The dough for these rolls is a family recipe, passed down through generations. I have never tasted a cinnamon roll dough that I like better than this one. It is totally classic and completely delicious. The slightly sweet, yeasty taste makes this dough irresistible. Growing up, these rolls were just classic cinnamon rolls with either homemade caramel or cream cheese frosting. Every time my mom made cinnamon rolls, it was either Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. The smell of these baking in the oven still makes me think of holidays, family, and tradition.

One of my favorite trips that I went on as a kid was with my family to Coeur d’Alene Idaho. We stayed at the Coeur d’Alene resort and got a chance to eat at a restaurant on the seventh floor of the hotel called Beverly’s. Before the meal they brought us these delicate, delicious orange rolls. To this day, I can remember how they tasted.

When coming up with recipes for November, I wanted to really incorporate home and family. With Thanksgiving being this month, I felt like the food should be reflective of what Thanksgiving is all about. I got to thinking… What better way to portray love, family, and memories than to combine my family cinnamon roll recipe with the flavor of those orange rolls I so fondly remember from Coeur d’Alene? So here it is. I hope you will share these with your families!

Dough:

1 pkg. yeast

¼ C. warm water

¾ C. scalded milk

½ C. Crisco

½ C sugar

3 beaten eggs

4 ½ C. sifted flour

1 tsp. salt

Filling:

¾ brown sugar

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp orange zest

seeds of one vanilla bean pod

½ stick softened butter

Glaze:

1 ½ C. powdered sugar

¼ C. orange marmalade

pinch of salt

Juice of 1 medium orange

¼ tsp. cinnamon

Place softened butter in a bowl. Add orange zest. Make a cut down the center of the vanilla bean pod. Place the tip of the knife at the top of the cut and run the knife down the pod, scraping out the seeds. Add this to the butter and incorporate all of it together.

Mix the cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar together. Set butter and brown sugar mixture aside until the dough is done and rolls are ready to prepare.

Whisk all ingredients for glaze together until the smooth. Set aside for when the rolls are hot out of the oven.

Mix yeast in warm water, incorporate and set aside. Heat milk over medium heat until steam rises and remove from heat. Add Crisco to the scalded milk and let it begin to melt (it won’t melt all the way). Cream sugar and eggs. Add the yeast/water mixture and salt to the eggs and sugar. Alternately add flour and milk/Crisco mixture until dough is thick. Once the all the flour and milk has been added, the dough should be slightly sticky. Cover the dough in the mixing bowl and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size. This should take around 60 to 90 minutes. Make sure to take the time to let this fully rise. The texture of the rolls will not be right if they don’t get a chance to rise properly. Once dough has risen, flour a clean surface such as the counter top or a silicone rolling mat. Put the dough onto the surface and knead a little more flour into the dough. The dough is ready to roll out when it is no longer sticky and very elastic. Lightly dust flour over your rolling pin and roll the dough out until it is about ¼ inch thick. Spread the butter evenly over the entire surface of the dough. Then evenly sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over the top of the butter. Gently roll the dough up into a long log. I roll the dough vertically and make horizontal cuts. A sharp knife makes the cuts much easier. I cut the rolls so that they are about 1 inch wide. Place rolls in buttered baking dishes (spacing about 1 inch apart). Cover the rolls once again and set aside. Let rise until they have doubled in size again. This will take about another hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. When rolls have risen for the second time, put them in the heated oven and bake for about 10 – 15 minutes. If the rolls aren’t golden brown after ten minutes, then leave them in longer and watch them carefully. When they are golden brown take them out of the oven and pour the glaze over them while they are warm.

TIP: If you want the dough to rise a little quicker set it in a warm place- this helps to speed up the rising process.