Orange Sweet Rolls

This recipe is actually one that I tweaked from Our Best Bites, a lovely food blog. You could say that it would have to take a recipe this tasty to bring me back from the blogging dead. Not that I haven't made anything worth posting about in the past seven months, but this is different. It's a yeast bread, and really, what could be more warm, soft and comforting? Pasta? A close second.

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So here's the recipe:

2 cups whole milk
½ c. + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
1/3 c. butter
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 pkgs. active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp.)
2/3 c. warm (105-115-degree) water
8-9 c. all-purpose flour (I only used 7.5 cups)
3 beaten eggs

orange roll filling:
8 T butter, softened
2/3 c. sugar
zest of an orange

orange roll glaze:
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
4 T melted butter
1/2 cup orange juice

Combine milk, 1/2 c. sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 Tbsp. sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 c. flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes. Add beaten eggs.

Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft--it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour (I actually didn't think the dough had risen enough at this point, so I let it go another 30 minutes).

Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half. Roll out one part of the dough into a rectangle about 1/3" thick. Spread half (4 T) of the softened butter evenly over the dough, and then sprinkle half of the sugar-zest mixture over the dough. Roll up, jelly-roll style, and cut (I used floss for this) into 12-16 rolls. Place in a greased 9 x 13 pan; cover with a cloth and let rise in a ward place for 30 minutes. (Repeat with second half of dough).

Here are the little cuties, rising before being baked.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. When rolls are slightly cooled, drizzle glaze mixture on top.

And if your name is Miguel or Bready, you were the lucky ones who enjoyed a fresh plate of these guys the night I baked them. And I enjoyed six of them the following day.