Overnight Orange Sweet Rolls

Sometimes, I am struck with genius. Also mixed with a dash of lazy in the form of wanting to have breakfast almost ready when I wake up. That's how these amazing Orange Rolls came about! I was trolling through my breakfast Pinterest board and saw a recipe for Orange Monkey Bread (which I always thought was a strange name, by the way),  but I had this desire to make it easier as well as using ingredients I already had. And meanwhile making it vegan, of course. :) So here was the result! It's surprisingly easy. In fact, I think the hardest part is zesting the orange and squeezing out the juice. Serious labor, for sure.

So! First comes the prep the night before, which shockingly I didn't think to photograph at 11pm. I'm a hard-core night owl, especially when I don't work the next day. That night consisted of waiting until almost midnight to prep the rolls so I could sleep in somewhat, but not enough to allow the rolls to get CRAZY big and impossible to bake.

ANYWAY.

Midnight, or thereabouts, I took my frozen Rhodes rolls (see? I told you. Easy.), let them defrost slightly and then dipp them in a mixture of orange juice & melted Earth Balance vegan butter followed by orange zest rubbed into granulated sugar. Each of those rolls then went into a greased bundt pan and then hung out on my counter under a towel all night.

The result the next morning:

WHOA, BABY. 

Yeah, I slept in a little but they're not monstrous enough that I'm too worried about baking them. Speaking of which, with my freakishly hot oven, the top (but eventual bottom) of the rolls got a little dark, but gratefully with the glaze and freshness of the roll, they still taste all sorts of incredible. 

BAKED ROLLS. 

I waited a few minutes and then flipped the rolls onto a large plate, pulled off the pan and HALLELUJAH, the heavens rejoiced. 

I whipped up the glaze and drizzled it alllll over that sucker. And then I devoured them. Well...not all, but quite a few of them. ;) Evidence:

The first of many rolls enjoyed. While still warm, of course. 

 LOOK HOW PRETTY:

Heavenly. 

If you choose to make these rolls, just be prepared to use a lot of restraint to not eat the entire pan yourself. 

Overnight Orange Sweet Rolls

Adapted from Six Sister's Stuff

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon grated fresh orange zest

1/3 cup orange juice

1/4 cup Earth Balance butter, melted

18 Rhodes frozen dinner rolls, left out for about 10 minutes

 

Glaze:

1/4 cup Earth Balance butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon almond milk (more or less depending on desired consistency)

1 cup powdered sugar 

Grease a 10-inch bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.  In a small bowl, combine sugar and orange zest by rubbing it in with your fingers.  In a separate bowl, combine orange juice and melted butter.  Dip each roll in the orange juice mixture, roll in sugar mixture and place in prepared pan.  Pour remaining orange juice mixture over the rolls. 

Cover pan with a clean kitchen towel and allow rolls to rise overnight, but no more than 8 or 9 hours depending on how warm your kitchen gets. In the morning, preheat the oven to 375F and then possible go back to bed for 10 minutes while it heats up, but maybe that's just me. 

Bake rolls for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool rolls in pan for about 5 minutes and then invert pan onto a large plate or platter. Remove bundt pan.  To make glaze, whisk melted butter, vanilla, almond milk and powdered sugar together until combined.  Top with glaze and enjoy!!