These Orange Sweet Rolls are a refreshing twist on the classic cinnamon roll. A homemade sweet dough with orange zest is filled with homemade orange sugar and topped with sweet orange creme icing.
Inspired by orange rolls that are served at All Steak in Cullman, Alabama, I created my own version for sweet rolls that are light and fluffy and bursting with citrus goodness. Sweet cream cheese icing is the perfect way to top these sweet treats.
🥘 Ingredients
To make these sweet rolls, you need the following ingredients:
- 1¼ cups milk
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 packet rapid rise yeast
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 10 Tablespoons butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons orange zest
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons orange juice
🔪How To Make Orange Rolls
The dough for these rolls can be made in a bread machine or using a stand mixer. (Recipe cards for both are below in this post.)
To make them using a stand mixer, start by warming milk in a microwave at HIGH power for 40 seconds. Stir in 1 tablespoon of honey and yeast and let it sit for 5 – 10 minutes for the yeast to bloom.
Place flour and salt in the mixer bowl. Add the yeast mixture, the remaining honey, 4 tablespoons butter, and egg. Using the dough hook attachment, mix at low speed until combined.
Increase the mixer to medium speed and knead for 3 to 5 minutes until the dough forms a ball and has become smooth and elastic.
Remove the dough ball from the bowl and spray the bowl with nonstick spray. Place the dough back in the greased bowl and spray the top of the dough with nonstick spray.
Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm environment and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, make the orange sugar by combining sugar and orange zest together. If you like your rolls really sweet, you can double the filling. You can also substitute brown sugar for white if you’d like.
Once the dough has risen, divide in half and roll each half out into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Spread softened butter over each rectangle being careful to leave about 1-inch around the border without any butter.
Sprinkle each rectangle with half of the orange sugar.
Starting at the longer end, roll the dough up tightly to make a log.
Using a sharp knife, cut the logs into 12 slices and place the cut-side down in a round pan that has been coated with non-stick spray. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
Let them rise until they have doubled in size.
⏲️ Baking Time
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Once the baked rolls have cooled, make the orange creme icing to drizzle over the top. It is made with some cream cheese and freshly grated orange rind.
If you drizzle the icing on the rolls while they are still warm, the icing will melt into the rolls. If you wait until the rolls have completely cooled, the icing will look more like what is pictured below.
Love fruit? Here are some more recipes using fruit that you might enjoy:
📖 Recipe
Orange Sweet Rolls
Equipment
- Mixer
- Baking Pans
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups milk
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 Tablespoons butter softened
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 packet rapid rise yeast
- 1 egg
Orange Sugar Filling
- 4 Tablespoons butter softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
Orange Creme Icing
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 Tablespoons butter softened
- 1 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 2 Tablespoons orange juice
Instructions
- Warm milk in a microwave at HIGH power for 40 – 50 seconds. Stir in 1 tablespoon of honey and yeast and let it sit for 5 – 10 minutes for the yeast to bloom.
- Place flour and salt in the mixer bowl. Add the yeast mixture, the remaining honey, 4 tablespoons butter, and egg. Mix at low speed until combined. Increase the speed and knead for 3 to 5 minutes until the dough forms a ball and has become smooth and elastic.
- Remove the dough ball from the bowl and spray the bowl with nonstick spray. Place the dough back in the bowl and spray the top of the dough with nonstick spray.Cover and place in a warm environment and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size.
- Divide risen dough in half and roll each half into a large rectangle.
- Slather 2 tablespoons of butter on each rectangle and sprinkle with half of the orange sugar.
- Starting at longer end, roll the dough up tightly. Cut into 12 slices and place cut-side down in a round pan that has been coated with non-stick spray. Repeat with other half of dough.
- Allow to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool and then drizzle with icing.
Orange Sugar
- Combine orange zest and sugar.
Orange Creme Icing
- Mix cream cheese and butter in a large mixer. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth, adding additional orange juice if needed.
Video
Nutrition
These rolls are great for breakfast, with a cup of coffee, or even dessert.
Be sure to come back and tell us how your orange sweet rolls turned out!
Victoria F says
The instructions don’t say when you add the butter so my dough didn’t have butter. I know it’s on the ingredient list but I go by the instructions then refer back to the ingredients for the amounts. Sometimes I prepare all ingredients first but this time I didn’t, so no butter on my dough. Also, the recipe didn’t specify what size baking pan to use, so I ended up using way too small pans. And finally, “one packet” of yeast isn’t a measurement…there are packets that are 7 grams, some are 15 grams. I opted to put in 7 grams and hoped for the best. Despite the yeast guessing game, my dough’s lack of butter, and my overflowing baking pans, the rolls did turn out good. Hopefully the recipe will be edited to be more specific so that others will have an easier time than I did.
Lynda says
My apologies about that. I have updated the recipe card and post to reflect that the butter gets added in step 2 as the honey and other ingredients are added.
As far as yeast, I have only seen a standard size in the grocery stores where I shop. I typically use Fleischmann’s and the packets are 1/4 ounce which equates to 7 grams or 2 1/4 teaspoons. I often just scoop yeast out of a jar I have in the refrigerator using a standard spoon – not a measuring spoon.