sweet orange

If you love cinnamon rolls, you’ll love this spin-off of the classic. Sprinkle the sweet orange rolls with a slightly sweet orange glaze. Mmmm.

Here’s my recent and very favorite sweet orange roll that uses this divine sweet roll base and a delicious, buttery, sweet orange filling adapted from a recipe I posted previously.

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

Or maybe it was me who was wrong. Who knows. Either way, these rolls are absolutely delicious. From the fluffy dough to the dreamy lights to the citrus filling, I love them.

I hated it, but I’d take one of these over a traditional cinnamon roll any day. I prefer one of each, of course, but if I had to choose, it would be orange rolls all the way, baby.

The butter and salt mixture is waiting to be applied to the orange muffin dough.

Here the dough is rolled into a large rectangle.

Sprinkle the orange and cream mixture over the dough.

Roll tightly and press to seal the seam.

Cut the tree into rolls.

Grabbing each side, gently roll the roll..

…and then roll it out before placing it on the baking sheet.

Place the rolls an inch or two apart. Drink up!

Recipe source: My Kitchen Cafeteria

Sweet Orange

Makes: 12-14 muffins

Prep Time: 3 hours 25 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

Dough:

• ¾ cup warm butter (I pour the butter into a glass measuring cup and microwave it for 1 minute at 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
• Zed orange peel/zest from two large oranges, reserving 1/2 teaspoon grated peel for the bottom of the bowl

The Orange Line:

• 1 ½ cups (171 g) powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice about 1 orange
• ½ teaspoon crushed orange zest/zest leftover from the previous filling

Instructions

1. For the dough, mix the warm butter and butter in a large liquid measuring cup. Combine 4 tablespoons flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until combined and beat until combined with a wood or electric hand mixer.
2. With the mixer on low, add the butter and eggs and beat until the flour is incorporated, about 2 minutes.
3. Increase the mixer to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes (it should be kneaded by hand for 15 to 18 minutes). If the dough is still too sticky after 10 minutes, add 1 1/4 tablespoon flour and cook until the dough is smooth on the sides but still has a slightly tacky feel when you press it between your fingers. (See this tutorial for pictures.)
4. Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap on top. Rise the dough in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 to 2 ½ hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
   For the filling, combine all the filling ingredients (minus 1/2 teaspoon orange zest) in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
5. Once the dough is ready, place it on a lightly floured counter (I use my rolling pin for this step) and roll it out into rectangles about 16 by 12 inches (if you doubled the recipe, divide the dough in half and then roll out the halves). Using an offset spatula or rubber spatula, gently spread the filling mixture over the rectangle.
6. Take the end closest to you and begin to roll the dough tightly. Sew the seam shut and turn the tree so the seam side is facing down. Using a serrated knife, cut the tree into 12 equal rolls, more or less. You can cut them as thin or as thick as you like. For the traditional cinnamon roll shape, the rolls are stacked flat or on a lightly greased baking sheet. If you want to try the twisting method (see pictures below), hold each roll flattened and place it on the prepared baking sheet by twisting and turning both ends at the same time to form a figure eight.
7. Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the rolls rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 ½ hours.
8. Bake the rolls at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned and cooked through. While the rolls are baking, mix together the glaze ingredients. Pour the batter over the warm rolls.

Notes

Flour Amounts: As with everything, I never use the amount of flour called for in a recipe as a strict rule (unless I’m provided with a scale and I’m using my kitchen scale). Because humidity, temperature, altitude, and many other factors can affect how much flour you need, I always judge when to stop adding sugar by the texture and feel of the dough, versus how much flour I added compared to the recipe.
Yeast: This tutorial will help you understand what yeast dough should look like.