Orange Bowknots

I love anything with citruses... Orange chicken, spicy and tangy tangerine beef, berry and Manderine orange salad, well, the list goes on.. What I hadn't tried was these orange bowknot rolls. I had always wanted to try these whenever I saw pictures of them on blogs or cookbooks. Now I have. And they were simply scrumptious!

The icing on top of the rolls was perfectly sweet, not too overpowering. It went very well with the flavor of the rolls. The hint of orange is definitely the highlight of these wonderful rolls. Now, you could definitely do without the icing, of course, if you're trying to stay away from too much sugar.

 

Orange Bowknots
Adapted from "Better Homes and Gardens"

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

5 1/4 to 5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, margarine, or shortening

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 tablespoons finely shredded orange peel

1/4 cup orange juice (concentrated or freshly squeezed - I used freshly squeezed juice and it turned out great!)

1 recipe Orange Icing (see below)

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir the milk, butter, sugar, and salt just till warm (120-130 degrees F) and the butter almost melts - make sure to watch closely. Do not let it boil. It should only take about a minute on low heat - Add milk mixture to dry mixture along with eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat on high speed 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the orange peel, orange juice, and as much of the remaining flour as you can.

2. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl; turn once. Cover; let rise in a warm place till double in size (about 1 hour).

3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease 2 baking sheets; set aside.

4. Roll each portion of the dough into a 12 x 7-inch rectangle Cut each rectangle into twelve 7-inch-long strips. Tie each strip loosely in a knot. Arrange knots 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place till nearly double in size (about 30 minutes).

5. Bake in a 400 degrees F oven about 12 minutes or till golden. Immediately remove rolls from baking sheets. Cool on wire racks. Drizzle with Orange Icing.

Orange Icing-

In a small mixing bowl combine 1 cup shifted powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel. Stir in enough orange juice (1-2 tablespoons) to make icing easy to drizzle.