grandma's famous orange rolls

The lovely lady on the left is my grandmother Margaret Barclay Woodward sitting with my Uncle Chip and my Grandpa Ralph is the studly laughing gent. I didn't know her very well, because she passed when I was three. From what I've heard, she had the voice of an angel. She was a coloratura soprano (meaning she could sing crazy high and do a lot of vocal tricks). She also was very classy, spicy, beautiful, and loved/feared (apparently she expected a lot from her BYU vocal students). My single memory of her is her reading me a book in her over-sized, stuffed, pink lounge chair. That is, after I somersaulted down the stairs with said book and caught glimpses of her between the pillars of the stairs in said chair. I would have loved to have more memories of her. 

Anyway, from her I got my abnormal bony wrists, tiny fingers (my wedding ring is a size 3 1/2), high waist, nose, and I like to think, my soprano range (although her voice was a million times better than mine).  

My family also inherited her addictive orange roll recipe that is a must at Thanksgiving. Seriously, there would be riots if these weren't a part of our meal. Since I'm in the giving mood, I thought I'd share/give you the recipe too. But, shhhhh, it's a family secret. 

GRANDMA WOODWARD'S ORANGE ROLLS

Makes 24

In a medium bowl mix:
1/2 C warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp yeast

Let yeast mixture cool

In a large bowl mix:
1 C scalded milk
2 Heaping Tbsp shortening
2 eggs, beaten
4 Big Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

The scalded milk melts the shortening, so make sure the milk/shortening mixture is cooled before adding the eggs so the eggs don't scramble

Add yeast mixture to milk/egg mixture

Add in:
4 C flour (I like to use better for bread flour, but all-purpose works too)

Dough should be slightly sticky to the touch. Add more flour if needed just a little at a time. Dough should pull away from the bowl.

Let rise for 2 hours

Put dough on heavily floured surface. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick rectangle like you would do for cinnamon rolls.

Orange spread:
6 Tbsp melted butter
1 C sugar
2 orange rinds

Mix together

Spread orange mixture evenly on dough rectangle.

 Roll up like a jelly roll (starting on the long side) and cut with dental floss 1 inch thick slices. (Hint: cut off the end a put it to the side, because it's usually wonky and doesn't have a ton of filling. You can still bake it if you want...)

 and place in greased muffin tins.

Let rise 1 1/2 hours (I didn't need to let them rise this long because my yeast was on turbo mode. I let them rise for about a 1/2 hour). 

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown. I would watch them the last couple of minutes because with all the sugar, they can burn easily. 

My grandma didn't do icing, because these really don't need them. I think icing would overshadow their awesomeness. 

So, there you have it. My beautiful grandmother's famous orange rolls. Enjoy and eat 5 for me. 

orchard supply hardware commercial

Back in September, Mr. G and I got to film this fun spot for a hardware store in California and Oregon. Unfortunately, we did not get to go outta state for filming. They came here to Utah. 

The set was so fun! They completely decked out this cul-de-sac in SLC with Christmas decorations and they even built a false front for the hardware store that went in front of a house. 

Our part was simple: stand under some mistletoe and like each other. The hard part of the shoot was not looking like death at 2 am while filming under said mistletoe. 

Anyway, for your enjoyment/curiosity, here is the commercial. 

(hint: click on the link.....)