Orange Rosemary Sticky Rolls, April 2, 2018

I don't usually get too fancy with Monday morning breakfasts, but this morning, I felt like making something a little special, since we didn't have any kind of special Easter brunch, just eggs and toast. Not that eggs and toast aren't lovely. Just ask Carrie Newcomer. Anyway, I had all the ingredients for Susan Wittig Albert's lemon rosemary sticky rolls from her China Bayles novel, Bittersweet, so I decided to make those. Alas, I discovered that I didn't have the lemons called for, so I decided to riff on it by subbing an orange. I want to try the recipe the way she wrote it, as her recipes are always excellent, but for now, my version was pretty dang good! The rolls weren't terribly pretty, though, as they stuck to the pan, so were rather disheveled. I had more than enough filling and glaze. Guess I should try to figure out something else to do with them.

Orange Sticky Rolls

1 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. allspice

Zest and juice of 1 orange (you need 3 tbsp. orange juice altogether)

Minced leaves of 1 sprig fresh rosemary

3 tbsp. butter, room temp

7.5 oz. tube crescent rolls

2 oz. cream cheese, room temp 

1/2 c.powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugar, allspice, orange zest, and rosemary together. Add 2 tbsp. juice and butter. Mix well. Spread over crescent dough, then divide into 8 along perforations. Roll from wide end to pointy end, not sealing too tightly. Curve corners slightly inward. Place on baking sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes. Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar together, along with the remaining tablespoon of orange juice. Slather on finished rolls.