Sweet Rolls

Source: My mom

photo courtesy: Gregg

Ingredients:
for the dough:
1 Tablespoon yeast softened in 1/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk, scalded
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind, if desired
about 4 1/2 cups flour

for the filling:
1/4 - 1/2 cup softened butter
"generous amounts" of brown sugar, cinnamon sugar, chopped nuts (if desired), and raisins (if desired - here they are ALWAYS desired!)

for the icing:
mix melted butter, vanilla, powdered sugar and milk to desired glaze consistency

Variation: Orange Roll Twists (source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe)
I used the same dough recipe as above, but just filled and frosted them with this recipe below and it was awesome!  I also tried her version of twisting the roll and baking it on a cookie sheet -see her post for pictures - it looked pretty and was so darn tasty!

for the filling:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Grated orange rind/zest from two large oranges (reserving 1/2 teaspoon grated rind for the glaze below)

for the glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice from about 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind/zest reserved from the filling above

Directions:
Scald the milk, cool to 90°.  Add shortening, salt, and sugar.  Mix till frothy.  Add flour to make a thick batter.  Add yeast, egg and lemon rind.  Beat well.  Add enough more flour to make a soft dough.  Cover and let rest for 10-15 minutes.  Knead well until the surface is smooth and satiny, and is covered with tiny blisters.  Place in bowl, cover and let rise till slightly more than doubled in bulk.  Punch down and let rise 30 minutes.  Punch down and let rise 10 minutes.  Roll into large rectangle.  Cover with softened butter.  Sprinkle generous amount of brown sugar, cinnamon sugar, nuts, and raisins.  Roll it up shortways.  Slice into 1 1/4" slices with thread.  Put in 9x13" cake pan and cover and let rise till they double in size.  (I made mine on Christmas Eve - mid day - and just let them do their rising in the fridge.  On Christmas morning, I pulled them out of the fridge for about an hour and then popped them in the oven.)  Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes, until brown.  Spoon icing over warm rolls.  Makes 12-14 rolls.

Notes:
For as long as I can remember we've had Sweet Rolls - these Sweet Rolls - for breakfast on Christmas morning.  (Sometimes we'd request them for breakfast on our birthdays, too, and being the amazing mom she is, she'd make them for us.)  Since we weren't in Logan for Christmas this year, I took it upon myself to carry on the tradition.  I was a little intimidated, mostly because I made some alterations that I had never tried or seen tried before, but in the end they worked out marvelously.  Gregg says I can make them whenever I get the hankering.  Hopefully for my waistline (maybe not his) that will only be next Christmas.

Updated to add Orange Roll variation - we tried these for Christmas 2013 and they were a hit!  I just made one batch of the dough and when it came time to roll it out and fill, I just split it in half using half for cinnamon-raisin-walnut and half for orange (I halved the recipe above for Mel's orange filling/icing and it was perfect for 6 rolls/twists).