Orange Rolls

If your my family, you're probably saying, "It's not Thanksgiving. You can't have these!" Orange rolls are a "Thanksgiving" tradition-and in my personal house, a Christmas one too. However, this year I'm shifting my focus and trying to make the most of every day. In the past I've always said, "when this happens, we'll..." or "someday". Why do we save the "best" things for special occasions? Why do we pull out our "best" dishes to use only on holidays, or save our "favorite" recipes for special occasions? Don't our families deserve the ''best" everyday? Yes, I know if we have the "best" everyday it may "lessen" it's "wow" factor. But frankly, life it too short to be saving our "bests" for those few and far between occasions. So I pulled out my son's favorite "baked good" recipe yesterday, orange rolls, and just "lived for the moment"-he was sooooo excited!!

Orange Rolls

From the kitchen of Grandma Moore

2 pkgs yeast (4 ½ tsp.)                        ½ cup shortening

½ cup warm water                              ½ cup sugar

½ cup sugar                                          4 orange rinds

1 cup scalded milk

½ cup shortening

2 eggs

Pinch salt

In a saucepan, scald milk. In kitchen aide, add scalded milk and shortening. Set aside. In a ceramic bowl, mix yeast, water and sugar. Let sit 15 min. After 15 min, add yeast mixture to milk mixture. Mix. Add eggs and salt. Blend. Add enough flour to make a soft dough (5-6 cups). Cover and let rise till double. Roll out, spread orange mixture on top, roll and cut. Place in greased muffin tins. Let rise again. Bake at 400 for 10 min. Makes 2-3 dozen.

Here is my best attempt at step-by-step directions (towards the end I was just so excited that I forgot to take pictures!)

Step 1: First, get your eggs out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature. I recently learned that when baking anything, like breads or cakes, your eggs should be room temp. Next, scald the milk-heat it on the stove until it just starts to develop small bubbles around the edge-DON'T BOIL IT! (You may ask why we do this-I questioned it too. I guess in the old days they scalded milk to kill the bacteria in their raw milk. So supposedly now you don't need to as our milk is pasteurized. I still do it because it melts my shortening)

Step 2: While your milk is warming, in a ceramic bowl (because it will hold heat), proof your yeast-mix the yeast, warm water (105-115 degrees) and sugar and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

Step 3: Once your milk is scalded, add it to your mixer bowl with the shortening-this will melt the shortening. I used my wire whisk and mixed this up for a couple minutes to help it cool faster. It made a nice creamy mixture. Make sure this mixture is WARM TO THE TOUCH, or cooler,  before you add your yeast mixture or you'll kill the yeast!

Step 4: Combine the yeast mixture with the shortening/milk, add the eggs, salt-mix for a minute until your eggs are incorporated, and then start to add flour. You don't want to go overboard on the flour-just until it's a soft dough. It should pull from the sides of the mixer when it's just right. This picture may look like it needs more flour, but it doesn't.

Step 5: I oiled my hands lightly and turned the dough onto my Silicone mate. With a little working (but no additional flour,I got this soft ball)

Step 6: Lightly grease a ceramic bowl and place the dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap (spray underside of saran wrap with cooking oil so it doesn't stick) and place somewhere warm so it can double in size (I placed my by the fireplace, cuddled up in a chair, and read for an hour)

Step 7: Just before my dough has doubled, I grate my orange peels and make the filling. Mix the grated orange peel with the shortening and sugar, in a small bowl.

Step 8: Didn't get a picture of this one. Divide the dough in two and roll out one. I roll it out on my cutting mat so I have a guide how large to roll it.  My mats are 12 x 15, and the dough is usually around 1/4" thick. Once you've got it rolled out, spread half of the filling over the top. Then roll the dough up, starting with one of the long ends, and pinch the ends when you're done. Then cut the "log" about every 1 1/4". DON'T cut on your silicone mat! Transfer your "log" to a cutting board first!

Step 9: Grease your cupcake tins and place one rolled section into each tin. Then cover with a dish cloth and let them rise again (back to the fireplace and your book!)

Step 10: I forgot to take a picture before they went in the oven so I quickly opened the door and snapped a shot. This shows you how large I let them rise. Then pop them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until the tops are nicely brown.

Step 11: I let them cool just for a minute in the pans, and then remove them and place in a bowl that's lined with a kitchen towel. Then enjoy! They do freeze well-just place in ziploc bags after they have cooled-mine are usually eaten before I can get them to the freezer!