‘Tis the season for Pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING.
Normally, I am all about a good baking “hack” to make life easier — but every once and a while I like to spend hours in the kitchen making something yummy from scratch.
On today’s edition of Tasty Tuesday — we are making Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls!!
I found this recipe online from The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. But like other pumpkin recipes – I prefer the flavor of ground cloves to ground ginger. So I did a little substitution from O.G. recipe.
INGREDIENTS
Dough
1 ½ cup whole milk
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
1 package (2 ¼ tsp) active dry yeast
1 cup pumpkin puree
5 cups all-purpose flour (divided) and even more for rolling dough
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves [substituted for ¼ tsp ground ginger]
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Filling
½ cup salted butter, melted
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cloves [substituted for ½ tsp ground ginger]
¾ cup finely chopped pecans [a little more for decorating the frosting]
Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
½ pound powdered sugar
2 tbsp whole milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Dash of salt
Ok, since we are trying to be the Queen of the Kitchen with this recipe – please plan for a few hours (because the dough has to rise for an hour). But that’s OK — it’ll give us time to make the filling (and clean up the kitchen).
Grab a large saucepan (and yes, we mean large and deep — you will use this pan to have the dough rise). The first time I made this — I grabbed a small pan and lets just say — I wasn’t properly prepared for the rising process.
You will combine the milk, oil and sugar together. You want the liquid to be hot but definitely NOT boiling — so I’d say medium to medium high heat.
After you remove the pan from the stove — you will sprinkle the yeast on top of the hot liquid mixture. Do NOT stir it — just let it sit for 5 minutes — it should get a little foamy.
After 5 minutes – stir in the pumpkin puree.
In a separate bowl – combine 4 cups of flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves (or you could use ginger instead).
After combined — add to the saucepan until it is mixed completely. Cover the saucepan with a clean dish towel and set aside for a hour. Make sure you put it in a warm place with no drafts.
After an hour — the dough should be doubled in size and “puffy”. Add the remaining flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
This is when you will preheat the over at 350 degrees. You will also need to grease two pans for baking.
On a well floured clean surface – roll out (or use your hands) to shape the dough into a rectangle shape (this will definitely not be perfect – but do your best). The goal is for the length to be twice the width.
Starting on the filling — mix together sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves (or ginger) and pecans. Take the melted butter and spread it all over the dough you can use a spoon or even your fingers.
Sprinkle the sugar/spice mixture all over the buttered dough.
Now it is time to roll! Ok — I am not going to lie — I did this wrong the first time. You want to start the rolling process on the longer side. I did the short side the first time I made this and I ended up with super fat rolls. Which isn’t a big deal except it is harder to get an even bake — so the middle can sometimes be raw.
Another thing you want to be mindful of when rolling – is to make the roll as tight as possible.
Once you have what looks like a “log” — place the seam side down and start slicing. You are looking for 1 ½ inch thick rolls. When you cut the dough — you may need to “reshape” it before placing it onto your greased pans. If your original rolling process wasn’t very tight — your slices could look like rounded rectangles instead of circles. You should get 16 rolls out of this recipe.
When placing the rolls onto the pan — do not put them too close together. This could cause issues with baking.
Cover your two pans with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30 minutes. When ready — put into the 350 degree oven for 25-35 minutes. I suggest setting the timer for 25 minutes and then checking the rolls afterwards. My batches were typically mushy in the middle and needed more baking time.
While we are baking — we have plenty of time to make the frosting. Use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and milk. Once you have a smooth consistency — add the butter and salt.
When you take the pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls out of the oven – immediately ice them with the frosting. Don’t be afraid to be generous — the gooey confection will melt over the top and sides of the hot rolls.
You can also decorate the top with the extra pecans. (You can pair it with coffee or a mimosa).
Y’ALL, I can not express how awesome these taste. My family loves them and my girlfriends, too.
I am now getting requests for these from future holiday house guests.
For more Pumpkin Recipes take a look here!
