Alabama Orange Rolls

When you want a delicious, ooey gooey sweet roll for breakfast, the first type of roll you probably think of is the classic cinnamon roll. And while cinnamon rolls are definitely amazing, might I suggest you try something a little different and go with these orange rolls instead? They're still ooey and gooey and sweet, but also offer a little extra tang and don't veer into the too sweet territory.

Now, like any yeasted dough, you're gonna have to plan ahead for when you want to eat these. These aren't a roll you can just bust out in a half hour, there are multiple rises and waiting for them to cool before glazing... all of that good stuff. If you want to start making them in the morning, they're more of a brunch situation than breakfast, if we're being honest with ourselves.

The original recipe for these rolls calls for using a dark 9-inch cake pan, and you can see I most certainly did not do that here. A dark pan will cook them faster than a light pan, and will also give you crisper edges. Now, personally, I prefer the roll to be soft all around rather than hard on the outside and gooey on the middle, so I was perfectly happy with the light pan results. But if you enjoy the hard outside and soft middle type of thing, you might want to try a dark pan. Either way, they'll turn out delicious, though. So if you love rolls and you love orange, get to it!

Alabama Orange Rolls
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 8
Prep time: 03:00
Cook time: 00:45
Total time: 03:45

Amazing brunch rolls that have just the right amount of sweet and tangy orange flavor.

Ingredients:

Dough:
• 3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (1.75 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup orange juice, warm (110 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces and softened
• 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
Filling:
• 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Glaze:
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup (1.75 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. For the Dough: In a stand mixer bowl, whisk flour, sugar, yeast, and salt together. Add orange juice, cream, butter, and egg and yolk. Using the dough hook, knead on medium speed until dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high and continue to knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes longer. Dough will be nice and soft.
2. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead until smooth ball forms, about 30 seconds. Place dough in a greased large bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
3. For the Filling: Combine sugar and zest in a small bowl. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter. Roll dough into 16 by 8-inch rectangle with long side parallel to counter’s edge. Spread butter over surface of dough using small offset spatula, then sprinkle evenly with sugar mixture. Roll dough away from you into tight, even log and pinch seam to seal.
4. Grease 9-inch cake pan, line bottom with parchment paper, then grease parchment. Roll log seam side down and cut into eight 2-inch-thick slices using a serrated knife. Place 1 roll in center of prepared pan and others around perimeter of pan, seam sides facing center. Cover with plastic and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.
5. Discard plastic and bake rolls until golden brown on top and interior of center roll registers 195 degrees, 40 to 50 minutes. Let rolls cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes.
6. For the Glaze: Once rolls have cooled for 30 minutes, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until large, slow bubbles appear and mixture is syrupy, about 4 minutes.
7. Using spatula, loosen rolls from sides of pan and slide onto platter; discard parchment. Brush glaze over tops of rolls and serve warm.

Recipe from Cook's Country

Triple Citrus Bars

If you're a fan of Key Lime Pie, or even the lesser-known Sour Orange Pie, this is another dessert to add to your repertoire. This time around, we're mixing up all three of the most famous citrus fruits - oranges, lemons, and limes - into a very easy and delectable bar form. Sour and sweet, without being overly so for either category. Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong.

The crust is made from animal crackers, which have a slightly different tang than the typical graham crackers that are used most often in pie-crusts. You could probably do it with graham crackers, too, but give it a whirl with the animal crackers. I used the organic Kirkland brand ones from Costco as they seem to have less preservatives than the typical Barnum's ones.

What's the hardest thing about this recipe? I guess all the zesting and juicing just because it takes some time. You can easily double this recipe to be made in a 13x9 inch pan rather than an 8x8 pan, but that IS twice as much zesting and juicing. I don't ever tend to double a recipe on my first try just to make sure I like it first. Also, can we just talk about how perfect those pieces of fruit look on the inside? Beautiful.

Now here's the real question - if I were to make these or the sour orange pie, which would I pick? They are admittedly very similar in their ingredients, these bars just have a bit more of a floral note to them thanks to the lime. I think personally I prefer the orange pie better, but I wouldn't say no to either one if set out in front of me, that's for sure.

Triple Citrus Bars
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 16 2-inch bars
Prep time: 00:30

Cook time: 00:40

Total time: 04:40

Tart and sweet, a perfect and floral citrus flavor explosion in a simple, easy-to-make bar.

Ingredients:

Crust
• 5 ounces animal crackers
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar (light or dark)
• Pinch table salt
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Filling
• 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime zest, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest, minced
• Pinch table salt
• 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 egg yolk
• 6 Tablespoons fresh lime juice, either Key lime or regular
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon fresh orange juice

Instructions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are going to want to take all of the bars out at once, cut about 12-inch length extra-wide heavy-duty foil; fold cut edges back to form 7 1/2-inch width. With folded sides facing down, fit foil securely into bottom and up sides of 8-inch-square baking pan, allowing excess to overhang pan sides. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. If you're not going to take them all out at once, you don't need to use the foil, instead you can just spray your 8x8 pan with some cooking spray.
2. TO MAKE THE CRUST: In workbowl of food processor, pulse animal crackers until broken down, about ten 1-second pulses; process crumbs until evenly fine, about 10 seconds (you should have about 1 1/4 cups crumbs). Add brown sugar and salt; process to combine, ten to twelve 1-second pulses (if large sugar lumps remain, break them apart with fingers). Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened with butter, about ten 1-second pulses. Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake until deep golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling. Do not turn off oven.
3. TO MAKE THE FILLING: While crust cools, in medium bowl, stir cream cheese, zests, and salt with rubber spatula until softened, creamy, and thoroughly combined. Add sweetened condensed milk and whisk vigorously until incorporated and no lumps of cream cheese remain; whisk in egg yolk. Add juices and whisk gently until incorporated (mixture will thicken slightly).
4. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE: Pour filling into crust; spread to corners and smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until set and edges begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours.
5. If you used foil, then loosen the edges with a paring knife and lift bars from baking pan using foil extensions; cut bars into 16 squares and serve. If you did not, you can just store the pan in the fridge covered with foil or saran wrap, and cut out pieces as you like.

Recipe from Cook's Country

Sour Orange Pie

Are you a fan of key lime pie? Sad that you can only get it during certain times of the year from your favorite restaurants? Well let me tell you about this other pie that, to me, is maybe even better than key lime.

It's a little something called... Sour Orange Pie. Oh yeah.

I admit I didn't know what to expect when making this pie. Would it be really sour? Too sweet? No, it turned out juuuuust right. I guess I shouldn't be surprised when the people behind Cook's Illustrated are the ones with the recipe. Always trust Cook's Illustrated. Because this pie? Is amazing.

You don't even really need that whipped cream on top if I'm being honest. With key lime pie, the whipped cream can cut through some of the sourness of the pie itself, but in this sour orange version, the filling is just sweet enough that you don't really need that extra sweetness on top to cut the sour. It's just as great on its own. But having the orange zest in the whipped cream does give it a little extra somethin' somethin' too, so that's not to say it isn't nice to have it on there. Just don't think you can't have the pie if you don't like/want/can't have whipped cream!

Seriously, go make it! It's not only really delicious, but also dang easy. Tangy, sweet, crunchy crust with a delightfully creamy center. So much yum!

Sour Orange Pie
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 8 pieces
Prep time: 00:10

Cook time: 00:29

Total time: 03:40

If you love Key Lime Pie, then give Sour Orange Pie a try. It's the orange version of it, and possibly even more delicious!

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 5 ounces animal crackers
• 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• Pinch salt
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling:

• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 6 Tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest, plus 6 Tablespoons juice (2 lemons)
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• Pinch salt
Whipped Cream:

• 3/4 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest

Instructions:

1. For the Crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350F. Process crackers, sugar and salt in food processor until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Add in melted butter and pulse 8 times until combined. Transfer crumbs to 9-inch pie plate.
2. Using bottom of dry measuring cup, press crumbs firmly into bottom and up the sides of pie plate. Bake crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, 12-14 minutes. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
3. For the Filling: Whisk all ingredients in bowl until fully combined. Pour filling into pie crust.
4. Bake pie until center jiggles slightly when shaken, 15-17 minutes. Let cool completely. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours. Or cover with greased plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
5. For the Whipped Cream: Whisk cream, sugar, and orange zest in a medium bowl until stiff peaks form, 2-4 minutes. Slice chilled pie and serve with whipped cream.

Recipe thanks to Cook's Country February/March 2017 Magazine