ORANGE ROLLS

Makes: 8 rolls Total time: 45 minutes For the dough:

⅓ cup packed light brown sugar

1 orange

1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling 1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine salt

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus softened butter for the pan 2 tablespoons cold cream cheese

⅔ cup whole milk or half-and-half

For the filling:

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or a combination of cinnamon and cardamom

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft

For the glaze (optional):

¼ cup cream cheese, room temperature 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, or to taste 1 orange

1. Make the dough: Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the brown sugar in a small bowl and zest the orange directly over it. Gently rub the zest into the sugar and transfer 2 tablespoons to a large bowl to use for the dough. Save the rest of the orange sugar for the filling.

2. Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the large bowl and whisk well. Add the butter and cream cheese, and smash and rub them into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until they’re fully incorporated and the mixture resembles crumbs.

3. Add milk all at once and stir gently with fork until dough comes together and no dry bits remain. Freeze while you prepare the pan and filling. Very generously butter bottom and sides of an 8-inch round cake pan or ovenproof skillet.

4. Make the filling: Mix the cinnamon (and cardamom, if using) into the reserved orange sugar.

5. Scrape dough onto well-floured work surface. Use a floured rolling pin to roll dough or flour your hands to pat the dough into a 12-by-5-inch rectangle. It may be sticky, but that’s OK. Just flour the dough enough to be able to shape it.

6. To fill the dough, spread the very soft butter evenly over the surface, then sprinkle the orange sugar on top. Starting with one long side of the dough, roll it up into a 12-inch-long log. If it’s stuck to the surface, scrape it up as you roll it using a bench scraper or stiff spatula.

7. Use serrated knife to cut log with a sawing motion into 8 (1½-inch-thick) slices. Place a slice in center of pan, then space remaining slices ½-inch apart around it. At this point, rolls can be covered and chilled for up to 2 days before baking directly from refrigerator.

8. Bake until golden on top, 23 to 25 minutes. You don’t want to overbake, but you also want the dough to be cooked through. When you press the top, the roll shouldn’t sink but spring back just a little.

9. Make the glaze while rolls bake: Place cream cheese then powdered sugar in a bowl. Zest orange directly over sugar, then mix and smush together until smooth. Squeeze in 2 tablespoons orange juice and mix well. The glaze should be a bit thick because it will loosen when it hits the hot rolls. Taste and add more powdered sugar if you’d like. Stir in more juice if it’s too stiff.

10. Let rolls cool for 5 minutes in pan, then spread on glaze. Cool a bit longer to serve hot or warm.