I love the smell, look and taste of cinnamon rolls. Throw in some nutrition from pumpkin and whole wheat, cut down the fat and these pumpkin rolls are even better. The lovely orange from the pumpkin is another bonus.
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 2 cups bread flour
- 2-3 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 package (2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 cup milk (reserve 2 tbsp of milk)
- ½ stick unsalted butter
- 1 cup of pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
Cinnamon Filling:
- 1/2 cup (160 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 cup oil
Glaze Frosting:
- 1/2 cup confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar
- 1 – 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
Procedure:
Warm the milk till it reaches about 120°F (that’s about warm enough for you to comfortable drink). Add in butter, sugar and salt. Combine in a stand mixer. Add the package of instant yeast and 2 cups of flour. The mixture does have to be warm for this instant yeast to start working. You could use regular yeast too however the temperature should be lower and it will taker longer to rise.
Add in the egg and pumpkin puree.
Add the rest of the flour a ¼ cup at a time and knead it in for at least 1 minute. When the flour begins to form a ball stop adding flour.
Roll into a ball and brush with oil. Place the dough ball in a large oiled bowl with enough room to rise and cover with a plastic wrap.
Place the bowl in a warm corner. It will take about 2 hrs. for this first rise, when it will double in size.
Roll out the risen dough into a rectangle which is ½ inch thick.
Brush or spray with a layer of oil and spread the cinnamon, brown sugar and flour.
Starting from one end begin to roll to the other end. When you have almost completely rolled it, brush the edge with milk and roll to so it will seal. Place the seam side down and use a serrated knife to slice into 8 – 12 pieces depending on the dimension of your dish.
Arrange the rolls on a 13 X 9 sized dish. Keep in mind they will increase in size again. There is more browning at the bottom of metal trays but glass seems to be more even. The first time you make it, the rolls might not be evenly sized and might be a tad messy…but it will still taste delicious. The 2nd time you make it you will figure how thick, wide and long you want to roll out your dough and how thick you want each piece to be.
Cover the dish with a plastic wrap and let it rise for another hour.
At this stage you could also just refrigerate it and choose to bake it a day or two later. I made this the night before valentines day and refrigerated this. The next day I let it sit at room temperature for an hour before baking.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190° C) and bake for 10 – 15 minutes. Keep checking after the 10 minute. When they are ready, you will hear a hollow sound when you tap them and they will be a golden brown. Brush them with milk and glaze them if desired. As with the case of bread, over cooked is better than under. The opposite is true for cookies however.
For the glaze, mix the powdered sugar with the milk and drizzle on top of the rolls.
Cinnamon Rolls with light drizzle of glaze
If you prefer to watch a video I would recommend the video at Joy of Baking. The procedure is the same but the ingredients are different. Love that website.
Different Variations:
- Add pecan and raisins to the filling.
- Substitute the pumpkin with cooked and mashed sweet potatoes.
- Or replace the vanilla it the glaze with orange juice and add orange zest to the dough. Then replace 1/2 the cinnamon with powdered cloves. Cloves have a strong flavor so do not be tempted to add more. The cloves and orange will make it taste almost like hot cross buns.
- Make these into pumpkin dinner rolls. After the first rise shape them to balls and wait for the second rise and bake. No filling or glaze required!
Dinner Rolls
Super Mommy - Not! 