Blood Orange Sweet Rolls{with Blood Orange Cream Cheese Buttercream}

If you are a cinnamon roll/orange roll fan then these delicately flavored rolls will certainly be right up your alley. I thought it would be fun to do a little twist on the usual orange roll and use blood oranges instead. Their deep red color gives these rolls such a nice pink tint. They would make a great Valentines Day breakfast for your loved ones! My family gobbled them up in a disturbingly short amount of time.

The dough is so easy to make. I used my favorite roll dough recipe that I found awhile ago on howdoesshe.com(and it is the best roll recipe I have ever used, I tell you!) and then rolled it out and filled it with, of course, a lot of butter, sugar and orange goodness.

If you have never tried using orange oil before you really, really should! It is the best way to get natural, real orange flavor when zest and juice just aren’t enough. I use doTERRA’s Wild Orange Oil and love it, but you could use any pure orange oil. Just stay away from extracts if you are looking for something real with no additives.

I know I’m posting Blood Oranges again(remember this dessert?), but since they are only around for a few months each year I have to make the most of it! I still can’t get over their stunning color and sweet tart flavor. Sometimes I just sit and stare at their beauty. I wish I was kidding. I’m helpless in their aesthetic power.

The buttercream on these rolls is just lovely, by the way. The blood orange juice gives it the prettiest color and just the right amount of subtle flavor. And it’s not overly sweet, which I like when it sits on top of a sweet roll.

I’m sharing this recipe over at Just Between Friends today, so head on over HERE to get the Blood Orange Cream Cheese Buttercream recipe!

*This recipe makes a large amount of sweet rolls, so do share!

And if you’re in a sharing mood, would you mind doing me a favor and voting for me? You can vote for these rolls HERE, or my Red Quinoa Pancake recipe HERE. Better Recipes is having a breakfast recipe contest and I thought it would be fun to enter. Couldn’t hurt, right?

Blood Orange Sweet Rolls{with Blood Orange Cream Cheese Buttercream}

Makes about 24-28 large rolls.

Ingredients

1½ cups of milk
¾ cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups of warm water
about 9-10 cups of all purpose flour
at least 1 cup of butter
FOR THE FILLING:
1 C. Butter, softened
1 C. Sugar
zest of 2 small blood oranges
¼ C. Blood orange juice
5 drops Orange Oil(I use doTERRA's Wild Orange)
1 recipe Blood Orange Cream Cheese Buttercream

Instructions

Scald 1½ cups of milk, ¾ cup sugar and ½ cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Place in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Add in 2 cups of flour, 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, mix together well and leave to cool for a couple of minutes.
Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly.
Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!
Gradually add in 7-8 cups of flour while mixing at low speed, adding it in a cup at a time.
At the end the dough will be dense and sticky. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise.
While the dough is rising, place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream together.
Add the orange zest and orange oil to the mixture and mix in. Add the orange juice 1 T. at a time, mixing well after each addition. Set aside.
When your dough is close to raising completely, butter 2 cookie sheets and set them aside.
Let the dough raise until it has doubled in size.
Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out in the center and roll it out into a very large rectangle(about 2'x1½').
Place the butter/sugar mixture in the center of the dough and spread out with a spatula to cover the entire surface evenly.
Roll the dough up, lengthwise, into a long log shape.
Using thread or dental floss, slide the string underneath about 1½ inches or the roll, bring both ends together and pull in opposite directions, so that you are left with a cleanly sliced roll. Repeat this with the remaining log of dough, placing the rolls on a greased cookie sheet(I can usually fit about 20 rolls per sheet).
Cover the sheet of rolls with a towel and allow to rise again for about 30 minutes, or until almost, but not quite doubled in size.
Bake the rolls at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Let cool slightly and spread with Blood Orange Cream Cheese Buttercream.