Right around the time my Gran passed away, my mom put together a book of family recipes from her recipe file and also those new recipes collected and contributed by my sisters, aunts and cousins.

It is one of my most cherished possessions and the one I use most out of the thousand-ish cookbooks I own. Here is one of my Gran’s recipes I have adapted- the original orange rolls were yummy too:

Orange-Cinnamon Sweet Rolls

• 2 cups whole milk, scalded
• 6 Tablespoons butter, soft
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 packages dry yeast (4-1/2 teaspoons)
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 8 cups all purpose flour (can be more or less depending on your environment)

Filling

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons powdered cinnamon
• 3 teaspoons orange zest

Glaze

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon Gran Marnier liqueur (optional)
• enough orange juice to make a glaze (I used juice from approx 1-1-/2 cara cara oranges)

Scald the milk by placing it in a small heavy saucepan and bring almost up to the boil, then remove from heat, place in the bowl of your standmixer and let cool to lukewarm. Add the butter, sugar, salt, and yeast and let stand 3 minutes. Add the eggs and part of the flour and mix with the dough hook until combined. Add the rest of the flour in a cup at a time mixing until you get a moderately stiff dough, it should pull away from the sides of the bowl but still be a bit sticky and soft. Knead until smooth and satiny. Place in a buttered bowl or storage container. I like to use a translucent 4 qt food storage bucket with a lid so I can cover it and see when it’s doubled in size. let raise in a warmish place until doubled – this may take two hours. Divide the dough in half on a lightly floured surface and roll each half separately into an approximately 32″ by 8 inch rectangle, spread with half the filling. I find an offset spatula works great for this. Roll up and cut with a serrated knife or un-waxed dental floss into 16 equal pieces. Place onto a half sheet pan that has either been greased or lined with parchment paper, and repeat with the other half of the dough. Cover and let raise to double. Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated 375F oven, rotating the pans halfway through. Put the glaze on the rolls while they are hot. Makes 32 rolls.

I made these yesterday for our Mom’s day brunch. I hope you enjoy them if you try them.

xoxo

Gabi