Pumpkin Rolls

If you like cinnamon rolls, then your going to like pumpkin rolls.  Same concept, except I put pumpkin in the bread dough and pumpkin pie spice on the inside, (instead of cinnamon).  This recipe make 1 dozen rolls, and is great for breakfast, (or anytime).

For this you will need:
2 3/4 - 3 1/2 cups flour
1 package active dry yeast, (1/4 ounce)
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 Tabs sugar
4 Tabs butter
1/2 teas salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
pumpkin pie spice
nutmeg

In a large bowl combine 1 1/2 cup flour and yeast.  Give this a stir and set aside.

In a small saucepan, over low heat combine pumpkin puree, milk, sugar, salt, and 2 teas butter.  Stir until warm and butter is almost melted.

To the flour and yeast mixture add the milk and pumpkin mixture, the beaten egg, 1/4 teas and pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 teas nutmeg.

Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 3 minutes.

Already you can smell the wonderful yeast begin to come alive, and the pumpkin puree has a wonderful fall aroma.

Now working in 1/2 cup increments, stir in your flour until you get a fairly moderate stiff dough.  The amount of flour you will add depends on several factors, (how much humidity is in the air, how much water your flour is holding, how compact your flour is in your measuring, etc.)  Today my dough took an additional 1 1/2 cups, (I live in a very dry climate and today our humidity was low).

So as you can see, after about 3 to 4 minutes, we have a nice workable dough.  Turn out onto a very lightly floured surface and knead the dough using your fingertips to pull the dough towards you, (gently folding the dough over), and your palms to gently push the dough away.  Knead your dough for about 5 minutes, working in any additional flour needed to achieve a smooth and elastic dough.

When you are done, your dough will look like this. Like a typical bread dough, but darker in color because of the pumpkin puree, (almost golden).

Spray a large bowl with baking spray, (or use butter), cover with plastic wrap, and a clean towel.  Place in a warm draft free place for 1 hour to rise.

OK - it's been an hour, and this is our dough.  You can smell the wonderful yeast of the dough giving life to the bread.  Gently turn the dough out on to a work surface, cover with a clean towel and let the dough rest for 5 minutes, (the carbon dioxide will deflate the dough slightly).

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out in a 12 inch by 10 inch rectangle.

Melt the remaining 2 Tabs of butter.

In a small bowl combine the brown sugar and 1 1/2 teas of pumpkin spice.

Brush the dough with the melted butter.

Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the melted butter.  If you want, you can also add finely chopped nuts at this point, (pecans or walnuts are a really good addition).

Now, starting on the long side, gently roll the dough, (sometimes you might need to use your dough scraper to help ease the dough along - as you can see there is almost no flour on my work bench).

Now that you have the dough rolled up, this is what it will look like.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and spray the parchment paper with baking spray, (this will not only help with the clean up, but your bread dough doesn't come in contact with the metal and get that funny metal taste).

Using your dough scraper, or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 pieces.

Place the rolls on the pan, leaving room for expansion during the final rise.

Gently cover with plastic wrap, and a clean towel, place in a warm draft free area for about 45 minutes to rise.  If it's rather warm, you will find you might only need 30 minutes.

It's been 45 minutes, and see how much they have risen?  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees,  Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Our rolls are done baking, and now they are cooling on a wire rack.  Let's make something for the top of them.  Can't have naked rolls.

Today, I am going to use up this small amount of caramel sauce that I have, and just put a tiny drizzle over each roll.  You could make a caramel frosting from scratch:
2 Tabs butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tabs milk
1/4 teas vanilla extract
dash salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Cook over low heat stirring well to blend, until you achieve the desired consistency.
Sometimes, I frosted them with a cream cheese frosting - YUMMY

And there we have our pumpkin rolls.  You can store these on a platter covered with plastic to keep them nice a soft.

My husband likes to warm his rolls in the microwave for a couple of seconds before he eats them.  I can just eat them at room temp and enjoy.

So, we've probably used most of our pumpkin that we cut up and pureed,  We've made pumpkin bread, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, and now pumpkin rolls.  And I haven't even begun to touch the dozens of other recipes I have for using my pumpkin puree.  Maybe I should put together a pamphlet of pumpkin recipes?

Enjoy, let me know how your rolls turned out.  Great way to start the Thanksgiving morning.