The BEST orange sweet rolls
Super soft orange sweet rolls with orange butter cream frosting.
Orange sweet rolls have to be one of my favorite things about Christmas. My mom serves them every year for breakfast and we all go crazy over them. They are the perfect Christmas treat. Let’s not even get started on the orange butter cream frosting. I could eat that straight from the bowl!
It took me about 3 tries to get this recipe perfect for all of you and I finally nailed it! These are seriously the best orange rolls I’ve ever had!
MY OTHER RECIPES
For this recipe I used my measuring cups for my yeast mixture and warming the milk. You’ll know your yeast is done when it’s nice and bubbly like above.
How to make orange rolls
Once the dough is to hard to stir I will knead it with my hands for about 5 minutes. You want the dough to be soft but not too sticky. Almost like play dough, but not quite as hard. Add a little flour at a time until you get the right consistency.
- Once your dough is soft and not sticky, roll it out on a floured surface and form a 15×20 rectangle. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Then use your silicone brush to put on your filling.
- Then roll up your dough and cut it with floss. Just slide the floss under the dough and then pull it up. Cut your rolls into about 1 inch pieces.
- Butter a large sheet pan and then place the rolls on the pan about 1 inch apart.
- Bake them just until golden brown. You don’t want to over cook them. They are the best when they are super soft! Are you drooling yet?
Next grab a small bowl and whip up your orange buttercream frosting. The orange extract adds the perfect amount of orange flavor to the frosting and the orange zest makes these rolls PERFECT!
Once your frosting is nice and fluffy spread it on those delicious rolls! The more frosting the better!!
Mmm…. I am still dreaming about these delicious orange sweet rolls. They are unbelievably tasty! I cannot wait to make them again and again.
I served these bad boys up and they were gone within minutes! Put them on your baking list this weekend. You will not be disappointed! ;)
So let’s hear it… orange rolls or cinnamon rolls? I vote orange rolls! ;)
Looking for more desserts? Find lots more HERE.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/4 ounce 1/4 oz pkg active dry yeast -2 1/4 teaspoons
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg whisked
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups flour more or less as needed
- *Filling*
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- zest of 1 orange
- 1-2 tablespoon fresh orange juice
- *Frosting*
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- zest from one orange
- 1-2 teaspoon orange extract taste as you add (or can use orange juice)
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
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In a small bowl add warm water, yeast and sugar. Let sit for about 10 minutes until bubbly.
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In a large bowl whisk together butter, milk, sugar, egg and salt. Add yeast mixture when ready and stir until combined. Add two cups of flour and stir until smooth. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time. Knead for 5 minutes. If the dough is too sticky you can add a little more flour. Once dough is nice and soft, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot. Allow to double in size. If the dough isn’t rising I will turn my oven to 200 with a small pan of water, turn it off and set my bowl in there to finish rising.
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Once your dough has doubled in size punch it down and roll out on a floured surface. You want to form a rectangle approximately 15×20 inches. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Spread filling onto the dough with a brush and then roll the dough up. I did not use all of the filling.
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Cut the dough into one inch pieces with floss or a large knife. Place dough onto a buttered baking dish with rolls about 1 inch apart. Let rolls sit for about an hour or until rolls have doubled in size.
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Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
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Beat together the frosting ingredients in a large bowl and then spread on top of the rolls. You can add more milk or powdered sugar to reach your desired consistency.
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Enjoy!
These are perfect!
How many does this recipe make? I’m assuming a dozen, but I just want to make sure. :)
Yes, it makes a dozen! :)
I must roll out wide or something because I’ve managed to get 14-15 out of all 3 batches I’ve made so far ;)
I think I prefer the orange rolls too. My mom always made either cinnamon or orange sweet rolls on Christmas morning. I never knew anyone else did, but maybe a lot of people do! We were from the South. Also we had Little Smokies for breakfast. I wonder if this is some kind of tradition?
I always thought it was just my family too, but then I found out a lot of people do sweet rolls on Christmas morning! I think it’s a great tradition! We don’t do little smokies, but we do orange slices and grape juice! :)
These look amazing!! AND I love Pampered Chef tools!! :)
Which is TB?
Tablespoon!
nice stuffs
My nephew loves orange rolls. I can’t wait to try and make these for him!
They are SO yummy, I hope he enjoys them!! :)
Could I make these the night before and let them rise over night and pop in the oven Christmas morning?
You can, but the sugar may liquefy a little bit. Just roll them up like normal and cover the pan lightly with plastic wrap. Then let them rise over night in the fridge. I would take them out about 30 minutes before baking and then bake as normal.
…yum! Pinning :)
They are waiting to go in the oven and if the filling is any indication of what these are going to be like, the family is in for a treat! (Couldn’t resist licking the spoon of that orange butter sugary goodness!) Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
The filling is definitely my favorite part, but the whole orange roll is SO yummy! I hope you like them!! :)
I’m confused about how much yeast to use here… I have 8g packages, but it seems that 8 grams is only 1/4 oz and you call of 3/4 oz. so am I using 1 package or 3 packages??
It is 1/4 oz or 1 package of yeast! Sorry, the yeast I used comes in a 3 pack so I looked at the overall weight! Thanks for clarifying!
We had orange sweet rolls for breakfast on Thanksgiving and Christmas growing up. Now if we forget to buy them, the holiday just isn’t right. My sister even posted a pic of the ones she made Christmas morning to facebook and tagged us to share the memory. :)
What a fun memory! We always had them on Christmas morning growing up and I agree, Christmas just wouldn’t be the same!
I can see why your mom makes these rolls! They look delicious! Have a Happy New Year!
These are fabulous! I’ve learned how to make fantastic pecan sticky buns, but wanted to try something new. I prepared these exactly and directed but only par-baked them (like brown & serve rolls), gathered up the orange buttercream frosting ingredients and took them the next morning to my son’s home in NY for Christmas Day brunch. I popped them in their oven to finish baking and then mixed the buttercream and frosted them. They were warm and oozing with deliciousness! Yum! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m glad you tried them and loved them Andrea! We love these orange rolls. Thanks for leaving a comment! :)
I’ve made these 3 times now (3rd batch in the oven now!) and they are heavenly! One thing I do different though is this: because I adore ooey gooey rolls and am not a huge fan of frosting, I DID use ALL of the sugar/butter/orange filling and just used a light coat of frosting on top, applied while still warm so it would melt around good. They are the BEST just like it says at the top of the page!
Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Thanks for posting your substitutions, I’m sure another non frosting lover will really appreciate it. :) I usually get 12, but occasionally I will roll out wide as well and get more! :)
I made the dough yesterday and it was very easy to work with today. The rolls are heavenly, so do your family a favor and make them!
I’m so glad you tried them and loved them! One of my favorite breakfast recipes. :)
I just made these today. They are very good. I found that I had to use 6-6 1/2 cups of flour for this recipe. I made the filling just like the recipe says. The frosting on the other hand was a huge miss. 3 teaspoons of extract was WAY TOO much!! Luckily I tested it before I put it on the rolls. I remade the frosting leaving out the extract and just using a splash of oj. These rolls are good enough by themselves that they really don’t even need glaze. I will definitely make again.
I’m glad you liked them! I’m sorry you weren’t a fan of the frosting. You can definitely sub the extract for orange juice! :)
Yummmm look so good. Perfect breakfast for EASTER!
Yes! Such a great Easter morning breakfast! :)