These orange sweet rolls are from the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook. They’re like a cinnamon roll but better and perfect for breakfast.
Most people see Cinnabon and start salivating. I see it and have memories of one of the most embarrassing moments in my life. My mom and I were on our way down to visit Villanova on one of the many college campus trips that summer. To get to Villanova from New York you take the NJ Turnpike. A lovely traffic free highway with clean, healthy rest stop options. Or not. But that didn’t matter then. I was 17, played sports 6 days a week and ate whatever I wanted including a Cinnabon roll at the rest stop.
I went through this phase from about 5th grade through somewhere in college (it was a long one) where I’d get these insane stomach aches every few months. They’d come out of nowhere, I could never figure out the cause, they were completely debilitating and resulted in me spending hours in the bathroom going through what I can only describe as waves of pain that make me feel confident I will die if I ever go through childbirth.
Guess what happened about an hour after that Cinnabon?
I spent 2 hours in the admissions office bathroom at Villanova while my mother had to explain what was going on to everyone in the office. We missed two tours and even if I had loved that campus with all my being, there is no way you could’ve paid me to attend there after that episode.
Thankfully, I somehow grew out of the stomach aches in the last ten years and these are not a Cinnabon roll because I can’t look at or smell those without thinking of that day.
I sound like a broken record on these PW Wednesday posts but this recipe is over the top. From the 48 rolls it makes to the copious amounts of butter, sugar and oil it uses. At least it’s expected at this point. I
actually went into this recipe with the full intention of making it how it was written (besides quartering it because I have beach plans this weekend and I’m not sure my bathing suits would even fit if there were 48 rolls hanging around these parts) so I could review it accurately.
The dough was made exactly as stated (in a very weird method that you’ll have to check out Megan’s post for) but then I got to the rolling part. Guess what goes inside these babies? Ding, ding, ding! Butter and sugar. I even melted the stated amount of butter and had the full amount of sugar in a measuring cup but when I got half way through each and realized the dough was completely coated, I just couldn’t physically allow myself to continue.
It’s like every recipe is just excessive. There’s just no need for the amounts that are written. So I failed at my attempt to keep them true to the recipe but I did not use any substitutions. I lessened amounts when I felt they were excessive in the filling and the icing, but I didn’t make any healthy swaps.
That being said, these are delicious.
Like, that soft, gooey, chewy, yeasty cinnamon roll delicious except without cinnamon and with orange instead. The orange is nice because it cuts the insane sweetness of these. It almost makes you feel like they’re not as bad for you because the orange is so refreshing but the all too recent memories of butter and sugar snap you back to reality quite quickly.
This is actually a recipe (unlike most of the others) that I can see myself using in the future. Not as written (no, no) but as inspiration to make these over in a somewhat healthier way. It’s a pretty basic ingredient list and preparation method and I’d love to play around with it to see what I can do.
Verdict:
Delicious? Yes.
Guilt inducing? Double yes.
Potential for revamp? High.
If something more nutritionally sound comes of them in the future, you’ll all be the first to know. In the meantime, I’ll stick to these gluten-free cinnamon rolls which are much more traditional and reasonable from an ingredient list!
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For the recipe head on over to Megan’s post.
For all previous PW Wednesday posts see below.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
LOVE the photos!
And ugh – that’s the worst. I once had a similar thing with cucumbers and just the smell alone made me cringe for a really long time.
Aw thats terrible about your stomach. I have never had cinnabon {my mother was very strict about not eating at bad for you places} but I LOVE cinnamon rolls in general.
Ahhhyou poor thing about Cinnabon! I love cinnamon rolls, but even as a kid I could not eat a whole one from cinnabon. My favorite part was the glaze. One of my only memories of my grandmother was her making homemade cinnamon rolls and using dental floss to cut them. I do love cinnamon rolls, and I like the orange ones the best!! These would be dangerous hanging around my house!
Well, despite all that sugar and butter, they look really good! I’m not sure I could eat these for breakfast with all that sugar. They seem like a dessert! I bet you could definitely make some good tweaks!
I’m with Ashley, that’s a beautiful picture! The addition of orange automatically makes it “healthy” right? Right. I’ve never made homemade sweet rolls before. I might have to just for the photo shoot ;)
I can’t imagine having doubling over stomach aches for no good reason. good grief you just might have to request drugs at 1cm ;)
So weird – I had the same stomach thing throughout university…every months…debilitating…just outgrew them!
That first picture is utterly gorgeous, Gina!! You made this look incredible – so tempting!
Now I want a Cinnabon. I consider it a humanitarian effort since you are unable to have them, isn’t that nice of me?
But in the meantime, these rolls should fill a void! :)
I think you should have the attitude that it PREPARED you for childbirth, so you will kick butt, not die. :) Right?
Your rolls look wonderful :)