Sweet

Orange Rolls + Orange Cream Cheese Glaze

Orange rolls are super models.

They wear orange like it ain’t no thing. They’re so casual about it. Unlike me.

You see, orange clashes majorly with my hair. And not in the London Calling or I’m So Bored in the U.S.A. way.

Instead of wearing orange, I eat oranges. Instead of being can orange-head, I’m a redhead.

These were better than I imagined, just the thing I was craving, and darn stylish.

The truth is, I better wrap them up to give away or I’m going to be eating orange rolls for dinner. And if I do, Elliot will totally judge me.

Orange Rolls {makes 12 large rolls or 11 misc. sized rolls}
Recipe adapted from the kitchn

Ingredients:

dough –

  • 1 envelope active dry yeast
  • 3/4 cup milk, warm not hot
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 t vanilla extract
  • 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/2 t cardamom
  • 1 orange, zested
  • 2 eggs

orange filling –

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 t ground cardamom
  • 1 orange, zested and 2 T juice
  • 3 T unsalted butter, softened

Directions:

  1. Make the dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer* sprinkle the yeast over the warmed milk and let sit for a couple minutes or until foamy. With the paddle attachment, stir in the soft butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour. Stir in the salt, cardamom, and orange zest. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough. Switch to the dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and pliable. Place in a greased bowl, turning to coat and cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until nearly doubled – about an hour.
  2. Make the filling. In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the cardamom, then work in the orange zest with the tips of your fingers until the sugar resembles wet, soft sand. Stir in the 2 tablespoons of juice, reserving the rest of the juice from the orange for the glaze. Meanwhile, lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray or a cake pan and a bread pan, if you’re like me and don’t have perfectly uniform rolls.
  3. Roll out the dough into a large, yet still thick rectangle – about 10 x 15 inches. That was mine down there:
    (In order to have it be more rectangular I’d recommend using your hands and form it into a rectangle before rolling. I forgot to do it!) Spread evenly with the softened butter, then pour/spread the orange-sugar mixture over top. Roll the dough up tightly, starting from the top long end. Cut the long dough roll into 12 even rolls, and place them, cut side up, in the prepared baking dish(s).
  4. Cover the rolls with a towel, until puffy and almost doubled – about an hour. (You can also refrigerate the rolls at this point by covering the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and placing it in the fridge for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake the rolls remove the pan from the fridge, and let them rise at room temperature for an hour.)
  5. Heat the oven to 350°F. Place the risen rolls in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the tops are golden.

* If you don’t have a stand mixer, stir together the ingredients gently by hand, then turn the soft dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead the dough by hand.

What I love most about this glaze is that it doesn’t get all melty and disappear into the rolls. Instead, it keeps it real in a cream cheese-y way.

Orange Cream Cheese Glaze
Recipe adapted from the kitchn

Ingredients:

  • 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1 orange, zested + 2 T juice (leftover from orange used in filling)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

  1. Make the glaze. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add zest and orange juice and blend until combined. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.
  2. When the orange rolls have cooled a smidgen, top them generously with glaze, and sprinkle with the zest.

breakfast of champs = garfield mug filled with black coffee + orange roll

11 thoughts on “Orange Rolls + Orange Cream Cheese Glaze”

  1. wow orange rolls are my FAVORITE
    they remind me of childhood
    these look so, so delicious!!!
    i love how you made them into a heart; cute 🙂

  2. yum! my grandma used to make orange-caramel rolls every christmas morning when i was a kid. there wasn’t any zest in the filling though, which is too bad. these look so delightful! i love them in the heart pan.

  3. Cindy – OOh, I bet your grandma made some mean orange-caramel rolls.

    And I got super zesty in this recipe. It’s just so pretty!

  4. Mmmm, I’ve never had orange rolls before but they sound amazing! I am SO hungry right now looking at your site! The roll heart is so pretty 🙂

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