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.