That glorious time of the year is back! Pumpkins are for sale and my heart is content to purchase them. If you and I haven't met, you might not know about Pumpkin Fest.
Pumpkin Fest began in a little apartment kitchen in Peru in 2007 (
click here for my first post about it) and has just continued growing every year since. See, my family has always boiled down our own pumpkins to get the pumpkin puree- canned pumpkin be damned! And what does one do when you suddenly have an entire pumpkin's worth of pumpkin puree? You start making pumpkin things of course!
And make pumpkin things I have. I've got my collection of pumpkin recipes and generally I just go into high-octane pumpkin mode to bake and cook all things pumpkin related. So this year, I will start posting my recipes to this blog. And I appreciate your pumpkin recipes as well.
I will go ahead and post my first recipe which is what I'm currently waiting on to rise. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
* 1 cup pumpkin puree
* 2 large eggs
* 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lukewarm water*
* 1/4 cup soft butter
* 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 1 3/4 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
* 1/4 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, optional
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 2 teaspoons instant yeast
* *Adjust the amount of water by the time of year or your climate. For summer, or in a
humid enivronment, use the lesser amount of water. In winter, or in a dry climate, use the
greater amount. It's always best to start with the lesser amount; you can
Filling
* 3/4 cup Baker's Cinnamon Filling*
* 3 tablespoons water
* 1/2 cup minced crystallized ginger, raisins, or dried cranberries, optional
* *Substitute 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon for the
Baker's Cinnamon Filling and water, if desired. If you use sugar and cinnamon, DO NOT
ADD THE WATER.
Glaze
* 1 cup glazing or confectioners' sugar
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 1/2 tablespoons milk, or enough to make a "drizzlable" glaze
Directions
1) Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients together — by hand, mixer, or bread machine
— until you've made a soft, fairly smooth dough.
2) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise for
1 1/2 hours, until it's almost doubled in bulk.
3) Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased surface. Roll it into a 14" x 22" rectangle; the
dough will be thin.
4) Mix the cinnamon filling and water. Spread a thin layer over the dough, leaving one short
edge free of filling.
5) Sprinkle with crystallized ginger or dried fruit (or both), if desired.
6) Starting with the short end that's covered with filling, roll the dough into a log.
7) Cut the log into nine 1
8) Place the rolls into a lightly greased 9" x 9" pan that's at least 2" deep. Set aside,
covered, to rise for 1 hour, or until the rolls look puffy.
9) Bake the rolls in a preheated 375°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until they're lightly
browned and feel set. Remove them from the oven, and set them on a rack. Turn them out
of the pan, and allow them to cool for about 15 minutes. Towards the end of the cooling
time, make the glaze.
10) To make the glaze: Heat the butter and milk together till the butter melts. Whisk into
the sugar.
11) Drizzle the warm rolls with the warm glaze. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired.
