This Orange Rolls recipe is a sponsored campaign on behalf of Halos. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
My grandmother makes a lot of delicious sweets that I love. Don’t ask me to chose just one – they’re all my favorite. But at Christmas each year she puts together a plate (well, sometimes large box) filled with my most favorite treats.
Each year her food care packages include orange sweet rolls and they’re something I greatly look forward to. Sweet and sticky, I always reach for them first. I decided that since I love them so much, I might as well learn to make them myself so I could share them with others.
One thing about recipes that come handed down from my Gram is that there’s a lot of trial and error involved for those who haven’t made them before. She doesn’t really follow a recipe; she reaches for a pinch of this and a splash of that. She can’t even tell you how long to cook or bake something, her reply is always “It’s done when it’s done.”
Fortunately I’ve stood at her side and baked with her more times than I can count, so I had a pretty good feel for the orange rolls recipe. And as I went along, I made notes so that I could share her recipe with you all. I hope you love them as much as I do.
Mandarin Orange Rolls Recipe
- For Rolls:
- 1 pkg. active dry yeast
- ⅓ C + 1 tsp sugar
- 1¼ C + ¼ C warm (not hot) water
- ½ C butter, melted and cooled
- 1 C milk, slightly warmed
- 2 eggs, beaten and room temperature
- 1¼ tsp. salt
- 6 C all-purpose flour
- For "Filling":
- ¾ C sugar
- 2 T grated Mandarin orange zest
- For Glaze:
- ¾ C sugar
- 2 T Mandarin orange juice
- ¼ C butter, melted
- ½ C sour cream
- Place 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 packet of yeast, and ¼ cup warm (not hot) water in the bowl of a stand mixer and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes.
- After 5-10 minutes, add remaining ⅓ cup sugar, 1/c cup melted and cooled butter, 1 cup slightly warmed milk, eggs, salt, 3 cups of flour and remaining 1¼ cups of warm (not hot) water to the yeast mixture.
- With the dough hook attached, blend the mixture on low speed for 30 seconds, until combined.
- Add remaining flour and mix on low (2-3 setting) for 5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough will still be a bit sticky.
- Pour a small amount of vegetable oil over dough; turn to coat.
- Place bowl in a warm area and allow dough to rise for an hour, or until doubled.
- Punch down dough and roll out into a oblong or rectangular shape (I roll it out onto a rimmed baking sheet to make it easy and to contain the "filling". It will take at least 2 baking sheets for all the dough).
- Make the "filling": mix ¾ cup of sugar with 2 tablespoons of grated Mandarin orange zest (about two small Mandarin oranges). Spread sugar/zest mixture over dough.
- Cut dough into thin pie wedges. Roll up from the wide end to the short end, like you were making crescent rolls.
- Place rolls on baking sheets and let rise 45 minutes, or until doubled.
- Preheat oven to 375. Place baking sheets in oven and bake rolls 4 minutes.
- Rotate baking sheets and swap rack positions, and bake an additional 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile make the glaze.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan. Increase heat to medium and add sugar, juice, and sour cream.
- Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes.
- Immediately pour glaze over hot rolls.
My Gram always used regular oranges with her rolls, but I decided to use some of the Halo Mandarin oranges we had in the refrigerator. They’re so sweet, juicy and fragrant, I knew they’d be perfect. One Halo gives about 1 tablespoon of zest and 1 tablespoon of juice, so you only need two Halos for the recipe.
Bubbles loves them – they’re the perfect size for little hands, and are easy to peel and separate – so we won’t have any leftover, really. But I’ve also decided to hand out a few as gifts when I deliver the rolls. My Dad always told me about receiving an orange in his stocking at Christmas each year, and that they looked forward to that kind of treat.
What would you make with Halos Mandarin oranges?
About Liza
Liza is a mom (5-year-old daughter, 20-year-old stepson, and 24-year-old stepdaughter) and wife living in Louisville. She loves spending time with her family, visiting the local zoo and parks, as well as planning travel adventures. Cooking and baking, DIY projects and crafts, and coffee - lots and lots of coffee - round out some of her other hobbies.
What a cute idea! I love it!
Those sound delicious! Halos are so good, I bet these tastte great!
Don’t touch my Halos, LOL. But this sounds delish.
I don’t know what I would make with Halos – and I am not sure I will get to find out – because my son and Mom are busy eating them as soon as I get them home. I often drop off a bag for my sons classroom too! I love this recipe – thank you for sharing it!
These look sooooo good! I can’t wait to try them out. We do oranges in the stockings every year. It was a tradition my husband did growing up, so we decided to keep it with our kids too.
yep, drooling over here. right on the keyboard! these look delicious!
Looks like the perfect breakfast treat with coffee! Delicious!
I love mandarin oranges, I am going to have to see if my grocery stores sell Halos! Those rolls look delicious!
Your Gram’s rolls sound and look delicious! I have so many wonderful memories of cooking with my Gramma as well — it’s great to pass it on! We always have a bag of those mini oranges in the fridge, they’re perfect for the lunch box and just plain yummy!
Gram and Gramma baking memories are some of the best there are!
This recipe for Mandarin orange rolls looks delicious. Using Halos is a great idea, I’ll definitely give it a try. I think my family would love it
The recipes I have from my Nana are some of my favorite! I always pull them out this time of year
These orange rolls sound yummy!
Super cute and tasty too, rolls are a great christmas morning breakfast when you know you’re going to be eating all. day. long.
I’ll bet the flavor of those is pretty incredible! They look really yummy!
YUM! This is such a gread idea! My son loves Halos and crescent rolls so what a combo!
those look delish!! i may just have to make them to go with our christmas munchies all day christmas day
Yum. These sounds like the perfect Christmas morning treat with a nice cup of coffee while the kids open up their gifts. Thanks for sharing.
These look so heavenly and delicious! Yummy!
Oh, your mandarin orange rolls looks great. They combine two of my kids’ favorite things..mandarin oranges and crescent rolls. We will have to try these for sure.
I’ve never tried Halos! Will have to get some for me and my boys! The rolls look amazing!
I love taking a couple of Halos with me to the office each day. They are so perfect for snacking!
Those mandarin orange rolls look simply divine. I would love to have a couple of them and a cup of coffee right now. I love Halos too my girls eat them up. They say they’re better than candy.
Those look delicious! It’s so wonderful that your grandmother makes sweets for you. I always loved my grandma’s Christmas goodies.
These look so delicious. I am a big fan of these mandarins. I buy them weekly. I don’t know what I would like to make besides these yummy rolls with these mandarins. Maybe a glaze to put over pound cake. Thank you for sharing!
These look yummy! I love orange sweet rolls of all kind so I am going to have to try these. I just picked up a box of Halos the other day. I will have to make these before the kids eat them all
I love this! My little boy loves mandarin oranges so we always have them on hand. Can’t wait to try this. Pinned it!