Orange Cinnamon Rolls

I wanted to find a recipe that was as good or better than the Pillsbury orange rolls we make on Christmas morning every year. This recipe from Averie Cooks is scrumptious!  The original recipe can be found here, Best Orange Glazed Sweet Rolls. I made a few adaptations to the recipe, and I will definitely be making them again. Yum!

The first time I made the dough, it took a long time for the dough to rise (4 hours). I ended up tossing the dough when I realized that this dough contains raw egg. Yes, baking it probably would have killed all the bacteria, but since I was feeding it to my kids, I played it safe by tossing out the dough and starting fresh.  A few tips: don't leave dough to rise for more than 2 hours.  Make sure the rolls are fully baked, too (turning golden on top).

I microwaved 1 stick of butter for 1 min, then added the buttermilk and microwaved another 50 seconds, which was just right.

I also set the oven temp to 400 and left it on for 2-3 mins until the oven felt nice and warm, almost hot. The second batch of dough rose nicely in less than 2 hours, so these warmer temps were key!

Lastly, I ended up using cinnamon and sugar for the filling since I didn't have marmalade on hand. 1/3c. packed brown sugar, 1/3c. white sugar, and 1 Tbsp cinnamon.

These rolls tasted better than any homemade cinnamon roll I've ever had!  I think the buttermilk in the dough made them very tender and deeelish!

The orange glaze frosting was fine, but we still prefer the Pillsbury orange roll frosting which tastes a bit richer.  Next time I might experiment with a cream cheese based orange frosting.