Dorial’s Orange Crescent Rolls

Dough

1/4 c. warm water

1 package (8 g) Quick Rise Instant yeast (regular works too, just takes longer to rise)

1/4 c. sugar

2 eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

1/2 c. sour cream, room temperature

6 T. butter, melted

1/2 t. salt

3 to 4 c. flour

2 T. butter, softened

In a large bowl, combine the warm water and yeast and stir until the yeast has dissolved.  Add in the sugar, eggs, sour cream, melted butter and salt and whisk vigorously until well combined and the mixture is smooth.  Start by adding 2 cups of flour and mix with a sturdy wooden spoon until the flour has been worked in, then stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

At this point you can turn it out onto a lightly floured surface to knead it, or you can just knead it in your bowl (easy when you’ve halved the recipe) – either way, work the dough for a couple of minutes, adding a bit more flour as needed if the dough gets too sticky.  Place the dough in a well greased bowl and give it a spin so that it gets oiled all over, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place to rise until it’s doubled in size – I left it for about an hour (it could take as long as 2 hours with regular yeast).

Punch the dough down when it’s ready, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, knead it a few times, then divide the dough into 2 even balls and roll each ball out into a 12-inch (or maybe larger) circle.  Brush about 1 tablespoon of the softened butter all over each circle, then sprinkle on the Sprinkle – half of the mixture evenly over each dough circle.

Sprinkle

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. coconut

1–2 T. orange zest (usually just from 1 large orange)

Cut each circle into 12 wedges like a pizza (when I’ve halved the recipe, I’ve been able to cut 16 decent sized wedges), then roll up each wedge from the wide end to the narrow end and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Cover again with plastic wrap and allow the crescents to rise – I left them for about 40 minutes – until they’ve doubled in size.  Here is where we might try putting the well-wrapped crescents into the fridge overnight if we want to bake them first thing in the morning – I’ll update this as it happens.  (**Update! – this works! – I’ve left them for almost 24 hours rolled and well-wrapped on a baking sheet in the fridge, taken them out in the morning for about 30 minutes to come to room temperature, then baked them as usual – you can’t tell any difference at all!)

When you’re ready to cook them (and therefore eat them), bake at 325 for about 20 minutes – they’ll turn a pretty good brown.  Then remove them from the oven and spoon on ALL of the sauce, as evenly as you can – there will be heated discussions over the sauce, keep it even.

Sauce

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. sour cream

1/4 c. butter

2 T. orange juice

extra coconut for sprinkling