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There’s a little tea room in town that serves amazing orange rolls. I’d never had an orange roll (gasp!) before visiting for the first time a few years ago. They are divine.
So I set out to make my own version. I started with my mother in-law’s cinnamon roll recipe and modified it. The great thing about that recipe is that the rolls are small. Now I know that some will disagree with me on this point but I prefer a small cinnamon roll. Not because I don’t want to eat much. Let’s not be crazy. I’ll eat many of them. The bigger ones tend to get hard around the outside and ain’t nobody got time for that. So any rolls I make are always small, soft, and dripping with icing.
Are you hungry yet?
I want my orange rolls to be easy. In the morning I am itching for my coffee and I do not want to spend two hours cooking. This recipe is fast, uses only 5 ingredients, and my son loves helping.
The citrus flavor is light but noticeable. All that bright orange zest makes me smile and my tummy happy.
You can make this for your family on the weekend or a rainy Friday morning like we did today. It’s also guaranteed to please guests when you’re entertaining.
I hope you give it a try and love it as much as we do.
- 1 tube crescent roll dough
- 1 tbsp butter, softened
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 large orange (for zest & 1/4 cup juice)
- Preheat your oven to the temperature on your crescent roll package. (Mine says 350 degrees.)
- Unroll the tube of crescent roll dough on a cutting board. You should have four triangles that are connected by dotted lines. Set aside half. You should be working with two triangles now.
- Pinch the dough together where the dotted lines are so that you have one long rectangle of crescent roll dough.
- With a knife spread your butter evenly on top of your dough.
- Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar. Zest one third of your orange and sprinkle the zest on top of your dough.
- Carefully roll your dough lengthwise.
- Slice your rolled dough once in the middle. Now you have two halves. Slice in the middle of each of those halves. Now you have four quarters. Slice each quarter into three rolls. This will give you 12 total rolls.
- Place your rolls (so that they’re touching) in an 8 inch nonstick cake pan.
- Repeat steps 3-9 for your remaining dough. This will give you another 12 rolls.
- Bake according to crescent roll dough instructions. (Mine says 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.)
- Remove from the oven.
- Mix your powdered sugar and fresh squeezed orange juice to create your icing.
- Pour icing over your rolls and sprinkle with your last one-third orange zest.
- Give them a few minutes so your icing soaks into your rolls.
- Serve & enjoy!
Love how smple and easy these are! Definitely need to try them out for my next get together!
They are so easy! Thanks, Morgan!
These look so yummy! I love the idea of adding the orange juice and zest…I love anything citrus!
This looks amazing! I think I will have to try it soon!
Your food always looks Soooooo scrumptious
Same to you, girl! I was just looking at your donuts again! YUM!
These look yummy – I can think of so many meals to serve these with!
This looks delicious and easy! Two things I love about food:)
These look so yummy! And perfect for the spring / summer season.
OH MY GOD!! Talk about the tastiest breakfast ever!!!
Thank you, Shannon!
I’ve never had an orange roll, but I will definitely be remedying that soon! Orange rolls sound like a perfect way to usher in spring with a delicious treat. I love the gooey centers of cinnamon rolls, so the smaller ones are perfect for me. And the fact that I don’t have to spend my time making the dough makes it even better.
You’ve never had an orange roll?! Ayanna, we must rectify this immediately!!
Christina, these rolls look AMAZING. Seriously… I’m drooling over here thinking about the homemade orange rolls my mom used to make. I love how easy they are, too! I am DEFINITELY giving these a try soon- YUM!
Thanks, Becca! You won’t be disappointed! I don’t think I’ve even made a cinnamon roll since making this recipe because I love the citrus so much!