Orange Cinnamon Rolls with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
There are many variations you can make from a classic cinnamon roll recipe and this one is probably one of my favourite! Orange cinnamon rolls have this zesty, intense orange flavour that is great along with the spices, brown sugar and that delicious dough. You’ll have a blast making this orange roll recipe and the result is just so good!
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Servings: 9 cinnamon rolls
Ingredients
For the dough
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp salt
- 2¼ tsp instant dry yeast
- 120 g sugar
- 240 ml lukewarm freshly squeezed orange juice you can heat it slightly in a pan or in the microwave
- 60 g unsalted melted butter cooled to room temperature
- 1 egg at room temperature
- ½ tsp vanilla extract or essence
For the sugar filling:
- 220 g brown sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 3 oranges, zest only
- 60 g melted unsalted butter cooled to room temperature
For the cream cheese frosting
- 110 g cream cheese at room temperature
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Get the zest from the oranges first for the filling, then get the juice for the dough.
For the dough
- Mix the lukewarm orange juice, egg, vanilla extract and melted butter.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, make a hole in the centre and add all the wet ingredients in the center.
- Mix everything until you have a uniform dough. It’s really sticky so don’t worry, that’s just the way this dough is 🙂 That makes them gooey at the end instead of bready and hard.
- Let the dough rest for 1 hour covered in cling film. If it’s too cold, place it in the oven with the light on and heat off.
Assembly
- Dust flour on a clean tabletop and roll the dough. Every couple of rolls make sure it’s not sticking and dust more flour underneath and on top. Roll it out to a large rectangle (30x40cm or 12x17in). Try to keep it as rectangular as you can. At the very end make sure it’s not stuck and dust more flour if necessary so you can roll it with ease.
For the filling:
- Paint the melted butter on top of the dough evenly and reach every edge.
- Mix the sugar, spices and zest and spread it out as evenly as possible. Sprinkle it first and then spread out any mountains of sugar by gently brushing them with your hand.
- Start rolling: first do it carefully so it’s nice and tight and once you have the first 2 complete rolls, you can just push it (still very tightly) so it rolls to the end.
- Cut the rolls (I did mine 3 fingers thick) and place them in a baking pan lined with baking paper at the bottom (this will help later so the sugar doesn’t stick, you’ll thank me!) and arrange them nicely. Keep a decent amount of space between them so that they can rise during proofing and after in the oven without becoming square.
- Let them proof for 30min*** (again, it helps if they’re in a warm environment) and then they go in the oven at 180°C/350°F for 20-30min or until they're lightly golden on top.
For the cream cheese frosting
- Whip together the cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar.
- Add the orange juice little by little, whipping it in.
- Spread the frosting onto the rolls once they have cooled down. Finish with orange zest.
Notes
***If you want to proof the rolls overnight to bake them the next morning, the amount of yeast changes to 1 3/4 tsp. The final proofing time is 12 hours in the fridge and no more than 14 hours. After that time they go straight in the oven.
Tried this recipe?Mention @CravingsJournal or tag #RecipeCJ!