Orange Rolls for Your Holiday Breakfast

Orange Rolls, fresh from the oven, and a steaming cup of coffee are a delicious way to start a frosty morning, especially during the holidays when you want to treat yourself. You can make them the day before, let them rise overnight in the refrigerator, and bake them in the morning. Sensational!

If you are short on time or don’t feel like making bread from scratch, you can make these very successfully with a loaf of frozen bread dough from the supermarket. Just thaw and let rise according to package directions, roll out as directed, let rise again, and bake. Trust me, I have done it this way many times. No one will ever know you didn’t bake from scratch.

Orange Rolls

cup warm water

1 package dry yeast

teaspoon sugar

1 cups milk, scalded

cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled

1 egg, lightly beaten

about 5 cups flour

For Filling and Icing:

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

1 cups confectioner’s sugar

For bread: Scald milk and set aside to cool to room temperature. Combine water, yeast, and teaspoon sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes to proof. In a large bowl, combine cooled milk, sugar and salt. Add yeast mixture and 2 cups flour. Beat well. Add rest of flour by cupfuls until a soft dough forms. You may not use all the remaining flour. Knead until smooth. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1-1 hours.

When dough has doubled in bulk, remove plastic wrap and gently punch down dough to deflate. Form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise again until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.

For filling and frosting: Combine butter, orange zest, orange juice and confectioner’s sugar. Beat mixture until smooth and creamy.

To form rolls: Roll dough into a large rectangle, about 11 wide, 14 long, and thick. Spread with half of the filling, leaving a good of unfrosted edge on one of the long sides. Starting on the other long side, roll up into a cylinder, pinching the dough together along the long unfrosted edge to seal the cylinder. Your rolls can be wrapped well and frozen at this point. Thaw 15-20 minutes before proceeding with recipe.

Cut cylinder into 2 thick slices. Dental floss works great for cutting dough into neat slices. Slip a 12 piece of floss under the cylinder where you want to cut it. Cross the ends over the top and pull. If you cut the slices with a knife, you should chill the cylinder for 15-20 minutes before slicing to make it easier to cut.

Place each slice on its side in a buttered muffin tin. Or you can place all the slices together so they are barely touching in a buttered square or round cake pan. Let rise until double, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls in muffin tins about 20-25 minutes, or rolls in square or round pans 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Cool 10-15 minutes. Frost while still quite warm with remaining icing. Serve and enjoy!