On Easter morning I had planned to make orange rolls from our Savoring the Seasons cook book, but I found myself out of yeast and had to come up with a back-up plan. I love orange rolls and for some reason I associate them with things like spring time and Easter and Mother’s Day and baby and wedding showers. Since Kate posted that great White Peach Sangria recipe on Monday I thought I’d add something that would go beautifully with that if you were planning a little get together of that sort! So back to Easter morning, I did have a bag of frozen Rhode’s Rolls so I whipped up an easy short-cut version by simply rolling the dough in the orange roll filling I would have used. The result was a sweet roll that was SO easy to make and tasted amazing. These disappeared so fast, I might have to default to these every time.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Frozen Rhode’s roll dough – For this recipe you’ll need about half a standard bag of frozen Rhodes Rolls (18 rolls). You want them thawed, but not risen. You can leave your rolls in the fridge overnight to do the trick, or you can place them individually on a lined baking sheet at room temp. You just need to keep an eye on them that way and make sure they don’t rise. Mine only took about an hour to thaw out.
- Granulated sugar
- Orange zest
- Orange juice
- Butter
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Easy Orange Rolls
- First you’re going to mix up some granulated sugar and fresh orange zest.
- Then you’ll stretch each piece of thawed dough into a rope shape, dip it in butter, and then roll it in your orange sugar.
- Then just tie each piece into a knot. East peasy.
- You can cover them at this point and refrigerate until you’re ready to bake, or allow them to proof (rise) under a light layer of plastic wrap.
- When your rolls have risen, you’ll pop them in the oven until golden brown.
- While the rolls are baking, whip up your glaze, which is made of powdered sugar, butter, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla extract.
- Allow the rolls to cool for a bit and glaze while still warm. Then sit back and watch them disappear!
Storing and Other Tips
- These rarely last long enough at our house to have leftovers, but if you do, store in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy within a day or so for best results!
- Make sure you allow the rolls to cool for a few minutes before glazing. If you glaze them while they are too hot, the glaze will melt and run right off!
Frequently Asked Questions
These rolls are best eaten fresh. If you need to plan ahead, allow the dough to thaw, roll each piece in orange sugar and tie in a knot, then cover in plastic and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours. When ready to bake, pull the rolls out, keep covered loosely with plastic, and allow to rise 30-40 minutes until puffed and risen, then bake.
Absolutely! Even pizza dough from the deli would probably work well.
You should be able to freeze the finished rolls, but I would recommend reheating in the oven and glazing fresh.
Absolutely. These would be great with lemon, lime, or cinnamon and sugar!
Easy Short-Cut Orange Rolls
Ingredients
Orange Rolls
- ½ bag frozen Rhodes Rolls unbaked dough, about 18 rolls
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- zest from 1 very large or 2 medium oranges
- ½ stick butter melted
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ tablespoon butter melted
- 4 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Thaw rolls until thawed but not risen. You can pop the bag in the fridge overnight, or place rolls on a baking sheet at room temp. Mine took about an hour to thaw.
- While thawing, mix sugar and orange zest in a shallow bowl with a fork until sugar becomes a pale orange color. Take each dough ball and gently stretch to about a 6-inch rope. Dip rope in butter and then roll in sugar mixture. Then tie in a simple knot and place on baking sheet.
- Let dough rise until about double- they should be nice and plump. Bake in a pre-heated 350℉ oven until browned, about 20 minutes or so.
- When they are just about done, whisk glaze ingredients until smooth. Let rolls cool until just warm before drizzling on glaze. Rolls will be sitting in a very delicious mixture of gooey sugar (think of the bottom of the cinnamon roll pan, but orange flavor) so you might want to transfer rolls to serving plate before that hardens.
Questions & Reviews
These rolls are delicious! I made 12 of them and ate 9! Delectable!! Don’t even need the glaze!
Great recipe!! I’m in college and remember my mom making this for me a few times growing up… you helped me feel close to home!
What a perfect post for today! I adore orange rolls, but I am the only one in my entire family who does. All 3 of my “men” prefer cinnamon rolls. As soon as I saw this recipe, I jumped up and made 3. Yep, just 3 orange rolls! I just made eyeballed adjustments to the orange/sugar mix and melted a little butter to roll them in. Orange rolls just for mom!!
It sounds so fun and easy to make. Thank you for sharing! I have never tried orange rolls.
At the very end you mention on grocery list to get 4 large limes. What’s that for?
It’s just a typo- should be oranges 🙂
Thanks for sharing this wonderful treat. I love anything made with frozen rolls…this sounds delectable!