Cooper wanted some orange rolls and it’s something his grandma makes a lot but she’s out of town so I wanted to give it a try. Grandma usually makes them in muffin tins and does a light glaze. For me, there’s never enough orange. It’s like in between a normal roll and a dessert. So I wanted to make full dessert ones. But I compromised because I wanted to do a full icing like you do for cinnamon rolls but Cooper wanted a glaze.

I also used this opportunity to use some sourdough discard from making my sourdough the last few days! I looked up how to substitute it in recipes and since it’s equal parts flour and water, you just weigh the same amount you would use in your recipe. So here’s what I did!

DOUGH INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons salted butter softened
• 1 large egg
• 2 3/4 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sourdough discard (add 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup flour if you aren’t using the discard)

FILLING INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup salted butter softened
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cardamom

GLAZE INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• Splash vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

1. I started by mixing the warm milk and yeast together and then after it got a little bubbly, I added ALL the rest of the dough ingredients at once.

2. Knead this for about 5 minutes. The dough shouldn’t be sticky but should have a nice moist texture to it.

3. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour. We’re cold over here so I found that putting it in my oven with the light on is the PERFECT warm spot. The light provides just enough warmth.

4. Punch down the dough and transfer to a floured surface. Roll out to about 12×18 rectangle.

5. Mix all the filling ingredients together and spread on the dough evenly but leave a small border so the filling doesn’t squeeze out when you roll it. You could alternatively put the butter on the dough and then mix the other ingredients together and sprinkle it on top of the butter. But I like to mix it all together.

6. Roll dough up on the long side so you have an 18 inch long roll. Cut into 12 rolls. Oil or butter a 9×13 pan and place rolls 3×4 in the pan.

7. Cover and allow to rise for 35-40 minutes.

8. Preheat oven to 350° while it’s rising. OR since I was letting it rise in my oven, I took the dough out at 30 minutes rising and then started the preheating and let it finish rising on the counter.

9. Bake for 20-25 minutes. I did 25.

10. Mix remaining orange juice, vanilla, and powdered sugar until it’s a consistency you like. It’s a glaze so it should fall of the whisk easily but not be too runny. If you want more glaze than you have orange juice, add milk and powdered sugar to it. Glaze while warm or cooled completely. Either way works.

ENJOY!

One thing my husband said was that he wished they were a little denser. It’s probably because it had yeast AND the sourdough discard. It doesn’t have a ton of raising in the discard but it still has some. So they’ll be a little less fluffy with only the yeast packet. I also think they turned out super but I wanted them more gooey so next time I think I would bake them a smidge less or add more glaze.