These are the orange rolls that almost weren’t.  Sometime on Sunday morning I got hit with a bad bug.  I hesitate to even say “flu” because that seems to throw people into a panic.  I had a fever and the worst sore throat of my life.  Randy had to leave town Monday morning so the timing was truly awful.  Fortunately our preschool is very flexible and we were able to get some extra hours so I could sleep.  I figured there was no way I could stick to my Holly B’s challenge this week.

I woke up this morning still not feeling well but also just so bored.  I’m tired of laying down, I’m tired of all the terrible TV options and I don’t have the attention span to read when I’m sick.  I figured I might as well bake.  Besides, I have been excited about baking these rolls for the past week.  Over the many years of eating Holly B’s treats, I have tasted just about everything and I do have my favorites.  If they have just been pulled out of the oven, I will always choose a cinnamon roll.  But every so often, an Orange Swirl will call my name.

Here is where one of those weird food tics come to light.  I like oranges (especially clementines) but I don’t like anything orange flavored.  Orange popsicles and lollipops are a last resort for me.  I don’t even like the color orange and I certainly would never choose to eat orange cheesecake or pound cake, even one I have made.  (OK, just for fun, here is another tic.  I like fresh cherries and cherry flavored things, but I can’t stand cherry desserts.  Like cherry pie, cobbler, etc.  Yuck.  Yes I know it’s weird.)

So why do I like these rolls?  I don’t know.  Because they are delicious?  Because the orange is subtle and the glaze is lemon (which I love)?  Because that Holly B can really work some magic?  Why ask why?  Sometimes in life, I have found it is better to not ask, especially when it comes to baked goods.  Just trust and enjoy.

One Year Ago:  Moroccan Harira Soup

Orange Swirls
Adapted from With Love & Butter
Makes 10 rolls

In her book, Holly directs you back to her Basic Bread recipe (with the Orange Bread variation) for the dough.  For the sake of clarity, I am combining the recipes here.  I found this dough to be exceptionally sticky, so please heed the advice to keep flouring your board and the dough well.  Also my dough measured about 16 inches by 28 inches and it all turned out fine.

For the dough:
3/4 of a fresh orange, unpeeled, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp. honey
1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) quick-rise yeast
2 tbsp. mild tasting oil
5 cups flour, plus more for dusting
3 tbsp. milk powder
1 3/4 tsp. salt

For the Swirls:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1 cup sliced almonds
1 tsp. nutmeg

For the glaze:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup honey

In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, purée the orange.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Add 1 1/2 cups warm water and process to a fairly lumpless liquid.  Transfer the mixture to a measuring cup and add enough warm water to bring the level to 2 1/3 cups.  Pour this mixture into a large bowl.  Add the honey, yeast, and oil.  In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, milk powder, and the salt.  Add the dry mixture to the wet.

Using a wooden spoon or a stand mixer, mix the dough vigorously until it is too stiff to continue.  Coat your hands with a little flour and knead the dough inside the bowl (this really minimizes the mess on your work table).  Knead until the dough is smooth, or use a dough hook.  (DT: I used a spoon and then the dough hook.)  If it feels too stiff, sprinkle with warm water and continue to knead; if too wet or sticky, add a little more flour.  Two to five minutes of kneading should be enough.  Dust the ball of dough with a little flour.  Lightly oil the bowl and place the dough back inside.  Drape with a dishtowel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size.  (DT: Mine took about an hour.)

Once dough has doubled, do not punch down, but gently turn onto a well-floured surface, taking care not to deflate.  Flour the top of the dough and pat it into a rough rectangle.  Now take a rolling pin and finish rolling the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches wide by 28 inches long and 1/4-inch thick.  Check the underside of the dough frequently for sticking, sprinkling with flour as required.

Place the rectangle of dough in front of you with the short sides top and bottom.  Brush the dough with the melted butter.  Drizzle on the honey and distribute the almonds and nutmeg evenly over the surface.

Starting with the short side, roll up the dough, tugging gently as you go, to create a snug log.  Turn the log seam side down and slice into 10 even tolls with a serrated knife.  Space the rolls out evenly on a large parchment paper covered cookie sheet and let them rise for 30 minutes, or until puffy and nearly doubled in size.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F with the rack in the center position.  Bake the Swirls 10 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake 8 to 10 minutes more, or until slightly browned.  Check the bottoms:  The tops can look pale while the bottoms get too dark.  Allow the Swirls to cool slightly while you make the lemon glaze.

Heat the lemon juice and honey in a saucepan or in the microwave.  Brush on the warm Swirls.  Serve with butter.

Blind date set-ups in the movies invariably feature a well meaning person describing their friend as “nice”.  Or having a “great personality”.  We in the film audience know those are cue words for not-so-easy-on-the-eyes, right?  But, in real life, what if a date really is nice and they do have a great personality?  As I got older and realized that “cute” could only take me so far, nice and great personality sounded pretty good.  (As it happens, I got all three.)

These muffins are kind of the food equivalent of those set-up dates.  They are not going to win any beauty contests and if they were placed next to something else – anything else – you would probably just pass them by.  But they are lemon sour cream muffins.  In 12 muffins, you will find 1 1/2 cups of sour cream and a full stick of butter.  The tops are dipped into a lemon juice and sugar glaze which takes them from very nice cakes to Wow! – sweet, tart, and super moist all at once.

I tried taking decent photos of these modest muffins, but they didn’t end up looking like anything that would make a reader of this blog jump up and head to the kitchen.  My kids were in the dining room with me (where the majority of Dana Treat photos are taken) and they thought it was very funny to pretend to eat them.  These shots are better than the food porn equivalent of just muffins.  The funny thing is, the only reason they were slightly interested is because they thought the muffins were cupcakes.

Although I told myself I would not mess with Holly’s recipes so I could accurately portray what a wonderful cookbook this is, I just had to change a little something here.  She instructs you to put all the dry ingredients right on top of the wet without mixing them first, but I think they need a good toss in a separate bowl first.  If you have those giant sized muffin tins, this recipe will fill 12 of those.  If you have standard tins, it will make 18.  (I found this out the hard way when I crammed all the dough into 12 standard sized and there was much oozing.)

You can buy a copy of Holly’s cookbook by visiting this site.

Lemon Sour Cream Muffins
Adapted from With Love and Butter
Makes 12 large or 18 medium muffins

1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. butter, melted
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
Grated zest of 1 1/2 lemons
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp. flour
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F and position the rack in the middle.  Butter the rims of your muffin tin(s) and line the cups with papers (or grease generously).

Whip together the sour cream, milk, melted butter, egg and and egg yolk, zest, and lemon juice in a blender (or use a beater or whisk), then pour into a big bowl.  In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then add dry ingredients to the big bowl.  Mix just until smooth and combined.  Divide the batter between the muffin cups.

Bake the muffins 10 minutes, turn the pan, and bake 5 more minutes.  Check for doneness with a toothpick; bake a few minutes longer if still gooey on top.  Bake until just done – these muffins are best before they get at all brown.  Remove the muffin tin to a rack to cool while you prepare the lemon glaze.

Mix the lemon juice and sugar and warm in the microwave (about 1 minute) or on the stove until the sugar dissolves.  Stir again.  Holding each muffin at the bottom, dip the top into the warm glaze.  Let stand a moment before serving to absorb the glaze.