Cranberry Christmas Star

5 from 1 vote

Tried this recipe?Please consider !

This Christmas classic is both beatiful and so tasty!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cake, holiday cakes

Servings slices

Calories 240kcal

Mill your hard white and Khorasan (Kamut) wheat berries into flour.
Place your milk, butter and honey in a small saucepan on the stove to warm. Heat just until your butter is melted.Place your milk, butter and honey in a small saucepan on the stove to warm. Heat just until your butter is melted.
To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, salt and warm liquid. Mix just until all flour is moistened. Let autolyse for 20 minutes.
After the 20 minute autolyse, add the yeast to your bowl and begin mixing. If using the Ankarsrum mixer, fit with the roller and scraper. You can use the dough hook on other style stand mixers.
Mix for 6-8 minutes until the dough begins to pull away from the sides and form a ball.
Cover and proof for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
While the dough proofs, start your Cranberry filling.

Add cranberries, orange zest, orange juice, cinnamon and sugar to a small saucepan on the stove.
Cook on low-medium heat 6-8 minutes. While cooking, use a fork to smash the raspberries and stir the mixture.
Do not overcook or you will caramelize your sugar and it will be candied and sticky.
Pour the mixture into a small food processor or blender and blend until completely smooth.
Place in the refrigerator to cool completely before filling the Star bread.

After the dough has risen for 1 hour, it is time to roll it out.
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Between parchment, roll out into a large circle. Mine went to the edge of the long side on my pre-cut pieces of parchment paper. They just all need to be the same size.
Roll all 4 pieces of dough out into circles the same size.
Place one piece of dough onto a sheet pan lined with parchment. Spread 1/3 of the cranberry filling on the dough with a small offset spatula. Leave 1/2" around the edge of the dough.
Top with another circle of dough, pressing it out around the edges until the circles line up.
Repeat this step with the other 2 pieces. When complete, you will have 4 layers of dough and 3 layers of filling.
Once your dough is all stacked, place a glass in the center with a 2 1/2"-3" diameter.
Taking a VERY sharp pairing knife, cut your dough into 16 even strips.
Once your dough strips are cut, start with 2 strips and twist inward like the photo above. I twisted mine 3 times each. Once twisted, pinch the two pieces together at the ends with the pinched dough resting vertically on the pan.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise one more time for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F while it rises.
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.
While it cools, make your icing.

Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. You can also mix this by hand in a bowl.
Whisk cream and vanilla into the powdered sugar until smooth.
Drizzle over the warm Cranberry Christmas Star, and enjoy!
Dust entire Star with powdered sugar. I also added few chopped cranberries and added some sprigs of fresh rosemary around the edges for garnish.