Orange Sweet Rolls

Orange Sweet Rolls are made with a moist potato dough and are rolled up with lots of fragrant orange zest and sugar for a perfectly scrumptious sweet roll! This post is a little picture heavy to say the least, but a recipe this epic deserves a well-documented tutorial.

Making yeast rolls can be intimidating at first, but if you follow the directions step-by-step, you really can’t screw them up! My grandma Walters always made this recipe for her Bed and Breakfast guests and everyone would rave about them. About twice a year, she would send us home with a plate of exactly 6 rolls…precisely the number of members in my family. She was never over-generous with the rolls, but we were still eager to get them any chance we could, even if it meant we only got one!

This recipe is a great way to use up any leftover mashed potatoes. If you don’t have some leftovers on hand, you will want to boil and mash some up the night before, so they have a chance to chill properly. The potatoes are a unique element to the dough recipe that keep it light and moist.

I cheat and use a hand mixer or my KitchenAid stand mixer to mix the dough. I don’t have enough arm strength or endurance to incorporate that much flour with a wooden spoon! If you use your stand mixer with the dough attachment, you can also use that for the bulk of the kneading.

I always make a double batch of Orange Sweet Rolls, because I decided a long time ago, that if I was going to go through the work and mess of making them, I better make it worth while. We typically start the process early on a Saturday morning and by time the dough has risen, been formed into rolls, risen again, baked, glazed and cooled, it is usually evening time before we complete the cleanup. This is somewhat of an undertaking, but I promise you, it is worth all of the effort!

When I used to manage a restaurant, I was able to raise all my dough in the proofer which made life easier. A proofer is a big box that you can put your trays of dough in to speed up the raising process at low temps. I no longer have that luxury and have never had much of any patience, so I now use our gas fireplace to speed the raising process along. 🙂

After the rolls are baked, they are topped with a glaze made from fresh orange juice, a bit of orange zest and some powdered sugar. This is the final step in completing these amazing sweet rolls. They are best served warm, so be sure to enjoy one fresh out of the oven.

As for the rest of the rolls, store them in an airtight container and freeze them up to 6 months. You can take out as many as you would like to thaw for a brunch or holiday weekend, so you always have a special treat on hand. After they thaw, pop one in the microwave for 10-15 seconds for a perfectly soft and flavorful sweet roll.

More sweet breakfast options you will love!

Serving: 30 rolls | Calories: 1330 kcal | Carbohydrates: 270 g | Protein: 32 g | Fat: 11 g | Saturated Fat: 6 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4 g | Cholesterol: 33 mg | Sodium: 337 mg | Fiber: 9 g | Sugar: 36 g