Pumpkin and Spice Rolls

 

I saw this concept on Suttons Daze and started searching recipe variations.  I haven't made any kind of breakfast sweet roll in a while and had pumpkin purée to use.

The only problem I had with most of the recipes I found was the egg.  Pumpkin is one of those ingredients you can use as a substitute for egg or oil in baked goods, so I didn't see a point in adding any.  Then there was the size of the recipes and how much pumpkin they used, or whether the purée was in the dough, filling, or both.  In the end, I tweaked my apple cinnamon roll recipe to account for the extra moisture and egg/fat substitute.

Rolls

1/2 C 100º milk
2 Tb butter
*1/3 C pumpkin purée (not pie filling)
1/3 C sugar
2 tsp yeast
~3 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

1.  Combine milk, butter, pumpkin, sugar, and yeast and allow to sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.  The butter does not need to melt.

2.  In stand mixer with the paddle, stir together 1 C flour and the cinnamon.  Add liquids and beat into a thin batter for 2 minutes.  Add another 1 C of flour and the salt and beat into a stiff batter, another 2-3 minutes.

3.  Generously flour a work surface and pour the dough onto it.  Knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.  It's a sticky dough, so try not to work in more flour than necessary.  Turn over in an oiled bowl and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 75 minutes.  The weight of the pumpkin makes the rise take a bit longer than usual.

4.  Punch down dough and allow to rest 10 minutes.  While it's resting, grease an 8"x8" casserole.  I also lined it with parchment, just in case things got burned and messy.

Filling

1 Tb butter, melted
1 Tb brown sugar
*2 Tb pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin spice

1.  Combine brown sugar, pumpkin, and spice.

2.  Roll out dough into a rectangle 1/4" thick and roughly 16" wide.  Flour the board and the dough to prevent sticking, but try not to add a lot.

3.  Brush surface of rectangle with butter, then smear with filling, leaving 1" on a long side clean.  Roll up dough into a log, and seal with the clean edge.

4.  Cut log into 8 pieces and arrange in the prepared pan, cut side up.  At this point, you can cover the pan and refrigerate overnight as a do-ahead, or continue.

5.  Allow to rise until rolls almost fill the pan, another 75 minutes-ish.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until browned and tops are firm.  Set aside to cool 5 minutes before frosting, or 10 minutes if serving without.

6.  For a simple glaze, whisk together 1 C powdered sugar and a teaspoon or two of milk until desired consistency is reached.  Drizzle over rolls.  I used some leftover cream cheese frosting (What?  There's such a thing?  Yes, if you make a 6" cake) and dusted the top with cinnamon after it melted into all the corners.

Makes 8 rolls

Difficulty rating :-0