For the Love of Pumpkin!

Fall is here & we have finally been enjoying some crisp nights & mornings!! We even have our first fire of the year burning as I type this!!! With all this comes the anticipation of Holidays & yummy food! I would much rather bake than cook, so I have been rummaging around my holiday recipes and found one for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. I had wanted to try them last year and never got around to it, so last night seemed the perfect time! It had been a long week, my mom in and out of Dr's Appts. and nothing relieves my stress like baking! So I gave them a go. With that said. While these were super tasty & the texture was DEVINE! They didn't taste as "pumpkiny" as we had hoped. The recipe doesn't call for any spices to be added to the dough, I added pumpkin pie spice, just a smidge, to see what it would do & in hindsight I would add at least 1tsp. and go from there!

Here are the beauties!

 

Here is the recipe, although I changed a couple things. I used white sugar rather than brown, for the filling, personal preference here. Also I made a cream cheese frosting rather than the caramel frosting in the recipe. Again personal preference! Tom's favorite is Cream Cheese, so I choose that, but I do love Caramel too!

Let me know if you bake these and how they worked for you!

 

• 2-3/4 to 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup solid-pack pumpkin
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 
  CARAMEL FROSTING:
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
• Dash salt
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

• In a bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour and yeast; set aside. In a saucepan, heat and stir pumpkin, milk, sugar, 2 tablespoons butter and salt until warm (120°-130°) and butter is almost melted. Add to flour/yeast mixture along with egg. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Roll into a 12-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Melt remaining butter; brush on dough. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Roll dough, jelly roll style, starting with the longer side. Cut into 12 slices, 1 in. each. Place rolls, cut side down, in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
• For frosting, melt butter in a saucepan; stir in brown sugar and milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Stir in vanilla, salt and 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar; beat until well blended. Add more sugar, if necessary, to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over rolls. Yield: 1 dozen.