Ditch the plain old cinnamon rolls for these tasty orange cinnamon rolls for a twist on this classic favorite!
Ingredients & Equipment Needed For This Recipe
Ingredients:
Brioche Dough
- Bread Flour
- Active Dry Yeast
- Warm Water-Not hot, not cold WARM
- Kosher Salt
- Granulated Sugar
- Large Eggs– I always use large eggs when I bake.
- Unsalted Butter– Room temperature
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- Unsalted Butter– Room temperature
- Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Ground Cinnamon
- Kosher Salt
Orange Glaze
- 1 Orange
- Milk of Choice– For this recipe, I used whole milk.
- Powdered Sugar
Equipment:
- Stand Mixer
- 2 Small Bowls– One bowl is to mix the cinnamon sugar spread, and the other is for mixing the orange glaze.
- Measuring Cups & Spoons OR Digital Kitchen Scale (if using metric)
- Bowl Scraper
- Rolling Pin
- Glass Baking Dish– The size will depend on exactly how many cinnamon rolls you decide to make. This recipe yields anywhere from 12-16 depending on how big you want your rolls to be!
- Rubber or Offset Spatula– Used for spreading the cinnamon sugar spread on the dough before rolling.
- Sharp Knife or Dental Floss– To get the perfect cuts!
My Kinda Professional Tips For Orange Cinnamon Rolls
- As stated above these can be made, cut, and frozen to be baked at a later date! Perfect for the person who lives alone or with one other person, or who doesn’t need 8 cinnamon rolls to themselves!.
- To make cutting these rolls SO much easier, use dental floss! Mark how big you’d like your rolls (I usually go for 1 ½”). Gently lift the roll and slide the floss under the roll and crisscross over the top to cut! Simple as that and much better than squished rolls.
- This recipe is a lot easier (as most bread recipes are) with a stand mixer but can certainly be achieved by mixing by hand! That’s what they did before machines remember? This is a fatty dough so, it can be a little bit sticky. Once it has rested for at least 2 hours, it will be ready to work with and MUCH easier, trust me. I have listed in the notes to the recipe how to divide this dough. I go by weight so, having a kitchen scale is very helpful when it comes to dividing. Another suggestion for this dough is to work quickly, as it can get soft and miserable to work with after too long.
- For Storage: These baked orange cinnamon rolls will keep for 3 days at room temperature in a close-able container. The dough will keep in the fridge un-used for 3 days. Assembled and unbaked cinnamon rolls can be stored in the freezer for up to one month.
Orange Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon rolls are one of the staple brunch or breakfast food items. Make it a little different with these orange cinnamon rolls for a twist on this classic favorite.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- 2 Medium Bowls
- Measuring Cups & Spoons OR Kitchen Scale if using metric
- Bowl Scraper
- Rolling Pin
- Glass Baking Dish
- Rubber or Offset Spatula
- Sharp Knife or Dental Floss
Ingredients
Sponge:
- 3/4 Cup Bread Flour (95 g)
- 1 pkg Active Dry Yeast (2 1/4 tsp) (7 g)
- 1/2 Cup Warm Water (120 ml)
Dough:
- 2 1/4 Cup Bread Flour (280 g)
- 1 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 3 Tbl Granulated Sugar (45 g)
- 3 Each Large Eggs
- 1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, soft (56 g)
Cinnamon Sugar Spread:
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted butter, melted (113 g)
- 2 Tbl Brown Sugar (30 g)
- 2 Tbl Granulated Sugar (30 g)
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- pinch Kosher Salt
Orange Glaze:
- 1 each Orange, zested
- 2 Tbl Whole Milk (30 ml)
- 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar (60 g)
Instructions
To Make Brioche Dough:
- Make the sponge by mixing together the first three ingredients very well in the mixing bowl. Let rest in for at least 10 minutes to get the yeast activated.
- While the sponge is resting, gather together all of the other ingredients.
- Place the bread flour and sugar in the bowl of the mixer on top of the sponge. THEN the salt. *never want the salt and yeast to touch*. Place the eggs on top and begin to mix with dough hook for 2 minutes on speed 1-2.
- Once the dough starts to come together, add in the soft butter in small increments (about 1-2 TBL at a time). Continue to mix on speed 3 for 10 minutes. Be sure to give the bowl a scrape half-way so that the entire dough ball is getting mixed and there are no lumps of un-mixed dough.
- Let rest a minimum of 6 hours in the fridge, preferably overnight for more flavor.
- Place the mixed dough in a well sprayed large Tupperware or some sort of plastic container with room because this will get bigger!
To Assemble and Bake Orange Cinnamon Rolls
- To make both the cinnamon sugar spread and orange glaze simply combine all ingredients from each recipe together well.
- Depending on the amount of rolls you want to make, will depend about the size of rectangle that needs to be made for the rolls. These will freeze well and bake once they are thawed so, if you only want a few you can assemble and save them for later! *See above for my cutting tips*
- Working quickly, roll the dough to desired size. I go for about 12” X 25” (for 12 rolls) This is size that has worked very well for me. Take the cinnamon sugar spread and spread a thin layer all over the dough, being sure to leave an inch of bare dough at the bottom to be able to seal the dough.
- Roll gently down the dough creating a spiraled log. Mark where the cuts will be BEFORE cutting so that even pieces are achieved. My best hack for this recipe is to use dental floss to cut the rolls as the dough as this point is starting to get difficult to work with.
- Place in a well sprayed glass or ceramic baking dish (again depending on how many you’ve made) 9”x13” for 10-15, 8” X8” for 5-9, and 9” cake pan for 5 or less. This is just an estimate and my guide for baking these but feel free to experiment with different sizes!
- Let proof in oven with light on for 1 hr. Remove from oven and pre-heat to 375° F for 15 minutes while the dough finishes proofing on the counter or even on top of the oven.
- Place a piece of aluminum foil on top of the cinnamon rolls before placing in the oven for 20 minutes. This helps prevent from the tops of the rolls to get too dark too quick which could result in under baked rolls. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes uncovered, or until the internal temperature is at least 190° F.
- Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes to cool. To make the orange glaze, place all ingredients together well in a small bowl. If you'd prefer a thicker glaze, add 1 Tbl at a time of additional powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved. Pour over still warm rolls.
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