After my first week of making rolls, and absolutely loving them, I couldn’t resist making more when I came across a cinnamon roll-like recipe that included the delightful mixture of “orange cheesecake” and “breakfast.”
Times being what they are, cheesecake for breakfast sounded like a really good idea to me.
Plus, I miss baking bread.
Once again, this one is a bit time-consuming, even if much of it isn’t active time, so another one to make on a weekend day or over a couple of days. However, like the savory rolls from the start of this year, these were amazing and disappeared quite quickly from our fridge.
Though the cheesecake filling and orange glaze do not use any cinnamon or other similar spices, the process is very much like a cinnamon roll: making the dough, letting it rise, making the filling, wrapping the filling in dough, cutting into rolls, letting it rise, baking, and then coating in a glaze, and then devouring.
Here’s what I did, slightly altering a Taste of Home recipe:
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 4 ½ t. (2 packages) active dry yeast
- ¾ c. warm water (about 110 to 115 degrees)
- 1 ¾ c. warm milk (about 110 to 115 degrees)
- ¾ c. sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 T. butter, melted, plus more for greasing
- 1 ½ t. salt
- 7 to 8 c. all-purpose flour (I needed a little more, but YMMV)
For the filling:
- 8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened
- ½ c. sugar
- 2 T. orange juice concentrate, thawed
- ½ t. vanilla extract
For the glaze:
- 2 c. confectioners’ sugar
- 4 T. orange juice (from one orange)
- 1 t. grated orange zest (from one orange)
Directions
For the dough, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and 5 c. flour. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
In a small bowl, beat the filling ingredients until smooth.
To form rolls, punch dough down, and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Roll one half into an 18 x 7 rectangle. Spread half the filling to within ½ in. of the edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 slices and place cut side down in a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
Cover and let the rolls rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
To make the glaze, combine the ingredients and stir until well mixed. Drizzle over warm rolls, and enjoy!