Orange Rolls

These are the BEST orange rolls out there!  The dough and the icing both have sour cream, which adds a deep richness and softness to these delicious rolls.  Christmas morning would not be what it is with out these rolls, along with Breakfast Casserole after opening presents.  

The recipe comes from my mother in law's cookbook.  Another favorite of Jason's from growing up.  Perfect for a festive breakfast, or for a decadent dessert. 

For Christmas I make them the night before, I will start the dough about lunch time on Christmas Eve.  I warm them in the oven after we open presents on Christmas morning, then make and add the icing/glaze. 

1 TBSP active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (I got VERY warm, almost hot to make sure the yeast gets activated.  This is actually a very small amount of yeast for this amount of dough.)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 butter or margarine (1 stick), melted

3 1/2 cups flour

2 TBSP grated orange peel (about 2 oranges)

Glaze - 

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

2 TBSP orange juice

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1.  Dissolve yeast in warm water in large mixing bowl (I use the bowl of my Kitchenaid mixer.) Beat in 1/4 cup of the sugar, salt, eggs, sour cream, and 6 TBSP of melted butter.  Gradually add 2 cups flour.  Beat till smooth.  Knead remaining flour into dough.  I use my dough hook for all of this.  I really hate kneading, so I let my dough hook work the dough really well.  

2.  Let the dough rise in a large, lightly greased bowl, in a warm place, covered.  Rise till doubled, about 2 hours.  This dough does take longer than your average dough to rise.  If I am in a hurry, then I start out by adding 2 TBSP to the 1/4 cup of hot water in the beginning.  

Knead the dough on a well floured surface.  I do this in the bowl.  I just punch it around a little bit.  (Can you tell I am really not in love with kneading dough?)

3.  Roll one half of the dough to a 12 inch circle.  Combine 3/4 sugar and orange rind.  Brush dough with 1 TBSP melted butter and sprinkle with one half of the orange/sugar mixture.  

4.  Cut into 12 wedges.  Roll up, starting with the wide end.  Repeat with remaining dough.  (I tend to always cut more than 12 wedges.  I don't count them.  I just eyeball a good width, and end up with however many.

5.  Place point side down in the three rows in greased 9x13 pan.  Cover and let rise in a warm place, about an hour. 

6.  Then bake in moderate oven.  350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Glaze - 

Combine ingredients and boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Pour over rolls when removed from the oven.  

There is a lot of glaze.  I pour it all on, all over the rolls.  It soaks into every crevice, and is SO good!

Orange Swirls

I often make my mother in law's ORANGE ROLLS.  They are delicious, and a traditional part of our Christmas morning breakfast.  We recently had a big snow and ice storm hit our area, and we were forced to stay home for some good old fashioned family time.  I asked the kids to vote for either Orange Rolls or Cinnamon Rolls.  I was secretly hoping that Cinnamon Rolls would win because we recently had Orange Rolls on Christmas, and all my friends had been posting pictures of the Cinnamon Rolls they were making during the snow storm.  I was definitely craving me some of that action!  

Orange Rolls won the vote.  The kids went to bed, and I told my husband how disappointed I was by the results.   He chuckled and said, "You're the one making them.  Make whatever you want."  I got out his mom's cookbook because that's where the Orange Rolls recipe is.  As I was flipping through the bread section I stumbled onto this recipe for Orange Swirls.  I thought they would be a good compromise between Orange Rolls and Cinnamon Rolls.   I asked Jason if he remembers his mom making them.  He looked at the recipe, and got all excited.  He remembered.  Why has he NEVER told me!  

These are DELICIOUS!

Use your favorite dough recipe.  I use this one HERE.

Roll dough into 2 large (about 16x8 inches and 1/4 inch thick) rectangles.  I do just one at a time.  

Brush dough with melted butter.  

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 4 tsp. grated orange peel, and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I left these out.)

Spread half of it over each dough rectangle.  

Beginning with long side roll up.

Cut into 12 pieces about 1 1/4 inches wide.

Give each roll a poke on the bottom to push up the top, so that when they bake they pop up! 

Place into greased Muffin tins.

Lay a tea towel over them, let them rise for about 20-30 minutes.  

One of my rectangles was a little long, and I cut it into 14 pieces.  That left me with two more rolls than I had room for in the muffin tins.  I placed the two extras in a couple of little ramekins.  It worked great!

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes or till done.  

While still warm, take them out of the tins, and glaze with Orange Icing.

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp. orange grated peel (I didn't have any, still delicious.)

3 TBSP Orange Juice

Drizzle over the top with a fork.  

Place on a platter, and serve up!

Basic Roll Dough

This is a famous, award winning dough recipe that can be used for anything!  Rolls, cinnamon rolls, orange swirls etc.  

This is a very famous dough recipe.  I have had SO many people ask me for it.  As soon as someone finds out I am Myrna Ritz's daughter in law they ask me if I have "the dough recipe."  There is a good explanation for this.  Way back in the 1980's the old Monmouth Ward (congregation for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) had a Cinnamon Roll Booth at the Oregon State Fair to raise funds for additions onto the building, a satellite dish so they could watch General Conference etc.  This was back in the day when individual congregations were responsible for raising most of their own funds for such necessities.

The booth was an extremely successful endeavor!  Jason remembers working in the booth, and said that there was always a long line.  This is the Award Winning Dough that they used to make the cinnamon rolls.

It makes A LOT of dough!  I can just imagine all those women in the Monmouth ward each making a HUGE batch of this dough every night during the fair to take into the fairgrounds each day.  That thought really warms my heart.  However, since I am NOT supplying a cinnamon roll booth at the State Fair, and because that amount of dough cannot fit in my Kitchenaid, I cut it in half.

I am posting it here as half of the recipe that my mother in law gave me.  It is enough to make 2 9x13 pans of cinnamon rolls or 24 Orange Swirls.

*This dough makes rolls that freeze well.

*This recipe posted here is enough to make 2 9x13 pans of cinnamon rolls.  

2 cups milk, lukewarm  (I heat mine in a small sauce pan.)

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbsp.active dry yeast

2 eggs

2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cooking oil (I use Olive Oil because that's what I usually have.)

7 cups flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm milk.  When yeast becomes active (foamy in the milk), add well beaten eggs and enough flour to make a medium batter (like brownie batter).  

Beat well with a hand held electric mixer, or in a free stand mixer like a Bosch or Kitchenaid with a dough hook.  

Add in the oil and salt.  Slowly add in the rest of the flour.  I add in one cup at a time, completely mixing in all the flour before adding more.  This helps to keep me from adding in too much flour.  The trick with this dough is to not add too much flour.  It needs to be just enough flour that it is barely not sticky, and really soft.  If needed turn out onto a floured surface and knead in remaining flour.   My dough hook does a great job of mixing it all in and "kneading" it for me.  

Put dough in a lightly greased bowl.  I cover mine with a tea towel and place on my stove top as I preheat the oven or bake other things.  This is always a good warm spot that helps the dough to rise in a timely manner.  

Let rise for about an hour, or till doubled in size.  

At this point you can choose what you're going to do with the dough, such as cinnamon rolls. 

For cinnamon rolls - Divide dough in half and roll out into two rectangles.   After preparing the cinnamon rolls let sit to rise while covered before baking.

For Dinner rolls - Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness, and cut with a biscuit cutter.  Place close together on a greased baking sheet.  Let rise until light.  Bake 12 - 20 minutes depending on size, in a 425 degree oven.  Brush with melted butter when they come out of the oven.  

Extremely Light Waffles

These deliciously healthy waffles are so light and fluffy!  They are made with whole wheat flour and whipped egg whites.  My kids love to drown theirs in sryup or jam. I love mine with almond butter and fresh fruit.  The one in this picture has some delicious organic all natural cocoa peanut butter that I bought from a local vendor with a booth inside our Costco!  It is SO delicious, and I can read all the ingredients.  She also sells at our local Farmer's Markets.

Jason grew up eating these, and when we were first married, and it was his night to make dinner, it was often these waffles.  Of course I was impressed!  I LOVE them.  Thanks to his mom for the recipe!

Notes - 

*I usually triple this batter.  I would rather have leftovers that I can throw in the freezer, and the kids can toast them through the week before school.

*I have two waffle irons going, but that does not cook them fast enough for the zoo I am feeding.  I cook about 10, keeping them warm in the oven, before I call the kids into eat.  I need a good head start in order to keep up.

*Because of the whipped egg whites, this batter is very foamy and fluffy.  Be prepared for it to overflow off the iron.  Be careful not to put too much batter on the iron!

Sift dry ingredients - (or measure into bowl then gently run a whisk through it a few times)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. brown sugar

Add in -

2 egg yolks (save the egg whites)

1 1/4 cups milk

Beating with an electric mixer on low speed.  

Add in - 1/4 cup oil or use applesauce as a substitute 

Batter will be very thin.  Beat for 2 minutes.  

Beat or whip up the egg whites till they are nice and stiff.  Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter. Bake in a preheated waffle iron.

New Year's Eve Menu

We have BIG New Year's Eve traditions!  It is one of our favorite holidays!  Jason and I both grew up in families with fantastic NYE traditions.  

If you want to read more about the traditions go to my personal Blog.

Here is the menu, probably the most important part.  

A quick explanation - When I was very young, my dad gave my mom a wok and a Chinese food cookbook for Christmas.  For NYE that year she made a lot of Chinese food for us!  It became a tradition after that.  I still make many of the same recipes that she made that first year!

Still need to add some recipes, but most of these are linked up.  Good luck!  I can't wait to hear what you think!

Egg Rolls 

Chicken Cashew 

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Fried Rice

Sweet and Spicy Rumaki 

Banana Slush 

Old Fashioned Custard Egg Nog