Grandma Anne Oveson used to make the most heavenly orange rolls and Aunt Nancy Oveson has continued the tradition! I have since tweaked it a little (and added a simple option to make it time friendly).
Heavenly Orange Rolls
You will need:
For the Dough:
1 container Crescent Roll Dough (or Simple Roll Dough)
For the Filling:
¼ cup Sugar
1 T Orange Zest (We use Mandarin Oranges)
2 T Butter
For the Glaze:
¼ cup Sugar
2 T Butter
½ cup Sour Cream
2 T Orange Juice (We use half of the mandarine orange)
Zest of Orange (if desired)
Directions for Filling and Rolling Orange Rolls:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Pour ¼ C sugar into a bowl and zest about 1 T of an orange peel into the sugar
3. Stir in zest until sugar is well combined and orange in color
4. Unroll crescent dough and spread softened butter (about 2 T) across the surface
5. Sprinkle and spread the sugar mixture across the butter covered dough
6. Roll the dough (long end) into a roll
7. Slice into small rolls
8. Place rolls into a lightly greased 8"x8" pan
9. Bake at 350ºF for 10-14 minutes (until rolls are slightly brown on top)
Directions for Glaze:
While rolls are baking, combine ¼ C Sugar, 2 T butter, ½ C Sour Cream, 2 T Orange Juice and zest of orange peel (if desired) in a small sauce pan on medium heat
2. Bring to a slight boil for 2-3 minutes (until sugar is dissolved) and let cool.
When rolls are done baking, remove from the oven and top with sour cream glaze, let cool slightly (if you can…) and ENJOY!!!
Tips and Tricks
You can substitute any fruit for the orange. Mysha, at Our Creative Nest, likes using lemon.
You can use less sugar in the rolls and the glaze, if you’re crazy enough to want to do so. Some sugar is necessary in the glaze to get the right consistency.
If you are making a 9x13 batch (or using the Simple Roll Dough recipe), you’ll want to double the filling and glaze recipe.