Soft Orange Rolls

For Christmas this year we surprised our kids and drove to Colorado to visit my parents.  I thought for sure my 6 year old would figure it out because he's pretty knowledgeable about geography and he can read, so I figured once we hit Denver and signs started popping up all bets were off.  Turns out though that Minecraft turns you into a Zombie that loses all sense of time and direction and glues your face to a screen for 6 hours straight.  Seriously interesting and disturbing phenomena.

Anyways, the kids were completely shocked and excited when we got there.  One of the first things I did was open the refrigerator, because that's the polite way for a house guest to enter a home.  (I hope you learned that in Martha 101.)  A can of Pillsbury orange sweet rolls stared at me from the top shelf and I immediately knew my brother was there.  That kid eats orange rolls like no tomorrow.  Ever since he was in high school he's baked them on Saturday morning and eaten at least half a can. Orange rolls will forever remind me of him.

We had a great Christmas with my family but I have been craving orange rolls ever since. I adapted these from my basic cinnamon roll recipe and they turned out great.  They are so soft and so orangy. Next time I may use a non-cream cheese frosting just because I feel like orange rolls need a less tangy/sweeter frosting, but that's just a personal preference.

Happy last day of January!

  Can I get a "Hallelujah"?

Orange Rolls

Dough

-1 cup warm milk
-2 eggs, room temperature
-1/3 cup butter, melted
-4 1/2 cups bread flour
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 1/2 teaspoons quick active yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Select the DOUGH cycle and press Start.

While the dough is kneading and rising you can make the filling

Filling

-1/2 cup butter, softened

-1 cup white sugar
-1 1/2 Tbsp packed orange zest (zest from two medium large oranges)
-1 Tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice

Combine ingredients until you have a very soft spread.

When dough is done, roll it out into a large rectangle about 16x24 inches.  (I typically spray my work surface with Pam to keep it from sticking, and spray my rolling pin as well.)

Top dough with soft orange mixture and spread evenly.  Roll dough up tightly lengthwise and seal the edges.  Use a piece of dental floss to cut into 12-16 slices.

Place rolls in a greased 9x13 pan, or two greased pie pans.  Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about 30 minutes).

Bake at 400 degrees for 13-15 minutes.  Do not overbake!

In the meantime you can make the frosting.

Frosting
-6 ounces cream cheese

-1/2 cup butter
-3 cups powdered sugar
-2 tsp orange zest (zest from one orange)
-big pinch of salt

-4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) fresh-squeezed orange juice

With a mixer beat together the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar.  Once well combined add the orange zest, salt, and orange juice and continue to beat until well-combined.

Spread half of cream cheese frosting over hot rolls. Reserve the other half to spread on top of the rolls once they have cooled a little.

You may have some frosting left over.  It's completely fine to eat that with a spoon.