Soft and pillowy orange rolls made with refrigerator roll dough, orange-sugar filling, and an orange glaze. Great for Holidays, brunch, weekend breakfast, or any occasion.
This recipe is adapted from a refrigerator roll recipe in Cotton Country Cooking’s 25th Anniversary edition, contributed by Mrs. Lloyd Nix. The rolls are seriously amazing and I only wish I could find the recipe somewhere online somewhere to link for you all!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Brown sugar + granulated sugar + orange zest make for a vibrant yet caramel-y filling. A lot of orange rolls use just granulated sugar, but using a bit of brown sugar adds a richer flavor.
- The dough is pillowy and soft, made with a combination of shortening & butter. Butter produces a rich flavor while shortening produces a soft, light texture.
- Orange icing on top made with freshly squeezed orange juice.
- Do the first proof of the dough overnight, so that in the morning you can shape the rolls and bake them.
Ingredient Notes
Here are some of the ingredients and important notes that you’ll need to make these orange rolls.
- Milk: Use whole milk for the best results — the fattier milk yields richer, more flavorful rolls.
- If needed, you can use 2% milk but I would not recommend using skim milk.
- Butter and shortening: The recipe uses a combination of butter and shortening as the primary fats. I would not recommend substituting one for the other as each play an important roll in the dough.
- All-Purpose Flour: Measure flour with a digital food scale for accuracy. Start with the amount of flour recommended for the recipe, and then add more only if needed.
- Active Dry Yeast: Make sure you are using active dry yeast and not instant or rapid-rise yeast.
- Large egg, room temperature: Soak the egg in a bowl of hot water for 5-10 minutes to bring it to room temperature.
- Oranges: Both the zest and juice — I used one large navel orange for this recipe. Navel oranges work really well given their smooth skin (easy to zest). They also taste quintessentially like “orange” if that makes sense lol.
How to Make Overnight Orange Rolls
One of the key elements to these rolls is the “overnight” factor, in which you first make and rise the dough overnight, and then shape and bake the next day. This is actually different from other overnight roll recipes I’ve seen since with many recipes you actually shape the rolls first before rising overnight.
- Make dough and rise overnight: make the dough following the instructions in the recipe card, and then cover and let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator.
- Shape rolls: You will want to take the dough out of the refrigerator around 2-2.5 hours before serving to give yourself plenty of time to shape the orange rolls and give them a second rise. I like dividing the dough into two before rolling it out and filling, which makes it easier to manage. Allow the rolls to rise for another hour, until they are visibly puffed up like little pillows.
- Bake and ice: Bake the rolls until they are golden brown. While the rolls are baking, you can prepare the orange icing by mixing together powdered sugar, orange juice, and pure vanilla extract. Spread the icing on the rolls while they are still hot to allow it to melt over everything.
Tips & Ideas
- Make sure to activate the yeast in lukewarm water (around 110°F). If the water is too hot it may kill the yeast.
- Try adding some cinnamon or a pinch of cardamom to the filling.
- For a thinner icing that acts as more of a glaze, use more orange juice. For thicker icing use less (I used less orange juice in the rolls pictured in this recipe, but have tried it both ways).
- You can skip the filling altogether and use this dough to make dinner rolls.
Pin & Save for Later
Are you interested in making this recipe but not ready to bake yet? Not to worry! You can hover over (or tap on mobile/tablet) any image in this post to save it to Pinterest. You can also directly pin the recipe card down below. The recipe will be waiting for you when you need it. 🙂
Happy baking my friends and as always, hope you love your overnight orange rolls!
Similar Recipes
The Softest Overnight Orange Rolls
The softest and fluffiest overnight refrigerator orange rolls adapted from a vintage recipe book. Full of bright orange flavor and perfect for a weekend breakfast or brunch.
Ingredients
Roll Dough
- ½ cup whole milk
- 4 tbsp (57g) unsalted butter
- ½ cup shortening
- ¼ cup (50g) + 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ cup water, slightly warm
- 1 packet (2 ¼ tsp) active dry yeast
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
Filling
- 6 tbsp (85g) unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup (67g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar
- 2 tsp orange zest
Orange Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
- Splash of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make dough. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, butter, shortening, and ¼ cup sugar together until melted and milk is simmering. Pour the mixture into a heatproof bowl to cool until it is just warm to the touch or at room temperature.
- Once the milk has cooled, activate the yeast. In the bowl of a mixer, mix the water and remaining 1 tbsp of sugar together. Make sure that the water is just warm to the touch (around 110°F). Sprinle the yeast on top and then mix it in. Allow the yeast to dissolve and rest for 5-10 minutes, until super foamy.
- Add the cooled milk and egg to the yeast mixture and whisk until combined. Then add the flour and salt and mix by hand to start combining the flour.
- Attach the hook attachment to your mixer and knead the dough on medium speed for 5-6 minutes, until it forms a smooth ball.
- Cover the dough and transfer it to the fridge to rise overnight.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator 2 hours before you plan to serve the rolls. Make the filling by mixing the softened butter, sugars, and orange zest together until it forms a paste. If the butter is too firm you can give it a few seconds in the microwave, but avoid melting it.
- Divide the dough in half and roll out each portion on a lightly floured surface into a 12x8 inch rectangle. Spread half of the orange-sugar mixture onto each rectange of dough.
- Roll the dough up jelly roll style, starting from the long edge, forming a log. Cut each log into 6 to 8 equal-sized pieces (use floss for the best cuts), depending on how large of rolls you want.
- Place the rolls in greased baking pans. Cover and allow them to rise for 60-75 minutes, or until visibly puffed up and doubled in size. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F
- Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.
- When the rolls are almost done, make the icing by whisking the powdered sugar, orange juice, and vanilla extract together. Spread over the rolls while they are still warm and serve immediately.
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