Homemade Orange Sweet Rolls

By lauramae

Have you ever had a Pillsbury Orange Sweet Roll before? You know, the kind that come in a can? I gladly admit that I LOVE those little things. My mom always made them for us on busy weekend mornings. The smell alone got me out of bed – light citrus paired with the nostalgic fragrance of gooey cinnamon buns.

Ingredients

• Dough:
• 1 package active dry yeast (2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• fresh orange zest from 1 medium sized orange
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 - 3.5 cups all-purpose flour
• Filling
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• Glaze
• 1 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar
• 1 Tablespoon orange juice
• fresh orange zest from 1 medium oranges
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extrac

Details

Servings 15
Adapted from sallysbakingaddiction.com

Preparation

Step 1

Instructions

Make The Dough: Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water for about 1 minute. No need to use a thermometer for the water's temperature, but to be precise: about 105-115F degrees. Stir the yeast/water around.

Then add orange zest, orange juice, sugar, salt, egg, butter, and 1.5 cups of flour. Beat everything together on low with a handheld mixer, scraping down the sides as needed. (A mixer is definitely needed to break up all the butter and beat everything to the proper consistency.)

With a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough easy to handle - about 1.5 - 2 more cups. You are looking for a dough that is not sticky and will spring back when poked with a finger.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it with your hands for about 5-6 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly greased bowl. Cover the dough and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1.5 hours.

Line the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish with parchment paper,leaving room on the sides. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using a rolling in, roll into a 15x9 inch rectangle. I used a ruler for accuracy. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick, even at the corners.

For The Filling: in a small bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. Spread the dough rectangle with softened butter and sprinkle generously with all of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Tightly roll up the dough and cut into 16 even rolls (1 inch in width each) with a very sharp knife. Arrange them in the prepared baking pan, cut sides up. Cover the rolls and let them rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes - 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees. Cover the rolls with aluminum foil and bake for about 25-30 minutes, until they are lightly golden in color. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for about 15 minutes.

Make The Glaze: In a small bowl, mix together all of the glaze ingredients and drizzle over rolls before serving.

Make Ahead: The recipe can be prepared through Step 4. Cover the rolls and let sit at room temperature overnight before beginning step 5. Baked rolls can be frozen up to 1 month and warmed up to enjoy at a later date. Glaze right before serving.

Recipe source: Food.com with a couple slight changes to the ingredients and preparation.