Homemade Orange Sweet Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

What screams summer more than Orange? Nothing, right? I love the smell of oranges, the taste of orange and the health benefits from oranges. So why not make it into a GREAT tasting sweet roll?

I love making cinnamon rolls, but they aren’t something I like to make in the summer. With the cinnamon, they are more like an Autumn recipe. But Orange Rolls are perfect for Spring and Summer!

Let’s get down to business.

Homemade Orange Sweet Rolls

• 6 ounces warm milk (microwave for about 45 seconds)
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (or one packet)
• 4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
  
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the Filling

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• zest of 1 orange

Frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• juice of 1 large orange

Heat the milk in a small bowl in the microwave until warm, about 115-120 degrees. Add it to a large mixing bowl and add in the sugar, 6 Tablespoons melted butter, and yeast. Mix together. Allow the liquid mixture to set for 5-10 minutes to let the yeast bubble. Add in the eggs and egg yolks and mix until well combined

Reserve 1 cup of the flour for later. Add 2 cups of flour at a time to the liquid mixture. Mix well with a dough hook then add the salt and other 2 cups until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Knead the dough for 5 minutes and then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Now make the filling. In a medium bowl, combine the light brown sugar, granulated sugar, and the orange zest. 

Once the dough has sat for 10 minutes, roll it out into a 12×18 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface or a silicone mat like mine. Carefully spread the softened butter on top of the dough and sprinkle the filling all over the butter.

Roll up the dough tightly and cut into 12 even rolls.

Transfer to an oiled 9×13 pan or cookie sheet pan and cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in an oven with a pan of boiling water under it. This will speed up the raising process.

Once the rolls have doubled in size, remove them from the oven (where they were raising), preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. You can cover the rolls with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning.

Before serving, prepare your cream cheese frosting. Using a stand-mixer or a handheld, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add in the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice and beat on high until creamy. Frost warm rolls and sprinkle on additional orange zest, if desired.

The image below is of my lemon lime rolls, these are made the same but with Lemon and Lime juice and zest instead of orange. So yummy too!

What’s your favorite kind of sweet roll?