Orange Sweet Rolls

We must be in a citrus mood lately because our last two recipes have been make with lemons and now today I have a version of sweet rolls made with oranges. I made these sweet rolls for Easter brunch and everyone loved them!! They are time consuming since you have to allow the dough to rise 4 different times but they were completely worth every minute. These Orange Sweet Rolls would be perfect to make for your mom to eat her breakfast in bed when we celebrate Mother's Day in two weeks.

Ingredients for the Rolls:

1 3/4 Cup Warm Water

1 Small Package Active Yeast

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup I Can't Believe it's Not Butter - Melted

1 Tsp Salt

5 Cups Flour

Ingredients for the Filling:

1/2 Cup I Can't Believe it's Not Butter - Softened

1/2 Cup Sugar

Zest of 1 Orange

Ingredients for the Glaze:

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

2 Tbsp Orange Juice

Zest of 1 Orange

Adapted from: http://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/

In a small bowl combine the warm water, yeast and sugar. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes, you will know the yeast is active when the water becomes frothy. In your mixer bowl with the dough hook attachment add the yeast mixture, eggs, melted butter, salt and flour. Knead the dough for 3 minutes on a medium speed. Cover the bowl with a towel and allow it to rise for 10 minutes. You will knead the dough two more times with the same amount of time. 3 minutes of kneading on a medium speed with 10 minutes of rest afterwards.

While the dough is resting and rising one of the three time you can make the filling for the rolls. In a small bowl combine the softened butter with sugar and orange zest. Make sure to wash the orange before you zest it. Also you don't want to zest down to the fruit because the white part under the rind is bitter so keep turning the orange as you zest it to make sure you don't go too deep into any section.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lightly flour your table or counter-top. Using a spatula take all of the dough out of the mixer bowl. I had a hard time with this because it was very sticky. Section the dough into 3 large balls, making them as even as possible. 

Take each ball of dough and roll it out into a large rectangle. Spread each sheet of dough with some of the orange filling. I made a mistake by leaving a border and not spreading the filling all the way to the edges so learn from me.

Roll each dough sheet with filling up as tightly as you can. Using a serrated knife cut each roll every 2 inches or so to make the individual rolls.

Spray a muffin tin with Pam and place the individual rolls into each muffin tin opening. I have never made cinnamon rolls or anything similar like this I generally put them all together in a baking dish but this worked just as well with out any mess of trying to separate them after they were cooked. Allow the rolls to rise and rest once more for 30 minutes before baking them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes or until the tops have gotten slightly golden brown.

While the rolls are baking you can make the glaze. In a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, orange juice and orange zest. Allow the rolls to cool for a few minutes before taking them out of the pans and drizzling them with the glaze.

Enjoy!!

Linked at: http://www.thecountrycook.net/