Ring-A-Lings won the 7th Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1955. Recipe on Pillsbury.com by Bertha Jorgensen of Portland, Oregon.
Think of a butter and nut filled sweet yeast roll with a hint of orange.
Start by zesting an orange and reserving ¼ cup of the juice.
Heat milk and butter until very warm. Add to a mixture of flour, sugar, salt, orange peel and yeast, along with 2 eggs. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Then add more flour. Place in greased bowl and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes. I used the oven that had been heated to 100°F and then turned off. To my surprise, it actually doubled in size. Yay!
Roll the dough out to 22"x12" on a floured surface. On half of it, spread a mixture of ground nuts, butter and sugar. Then fold over and cut in 1 inch strips. Twist the strips and roll them up.
Place rolls on greased cookie sheet or use a Baker's Mat like I did. Let rise in warm place for about 45 minutes. Bake about 10 minutes. Brush with a mixture of orange juice and sugar. Bake for 3-5 minutes more.
Wow, that was a lot of work! But I have to say, I think it was worth it. These Ring-a-Lings are so good. Soft, yet crunchy. Creamy, yet nutty and just a hint of orange. Perfect for a special occasion when you don't mind taking a little extra time. P.S. I have a little confession to make. I forgot the eggs. Oops! They still turned out fine somehow. Shhhh... don't telll!
Next week's recipe in the baking project is called California Casserole. Stay tuned...
Ring-a-LIngs
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 - 4 ½ cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons grated orange peel
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup margarine or butter
- 2 large eggs
Filling
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup margarine or butter softened
- 1 cup filberts, pecans or walnuts ground
Glaze
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ cup orange juice
Instructions
- Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour, ⅓ cup sugar, salt, orange peel and yeast; mix well.
- In small saucepan, heat milk and ⅓ cup margarine until very warm (120° to 130°F.). Add warm liquid and eggs to flour mixture; blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in remaining 2 to 2 ½ cups flour to form a stiff dough. Place dough in greased bowl; cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80° to 85°F.) until light and doubled in size, 35 to 50 minutes.
- In small bowl, blend podered sugar and ⅓ cup margarine until smooth. Stir in filberts; set aside. In second small bowl, blend glaze ingredients; cover and set aside.
- Grease 2 large cookie sheets. Stir down dough to remove all air bubbles. On floured surface, roll dough to 22x12-inch rectangle. Spread filling mixture lenghtwise over half of dough. Fold dough over filling. Cut crosswise into 1-inch strips; twist each strip 4 to 5 times. To shape rolls, hold folded end of strip down on greased cookie sheet to form center; coil strip around center. Tuck loose end under. Repeat with remaining twisted strips. Cover; let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, 30 to 45 minutes.
- Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover dough. Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Brush tops of rolls with glaze. Bake an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets; cool on wire racks. Serve warm.
Kim M says
Unfortunately there were only 24 rolls that came from the recipe for me. What could I be doing incorrectly? The recipe indicates that this would make 48 servings so what did I do wrong? The flour was measured as indicated with a spoon and knife, four cups with two tablespoons was the flour amount used. Thanks in advance. Kim
Lise Ode says
Maybe the rolls needed to be formed half the size that you did them?
Sandy says
I found the exact same recipe by Pillsbury, and they say 22 rolls.
Marlene Goodnuff says
Is. It ok if you do one cookie sheet at a time