Monday, March 9, 2020

Good Morning, Sunshine. Rosie Makes Orange Breakfast Buns.


Sometimes I just need to wake up to sunshine.  In the form of orange breakfast buns.

Back in the day, when my younguns were wee things, I always had one of those refrigerated canisters of Pillsbury Orange Whack-a-Rolls on hand for a quick breakfast in case I didn't feel like making breakfast that morning.  I don't buy them any more since I don't have wee ones, but every now and then, I get a hankerin' for orange sunshine.  In the morning.  Or midday.  Or afternoon.  So I made my own orange buns.  And they were good.

Rosie's Orange Buns
1 package yeast
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup cream
1 TB sugar
1/2 cup orange juice (I used fresh.)
1/4 cup buttermilk1 TB cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 TB unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs

zest of one orange zest
about 4 cups flour

Combine milk and cream in a small bowl and heat until just warm, not hot.  Sprinkle yeast and a tablespoon of sugar over the mixture and let the yeast proof.  "Proofing" means that the yeast "proves" it's alive by eating the sugar and getting all poofy and bubbly.  If your mixture doesn't bubble, then the yeast is no good.  Throw it out and start over with fresh yeast.

Pour proofed mixture into bowl of stand mixer.  Add in orange juice, buttermilk, cinnamon, salt, butter, eggs, and zest.  Mix until smooth.  Gradually add in flour, 1/2 cup at a time,  until you have a smooth, elastic dough.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface and work by hand a few turns.
Place in oiled bowl, cover with plastic, and let rise until doubled, 2 hours or so.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and roll out into about a 12 x 16-inch rectangle.
Apply filling.

Filling:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pecans, crushed
1 TB cinnamon

Spread butter over surface of rolled-out dough, followed by marmalade.  Then sprinkle brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon evenly over top.

Roll dough lengthwise into tight cylinder. Slice into 16 pieces.  Place 8 pieces into 1 buttered 7 x 11-inch baking dish and the remaining 8 pieces into a buttered 8-inch square baking dish.  Or you could squish them all into a 9 x 13-inch dish.  I use what I have on hand.  Really doesn't make much difference.  Let rolls rise until doubled, then bake in a 350° oven for about 24 minutes, until nicely browned.

While still warm, apply glaze.

Glaze
4 oz.  cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
zest of one orange
1 TB vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Whisk in zest and vanilla.  Gradually mix in powdered sugar until you get the consistency you like.  Pour over warm rolls.


For the step-by-steps:
Warm up the milk and cream.  Not hot, because the heat will kill yeast.
Sprinkle the yeast over top, along with the sugar for the yeast to snack on.

When the mixture gets bubbly, add in the cinnamon, zest, buttermilk, and orange juice.
Then the butter and eggs and flour.

Mix until you get a pliable blob like this.
Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it a bit until it gets smooth.

Then place it in an oiled bowl, cover, and let it rise.
Ta daaaaaa!

Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and...
...roll it out.  Into a rectangle.

Dot it with butter.
Spread the butter out and sprinkle it with orange zest.

Add some orange marmalade and spread it out evenly.
  
Sprinkle it with brown sugar.

Then the crumbled pecans and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

And start rolling it up.
Tightly.
Seam side down.
Slice into 16 pieces.

And place in buttered baking dishes.

Let 'em rise.
When they're doubled in size, they're ready for baking.

While the rolls are baking, make the glaze.

Baked and ready for glaze.

Lookin' good.

Just slather it on.

Sprinkle more zest on top.

And there ya go!






Enjoy!





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