Overnight Sweet Rolls

Ingredients

Sweet Roll Dough:
1 pkg. (2 ¼ t.) active dry yeast
1 c. Roberts eggnog, warmed to 80 degrees F
3 T. Roberts unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 egg (room temperature)
3 c. all-purpose flour
3 T. granulated sugar
¾ t. salt

Filling:
¼ c. Roberts unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Zest of 3 oranges
1/3 c. granulated sugar
½ t. nutmeg
1 ¼ t. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans, optional

Icing:
1 ½ c. powdered sugar
1 ½ t. Roberts unsalted butter, softened
About 1 ½ T. Roberts eggnog, or orange juice

Preparation

You may prepare the dough in the bread machine on the “Dough” setting, and remove after the cycle is complete, or by doing the following:
Dissolve the yeast with the warmed eggnog. Let stand 5 minutes while measuring the dry ingredients into a separate large mixing bowl. Stir the butter into the eggnog-yeast mixture. Add the egg; stir to mix well. Add the flour mixture; stir to form a soft dough. Turn out dough onto a floured surface. Knead to form a dough that is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a large greased bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 35 minutes. Meanwhile, zest oranges for the filling. Stir in the 1/3 c. sugar. Punch down dough and turn out onto floured surface. Roll out to a rectangle ¼-inch thick (about 18” x 12”). Brush with the ¼ c. melted butter, leaving about ½” bare on one of the rectangle’s short sides. Evenly sprinkle zest-spice mixture over buttered surface. Starting with the short side that has filling mixture on it, roll up jelly roll style to the side that was left bare. Pinch with fingertips to form a seam. Using a sharp knife, cut roll into 12 even slices. Place in greased 13” x 9” baking dish. Cover securely with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate overnight.*

To bake, remove foil or plastic wrap. Do not allow rolls to rise. Place in unheated oven set to 350 degrees F. Bake until golden, about 40-45 minutes. During last 5 minutes of baking time, prepare icing by creaming the softened butter into the powdered sugar, then adding enough eggnog or orange juice to form a consistency that is just thin enough to spread. Spread icing over hot rolls. Serve immediately.

*Rolls may be baked instead of being chilled overnight. Do not allow rolls to rise. Bake in unheated oven set to 350 degrees F until golden, about 30-35 minutes.

Recipe Contributed By: Angela G.

Notes:

Fresh-from-the-oven sweet rolls are our family’s Christmas morning breakfast tradition, and nothing beats homemade. This recipe allows me to prepare the rolls the day before, so that I don’t miss any family fun in the morning. Make the icing with eggnog to bring out the creamy spice flavor of the rolls, or with orange juice to highlight the flavor of the orange zest in the filling--either way they are so yummy!

Special note: we no longer distribute eggs or margarine, but have left the recipes as originally printed to maintain their integrity.