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Chocolate Orange Sweet Rolls

We've all probably had a chocolate sweet roll before, but what about a chocolate orange sweet roll? The sweet but slightly tangy flavor of the orange goes perfectly with the bittersweet chocolate. The dough is perfectly fluffy and soft, and a little gooey in the middle especially after it soaks up that gooey orange glaze.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 28 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 12 rolls
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Dough
  • 1 cup whole milk warmed to 100℉
  • 5 Tablespoons granulated sugar divided
  • 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
  • 1 Tablespoon orange zest about one orange worth of zest
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups bread flour
Chocolate Orange Filling
  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
  • ½ cup light or dark brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 Tablespoon orange zest about one orange worth
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
Orange Glaze
  • ½ cup confectioners sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons Orange Juice *might need more juice
  • a pinch of salt

Method
 

Make the dough
  1. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the warm milk, 2 Tablespoons of the sugar, and the yeast. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let sit for 5 minutes. It should puff up and look foamy on top. If not, your yeast is most likely dead and you should start over with new yeast.
  2. Add the remaining 3 Tablespoons of sugar, melted butter, orange zest, eggs, salt, and one cup of bread flour. Whisk until smooth. Then, add the remaining 3 cups of bread flour and using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, beat on medium low speed until a soft dough forms and it pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  3. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a floured work surface. Knead the dough for 6 minutes or until you have a soft and smooth ball of dough that bounces back when you poke it. If it gets too sticky, add a little more flour one Tablespoon at a time.
  4. Place the dough in a greased bowl and rotate the dough so all sides are greased. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or cling wrap and place in a warm, humid place to rise for 2 hours or until doubled in size. In the summer I put mine outside, but the counter is fine as well.
Make the filling.
  1. In a bowl, stir up the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar, cocoa powder, orange zest, and vanilla extract and stir until smooth and combined.
Shape the rolls
  1. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter. Set aside
  2. Punch down the dough. Place it on a floured work surface and, using a floured rolling pin, roll it out into a 10x16 inch rectangle. Spread the chocolate filling evenly over it, and sprinkle the chopped chocolate on top. Roll the dough lengthwise into a 16 inch log. Using a serrated knife, cut the dough into 12 even rolls, each one being roughly 1 inch wide. Arrange the rolls in the prepared baking pan. Cover with cling wrap and let the shaped rolls rise for 1 hour.
Bake
  1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Bake the rolls for 25-28 minutes or until they are lightly browned on top. At 15 minutes, check on them and if they are rising too quickly, carefully tent them with foil and continue baking to prevent them from getting too brown on top.
  2. Allow rolls to cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before icing and eating.
Make the icing
  1. In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, orange juice, and salt. If the glaze is too thick, add a little more orange juice. If too thin, add more sugar. Drizzle the glaze evenly over the slightly cooled rolls.
  2. Rolls are best warm, but will keep for up to 4 days covered in the refrigerator.