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!