Ready-to-Bake Orange Sweet Rolls

For my holiday food & craft swap over the weekend, I made frozen, ready-to-bake, orange sweet rolls. Of course, before I could swap them we had to test them. You know, to make sure they were fit to be consumed... and oh my were they. Two trays quickly disappeared from my test kitchen. Satisfied, I stashed one in my freezer for Christmas morning, and packed the rest up for swapping.

Having a pan of homemade, ready-to-bake sweet rolls on hand for a special holiday morning is almost as indulgent as the rolls themselves! Give yourself this gift. Make them now, and if you follow this recipe, you'll likely have enough to give away a tray or two as well.

I pulled a little from a few different recipes to make these yummy, orange sweet rolls with orange-zest icing. My goal was to create a homemade version of the ones that come in a tube from the grocery, which I loved so much as a kid. These were just as orangey-sweet, flaky, and sticky (and sugar and fat laden)... but minus the artificial flavors, dyes, chemical additives, and partially hydrogenated oil. Yay!

 

Frozen, Ready-to-Bake Orange Sweet Rolls

Makes 15-30 rolls

 

Dough

2 cups organic whole milk

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 1/4 Tbsp yeast

4 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp sea salt

Filling

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

Zest of 3-4 oranges

Icing

Zest and juice of 2 oranges

1-2 cups powdered sugar

 

In a large sauce pan, warm milk, sugar, and oil over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and sprinkle yeast over the top; allow to sit for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, add 4 cups of flour and pour milk and yeast mixture over the top. Stir to incorporate, then cover and let rise for at least one hour. 

 

Stir remaining 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in to dough. Roll dough into a 30 x 10 inch rectangle. Brush melted butter over the dough and sprinkle liberally with brown sugar and orange zest. Roll dough into a long, tight log, pinching seams closed. Slice into approximately 1/2-1" thick rolls.

 

Place rolls on parchment lined sheet pans and freeze solid (about 1 hour). Pack frozen rolls in a lightly-oiled pan and cover/seal tightly (I used aluminum pans with lids, slid into gallon-size freezer bags for swapping/gifting).

 

To make icing, combine orange juice and zest with powdered sugar until desired consistency. (I divided mine into snack-size, zip-top bags and packed them in with the frozen sweet rolls.)

 

Baking instructions: Bake uncovered, straight from the freezer, at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned on top. Snip corner of icing packet and drizzle icing over rolls. Serve warm, with a smile.