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Well this looks fabulous!

I think this will be a treat for me to devour by myself! Thank you for creating. I look forward to making it tomorrow.

Sounds wonderful!

Question/Clarification - is that powdered ginger, or fresh?

Ooooh my goodness- I'm drooling. That first picture is mouth watering. Now I must find an excuse to make them, preferably when there are others around so I don't gobble the whole batch!

Oh my word this is fab! And I thought my baked brie cinnamon rolls were unique-which I must blog about someday, ah someday. I must try this recipe soon. the kitchn is always serving up the most interesting dishes, love coming here daily for inspiration.

@caseoftornados - powdered! I'll make that more explicit in the recipe.

Wow that looks amazing!

That looks amazing!!! I love anything with lemon. I'm definitely making this - maybe even this weekend. YUM.

How would you make this if you don't have a stand mixer? I never know how to adapt recipes for hand-mixing & kneading.

Mary Wynn - You don't really need an adaptation. What you want at the end of any kneading for this kind of thing is a smooth, elastic dough that cleans the sides of the bowl or surface as you knead it - that sticky feel, that isn't glorpy.

what does 1 envelope (0.25 oz.) yeast
 equal in terms of tsp or tablespoons?

2 1/2 teaspoons; I'll add that too.

These look delicious, but aren't they kin to orange rolls? I grew up with those instead of cinnamon or caramel rolls.

@vintagejenta, I've never had orange rolls! They sound very promising, though -- do you have a recipe you particularly like? I'd love to compare...

Oh. My. God. These looks awesome.

hummina hummina!! this looks SOOOO good! I'll be making it soon, no doubt! Thank you

Those look amazing! I'd like to try them for Easter :)

I have a problem, though, one that I find arises with a lot of baking recipes--plastic wrap.

I just find it terribly wasteful and I promised myself I'd never buy it when I got my own place. Its been two years and so far I haven't, but there are a few baking recipes I'd like to try that call for the use of plastic wrap.

Is there an alternative that I could use? Would it be alright to put the dough in an airtight container, for instance? This may be a stupid question...I'm pretty new to baking!

This is such a fantastic idea!!!

How strong is the ginger flavor in these? I'm really not a fan at all of ginger, but I could see how a little bit might give these a really interesting depth of additional flavor. Is there anything you could suggest as a substitute? My love of all things lemon and cinnamon rolls might even overcome my aversion to ginger in this recipe. :)

@a.hidden.bird - how do you feel about wax paper? I do use wax paper a lot as well. I compost it, and sometimes reuse it too. And sure, you could put the dough in an airtight container, or just drape the bowl with a towel, if you are talking about the first rise. If you are refrigerating the rolls overnight, then you should have some sort of airtight lid on the pan. I use a metal baking pan that has a plastic snap-on lid.

@coppertone24, you actually really don't taste the ginger at all. I added it just to enhance the lemon flavor; I think it gave a tiny bit of spiciness to the rolls that complements the lemon tang. But I didn't taste them and think "ginger!"

@a.hidden.bird - you're going to want to be careful with airtight containers when using yeast (if it's not yeast, please, use a container). the fermentation process can blow the lid off/cause explosions of the food variety. When I do my first rise when baking yeast-breads, I cover the bowl with a towel because it isn't touching anything but the bowl. There was a recent post on here about using a plastic grocery bag. Basically, you're trying to create a draft-free environment, and also keep the top of the dough from drying out when exposed to air.

As for post-shaping rises, it depends. If it doesn't need to go into the fridge, you can cover it with almost anything that fits. Some people put upside-down bowls over shaped loaves. I actually have a big tupperware container (actually, now that i think about it, it's a tupperware cake carrier and the top is like, 9 inches high, and its a 12" round) and I place that over shaped loaves on the counter.

I recently came across two good suggestions, though. First actually involves plastic wrap. You can reuse plastic wrap over and over and over for bread baking if you place it in the freezer between bakes. It's cold, so it will come apart easily, and the freezer keeps bacteria from growing on it. You can do the same with tinfoil, and just fold it nicely.

The one I love the most is the SHOWER CAP! Think about it: it's like a plastic bag being held around the edge of a pan with a rubberband. If you're baking buns in a baking dish, it snaps right over it. If you're using a loaf pan, it fits as well. The only thing it might not work for are free form loaves sitting on a baking sheet.

Ok, you had my complete attention as soon as I saw the photos. And I love the bit about your mom. I'm baking up a batch this weekend. yep.

@faith - I never made them from scratch and haven't had them in a long time, but the filling was orange zest and sugar, I think there was orange zest in the dough, and my mom always made a simple powdered sugar glaze for the tops, and sometimes she put orange juice in the glaze.

Maybe it's a midwestern thing, but I had orange rolls at several sleepovers when I was young and they were an occasional Sunday morning treat (along with cinnamon and caramel rolls, but never all at once!) when I was growing up.

Okay, these look scrumptious! I love anything lemon, and anything lavender...do you think the addition of a little lavender would be good?

thanks for all the clever non-plastic wrap suggestions, guys! i think ill invest in a shower cap soon :)

Faith, you always make the most beautiful treats. :) Your family must love you so much, what with all the sweets they get to consume. After photos, of course.

I bet this would be amazing with a fresh raspberry cream cheese glaze as well!

I'm going to try the original this weekend, though :)

Could you freeze them and bake them off later? What about the glaze? Or would you need to parbake them and then freeze them?

@CLField, I would try it! I love lavender and lemon. I'd grind the flowers, though, they can be really strong if you bite down on one.

Thanks, Tiamat_the_Red...great suggestion for grinding the buds. I'm definitely going to try it out. I can taste them now!!!

I love anything lemon and this sounds wonderful! I'd like to print it without all the pics, etc. How do I do that?

I'm a little confused on the number of lemons required when it comes to the filling and glaze. Do you mean 2 lemons zested and the juice of one?

@booklost, you use the zest of two lemons for the filling, plus the juice of one.

The other lemon's juice should be saved for the glaze.

1) Did you actually call this easy?
2) I love lemony things, and go searching for ways to bring lemony goodness onto my tongue, and all i have to say is OMG, my mouth is watering from reading the recipe and looking at the pics.
3) Please, someone in the NY area make and sell these , because I need to eat them. Please.
4) Faith, you really are incredibible.

Making 'em right now.

Can't wait til hubby gets back from the store with yeast so I can make this! Somewhat confused over the butter measurement though as a non American, but after looking in a measuring cup and some google-ing I figure 1/2 cup = 4 ounces =113 gram or so?

@alisa k - Awesome! I hope you let us know how they turn out! :-)

@MariaFrolin, yes, one stick of butter (1/2 cup) is also 4 ounces, or 1/4 of a pound. 113 grams.

These look absolutely divine.

I refrigerated them over night, and they are baking up just fine, but it looked like most of the wetness of the sticky filling oozed out into the bottom of the pan. I think next time I'll leave them in a log and cut them in the morning.

Faith, I have one complaint/question: How much volume is "the juice of one lemon"?

I just finished shaping these, and it was a MESS. My lemons were very juicy, and I ended up with a gooey paste for the filling; it oozed EVERYWHERE while I tried to cut the rolls. I just scraped up the extra goo from my table and put it on top, but I'm pretty sure that mine was not the expected result.

On the upside, these SMELL amazing, and I can't wait to eat them tomorrow morning.

just made these and they were a huge hit. delicious, rich and bright tasting!

vintagejenta, I hadn't ever heard of orange rolls until I moved to Texas, but even Pilsbury makes them!

thank you for such a great recipe. absolutely delicious!! i had these in the fridge over night. this morning i took them out for about 30 min. then put them in a cold oven and turned the oven on. still took about 35 min. to bake after the buzzer beeped that the oven was up to temp. came out fluffy and yummy.

I prepped these Friday night and then baked them on Saturday morning. They were SO GOOD. I also had the oozing filling issue, but I anticipated it and rolled and sliced them on my silpat mat, then dumped all the excess glaze on top.

These were seriously amazing; a huge hit with my husband and his family. I would absolutely make them again for a brunch date - they are too sinful to make on a regular basis, though!

These look so good, but for breakfast? Seriously?

I made these this morning with oranges. Very good! The cream cheese glaze was just the right amount of sweet. I'm looking forward to trying the lemon version as soon as I can get my hands on some lemons.

I made the rolls this weekend and my boyfriend and I loved them! I also brought a few into work for my friends and they were a big hit with them as well!

I made these rolls last night and they were PERFECT. I didn't use a mixer for the dough. This is the first thing I've made that tastes good AND looks pretty. I brought some into my office and everyone love them. They were fluffy, and the frosting had the right amount of sweetness.

The only thing I'd change is maybe spread some of the sticky lemon filling on the top because I noticed that the filling kind of sunk toward the bottom.

Yeah, about the filling — I did use somewhat small lemons. So your amount of filling may spread out and be more liquid. If it spreads out in the bottom of the pan, though, that's OK; that's why they're called sticky rolls! :-) I like that sort of sugary crust the filling creates on the bottom of the rolls.

But if you want it to stay put more in the center of the rolls be sure to roll your dough up extra-tight, tugging and pinching the dough as you roll it up. Also, if you want to really keep the filling inside, you can pinch the bottom each roll closed after you cut it. Just gather the layers together and pinch them to seal.

I had problems with rising and the dough came out too heavy. Not enough kneading? Maybe the yeast was not active? Please help.

Would appreciate things I could try to make the dough rise.

Pandapotamus - To prevent losing the "liquid gold" lemon filling from staying at the bottom of the pan, maybe try this little trick I use for my favorite Cinnamon Rolls recipe: as soon as you take them out of the oven, flip the pan over on to another cookie sheet/pan to allow all of the yummy drippings to recoat the rolls. A couple minutes should do it and since it's still hot, the lemon filling is more apt to go back into the rolls from the bottom of the pan before it gets too sticky.

OH
MY
GAWD.

THANK YOU for making me see stars. These are soo freaking good.

http://www.shutterbean.com/sticky-lemon-rolls/

Made the rolls this past weekend to rave reviews. I had read other reader's reactions so was forwarned about filling loss, but alas still seemed to lose a ton all over the counter. That being said I simply scraped it up and kinda drizzled it over the top of the rolls while they rose.

They tasted great though and will definalty be making them again in the future - though will be experimenting to try and make 24 smaller rolls rather than 12 large ones - not that I won't eat 2 small rather than 1 large.

I'm SO excited to try this recipe. Due to several, um, unfortunate incidents surrounding cinnamon rolls (sea sickness, etc.), I just can't stomach them anymore. But I do crave that flaky breakfast roll. Add my love of lemon and ginger and this recipe has me drooling on my keyboard.

I made these today and loved them! Can't wait to try it with oranges or clementines.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14982150@N00/4462318171/

I made this recipe last week & was pretty happy with the way it turned out.
We found it a little sweet for our taste so we'll probably halve the amount of sugar in the filling next time. I'd also recommend added the lemon juice to the lemon peel/sugar mix in small amounts so that it doesn't become too runny.

i'm sure this is going to sound silly, but what type of yeast do you use. i was kind of overwhelmed at the grocery store the other day.

I've also wondered why sweet, gooey breakfast rolls always had to be cinnamon (though I'm a fiend for the pecan variety), but never thought to do anything about it. These sound awesome & I'll be trying them soon!

Made these...but they're not my thing. They were so sweet, they made me naucious! I usually LOVE foods with lemon, but these were too lemony(never thought something could be too lemony)and WAY to sweet. Next time I'm using a lot less sugar and lemon.
Maybe I'll just stick to cinnamon rolls!

I want to make these for an Easter brunch on Sunday, and I made a trial batch last night and baked them this morning for my office mates. Unbelievable! I didn't think they were too sweet, I think the measurements you call for are absolutely spot on and I think they're a perfect breakfast - with a cup of coffee you're golden (pun totally intended). Such a great recipe - one that I will repeat over and over again for sure. Now I have to say: I didn't use nutmeg because I didn't realize until too late that I actually didn't have any. I subbed cinnamon and it was kind of nice - a throwback to traditional cinnamon buns. But I'm eager to taste them with the nutmeg on Sunday.

Made this last night and this morning on a whim, after seeing the recipe! I used two oranges and a lemon, since that's what I had; and had to do without the cream cheese (bummer), but I made a glaze with just powdered sugar & juice and rind. I was very impressed with myself, never having made sweet rolls from scratch! :)
I did find the filling gushed out everywhere like other readers did, although the final product came out well. I may have used too much juice, and will use less next time.
I will definitely make these again - and next time with all lemons and the cream cheese. Can't wait!

We are making these for Easter breakfast tomorrow! I just tried the glaze! SO yummy!

Is it cheating if I use the bread machine to mix this dough up?

Thanks so much for posting this recipe. They really are amazing, and very easy to make. Everyone has enjoyed them, and i'm just itching for an excuse to make them again. Even though they taste sinfully delicious, the ingredients aren't really that bad when compared with other deserts. And half a roll is enough to satisfy a small sweet craving. I'm gonna try to halve the recipe, as it's only two of us in the house, and 12 rolls may be overkill. Or maybe freeze half the dough? But everyone should try making these.

Faith, THANK YOU. These were FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. I made them over Easter with the intent of sharing, but I kept them secret after I took a tiny taste!!! Your mother was right. :-)

Made these last night. All in all a pretty big success. If you like lemon desserts, this is for you. VERY lemony. I think all in all I'd prefer a cinnamon bun, but that's just because I like cinnamon buns more than lemon buns :)

I ran into the same problem of runny goopy messy filling. Something I noticed after the fact that I think a lot of people are missing. The filling calls for 2 lemons, zested, but the text says "juice of 1 lemon". I put the juice of both lemons in, because honestly who reads the recipe for sugar and lemons, and it was waaaaaay too runny. Might wanna change the recipe to say "zest of 2 lemons" and "juice of 1 lemon".

I made these for brunch yesterday morning, and they were FANTASTIC. Thank you, Faith, for the explicit instructions. This was my very first successful bread-making venture—they turned out perfect!! I love the recipe and don't think anything about it should change, either. YUM.

I made these last night, and finished them off this morning. They were so good they almost made me cry a little bit :o) I made many friends at work today, as I elected to bring them with me.

I made these for breakfast/brunch on Sunday and they were fabulous (and best if still warm)! It's the first time a bread roll of any kind has turned out for me (I can bake loaves of bread very well, but cinnamon rolls always turn out like hockey pucks). The only thing I omitted was the cream cheese. Having just a lemon glaze was ample. I'll definitely keep this dough recipe around. I'm thinking it would make an excellent base for any type of roll!

mmmmmm

I made these last night, and as with a previous post, I had sticky lemon goo EVERYWHERE! I'll second a more specific measurement of "juice of 1 lemon" as I used a good-sized, rather juicy lemon, and I think the result was far more liquidy than intended. I tried to scoop up as much as I could and put it back on top like a glaze, but there was still a mess on the counter...

We liked them fine. Our (my, at least) expectations were high given the "Best thing I ever put in my mouth" review, but sadly, it did not quite live up to it. I'm glad we tried it though! I'm inspired to try new variations on the sticky roll now!

My word, these were heavenly! Can't wait to put them in my brunch party rotation.