topping And Baking The Rolls

The pans with the rolled dough need to be removed from the refrigerator 2-3 hours before baking. As the dough warms, it should rise some and expand in the muffin pan cups.  If the kitchen environment is on the cold side, you can place the uncovered muffin pans with the dough discs into an oven on the proofing setting for about 30-45 minutes. Immediately before baking, lightly brush the roll tops with egg wash, then gently sprinkle about 1 tsp of sugar pearls on top of each dough roll.

Topping Ingredients

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tbsp milk

• 1/4 cup Pearl sugar

 Bake at 400°F for 18 minutes. The use of a remote probe thermometer is recommended; the internal temperature should reach 190°F.

The dough in a quarter sheet pan

The rolled dough cut into twelve sections

The rolls with toppings ready to Bake at 400°F for 18 minutes - one of two muffin pans