Orange Rolls

Did I mention that I like orange? Perhaps I have orange on my mind because it's winter and oranges are one of the fruits aplenty right now. Anyway, I decided to combine the best parts of three different orange roll recipes I had and this is the delicious result.

I've never seen yeast dough mixed in quite the same way as it is in this recipe, but it works and the rolls turn out really soft and delish. You can make 12 humongous rolls or 24 smaller ones. (or whatever number in between that you want). If you do as many as 24 rolls, you may want to double the filling and glaze ingredients, depending on how gooey you want them to turn out. If you do 24, split the dough in half and roll it out in 2 batches. You can also refrigerate the dough overnight after the first rise time and make the rolls in the morning.
For the orange zest a microplane grater works best. I'm not a fan of orange marmaladesque chunks of peel. Bleh. But if you don't have one, just grate it lightly.
The dough can also be used to make super delish cinnamon rolls. (Hmm... How many times have I said some form of delicious in this post?) I'll include the filling amounts for that at the end.

Orange Rolls
3/4 c. warm water
2 T. yeast
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 c. flour

Orange Filling
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
grated rind of 1 orange

Glaze
1 c. powdered sugar
2 T. orange juice
orange zest, optional

Combine the yeast and water and part of the sugar; set aside. In your mixing bowl, beat the eggs, butter, salt and sugar until fluffy. Mix in 2 c. flour. Add the yeast mixture. Slowly add the remaining flour, mixing/kneading well after each addition. You want the dough to stay really soft so don't add too much flour. Once you've added the 4 cups of flour, touch the dough. If it's still sticks to your finger, add a little bit more flour (just like a tablespoon or two at a time) and then check it again. Keep doing this just until the dough doesn't stick to your finger.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and let it rise until doubled, about an hour. When the dough is just about done rising, make the orange filling by combining all of the ingredients for it. Make sure the butter is super soft - not quite melted, but really easy to spread. Roll dough out into a rectangle and spread with orange filling mixture. Roll up jelly roll style and cut into slices with dental floss. You can make them as thin or thick as you want, depending on how big you want them.
Place the rolls on a greased cookie sheet, or in muffin tins. Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 for about 9-10 minutes.
Leave the rolls on the pan and mix up the glaze ingredients. Pour over the rolls while still warm. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Cinnamon Filling:
1/2 c. butter, super soft
3/4 c. sugar
2 T. cinnamon
Spread the butter, mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle onto dough.


Dough recipe slightly altered from Deni Berger
Filling recipe from Bonnie Snelson
Glaze recipe from Jennifer McCoy