recipe adapted from Joy the Baker
for the dough:
1 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 TB active dry yeast
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.
2 large eggs
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp salt
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 cup for kneading, plus more for sprinkling the counter
for the filling:
1 cup fresh blackberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup unsalted butter, browned and slightly cooled
for the icing/glaze:
4 – 6 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioner’s (powdered) sugarjuice of 1 orange
Directions:
To make the dough:
- In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the milk to about 95 degrees.
- Pour the warm milk into the bow of an electric stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment. Stir the sugar and yeast into the warm milk and let sit for 5 to 7 minutes. The yeast will foam and bubble…that’s how you know it’s working.
- Add the butter, eggs, orange zest, and salt to the yeast mixture.
- Add 4 1/4 cups flour. Beat on low speed with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes.
- Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and replace the paddle with a dough hook.
- Beat dough with the dough hook on medium speed for about 10 minutes. I legitimately had to put my mixer on the floor for this part because I thought it was going to walk right off the counter.
- Dust a clean counter with flour. Scrape the dough out onto the work surface. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of flour and knead for about 2 minutes. Dough will be soft and slightly sticky.
- Place dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Sprinkle a bit of flour on top of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel, and place in a slightly warm place to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- While dough rises, butter a 9×13-inch pan. Set aside.
To make the filling:
- In a medium bowl toss together blackberries, sugar, orange zest, and cornstarch. Crush the berries as you stir. I used a potato masher for a little while, just so I could break up the blackberries, since they were huge. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, brown the butter. Set aside to cool slightly.
To assemble the rolls:
- When the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a floured work surface and gently knead for 1 minute. Roll the dough into a roughly 10×20-inch rectangle.
- Spread the browned butter over the dough. I didn’t need to use all of it, but you can if you want to.
- Spread the berry filling over the dough.
- Working quickly, tightly roll up the dough into a 20-inch long log. Cut the log into quarters, then cut each quarter into 3 pieces.
- Carefully and quickly lift the rolls into the prepared pan. The rolls will release juice into the bottom if the pan (and probably all over your counter).
- Cover pan with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rest in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and bubbling.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
To make the icing/glaze:
- In a small/medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth with a hand mixer.
- Add powdered sugar and orange juice a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency and sweetness. I wanted mine to be thin and not very sweet, so I only needed a couple tablespoons of sugar and almost all the juice.
- Drizzle glaze over cooled rolls and serve. Rolls are best served the day they are made but will last up to 3 days well wrapped at room temperature.