Orange Sweet Rolls

If you love cinnamon rolls, you’ll love this spinoff from the classic. Sweet orange rolls drizzled with a lightly sweet orange glaze. Yum.

Herein lies my recent, much-loved version of the almighty orange sweet roll, using this divine sweet roll base and a deliciously orange, sweet and buttery filling, taken from a recipe I posted in the past.

I’ve included my how-to-twist-the-rolls below the recipe. You can definitely make them in the classic cinnamon roll spiral shape, but I swear, they taste better twisted.

Or maybe that’s just me that’s twisted. Who knows. Either way, these rolls are seriously delectable. From the tender, soft dough to the dreamy light and citrus-infused filling – I adore them.

Don’t hate me, but I’d take one of these any day over a traditional cinnamon roll. I’d prefer one of each, of course, but if I had to choose, it would be orange rolls all the way, baby.

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The butter/zest mixture just waiting to be applied to the orange roll dough.

Here the dough is rolled out into a large rectangle.

Spread the orange/butter mixture over the dough.

Roll up tightly and pinch the seam to seal.

Cut the log into rolls.

Grasping each side, gently stretch the roll…

…and twist it before placing on the baking sheet.

Place the rolls about an inch to two inches apart. Bake and devour!

Recipe Source: My Kitchen Cafe

Orange Sweet Rolls

Yield: 12 -14 rolls

Prep Time: 3 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Total Time: 3 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

4.48 stars (57 ratings)

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Ingredients

Dough:

• ¾ cup warm buttermilk, (I pour the buttermilk in a glass liquid measuring cup and microwave for 1 minute on 50% power).
• 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter, melted and cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 4 ¼ cups (604 g) flour
• ¼ cup (53 g) sugar
• 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 ¼ teaspoons salt

Orange Filling:

• ½ cup (113 g) softened butter
• 1 cup (212 g) sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• Grated orange rind/zest from two large oranges, reserving 1/2 teaspoon grated rind for the glaze below

Orange Glaze:

• 1 ½ cups (171 g) powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice from about 1 orange
• ½ teaspoon grated orange rind/zest reserved from the filling above

Instructions 

• For the dough, whisk the warmed buttermilk and butter together in a large liquid measuring cup. Combine 4 cups of flour, sugar, yeast and salt together in a standing mixer fitted with dough hook (or you can use a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon or electric handheld mixer). With the mixer on low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and eggs and mix until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Increase the mixer to medium speed and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes (knead for 15-18 minutes by hand). If after 5 minutes of kneading, the dough is still overly sticky, add 1/4 cup flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but has a slight tacky feel when pressed between your fingertips. (See this tutorial for a visual.)
• Place the dough in a large, lightly greased bowl and cover the top tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled, around 2 to 2 ½ hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.
• For the filling, combine all the filling ingredients (reserving 1/2 teaspoon orange zest for the glaze) in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
• When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a lightly floured counter (I use my trusty roul’pat for this step) and press it into about a 16 by 12-inch rectangle (if you have doubled the recipe, split the dough in half and roll out one half at a time). Gently brush the filling mixture over the rectangle, using an offset spatula or rubber spatula.
• Lift the longest edge closest to you and begin rolling the dough into a tight log. Pinch the seam closed and roll the log so it is seam side down. Using a serrated knife, slice the log into 12 evenly sized rolls,more or less. You can slice them thinner or thicker as you like. For a traditional cinnamon-roll-look, arrange the rolls cut side down on a lined or lightly greased baking pan. If you want to try the twist method (see the pictures below), one at a time grab each sliced roll and holding on to either end simultaneously pull and twist the roll into a figure eight and place it on the prepared pan. Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the rolls rise in a warm place until doubled, 1 to 1 ½ hours.
• Bake the rolls at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes, until the rolls are lightly golden on top and cooked through. While the rolls are baking, mix together the glaze ingredients. Drizzle the glaze over the warm rolls.

Notes

Flour Amount: as with all yeast doughs, I never use the flour amount called for in the recipe as a hard fast rule (unless a weight measure is given and then I pull out my kitchen scale). Because humidity, temperature, altitude and a multitude of other factors can impact how much flour you need in your yeast doughs, I always judge when to quit adding flour by the texture and look and feel of the dough rather than how much flour I’ve added compared to the recipe.

Yeast: this tutorial on yeast may help identify how a perfectly floured dough should be.

Serving: 1 Sweet Roll, Calories: 456kcal, Carbohydrates: 72g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 84mg, Sodium: 396mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 37g

Recommended Products

Liquid Measuring Cup

Bosch Universal Stand Mixer

Dough Rising Container

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