Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Sugar Icing

It has been an eventful week (okay, okay, eight) since I last blogged and summer reluctantly, finally expired.  It's cold now! And while it was becoming such, a lot happened. I moved from the house that feels like Christmas to the house that feels like Thanksgiving, started selling earrings in an awesome store that newly opened in DC, took a vacation to visit my parents in Maine (where we discovered the perfect flat-iron building for housing a dream bakery), became briefly obsessed with religious snake-handlers after reading a memoir about the exploits of one, acquired shared responsibility for a Rottweiler named Emma Jane who looks cute as pie dressed like a banana, and gave all of the Tootsie pops to a five-year-old who was dressed like Harry Potter and holding the hand of his curly-haired baby sister. I have yet to go apple-picking (for shame!), but a group of considerate folks from New York brought us a bushel of upstate apples that have been put to good use inside cheddar cheese pie crust and given as consolation prizes to the post-candy trick-or-treaters that were banging on our door at 10:30 on Sunday.

And while I hope you haven't tired of the lone September recipe that I bequeathed--and really how could anyone tire of a doughnut recipe?--I come bearing a new autumn-appropriate recipe for pumpkin cinnmon rolls that I hope you'll try. This was originally posted on TheKitchn a few weeks back, and while I was skeptical about the instructions that don't require you to activate the yeast or knead the dough, my dough was nice and puffed the next morning when I pulled it out of the fridge, and these rolls baked up delicious! I would have liked them better with the cream cheese icing from over here, but it's real hard to go wrong with cinnamon rolls of any kind, especially on a Sunday morning when enjoyed first hot and second cold after a bike ride and during a retreat to plaid blankets.

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Sugar Icing

Adapted from TheKitchn.com

Makes about 16 rolls

As I said, I was skeptical about the yeast, so I've provided instructions for activating yeast as I normally would have done. If you'd like to skip that step and want some validation about it, go ahead and consult the original recipe over here.!

For the dough

1/4 cup water, warmed, not hot

1 package active dry yeast (just shy of 1 tablespoon)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup sugar

1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For the filling

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 cups toasted pecans, chopped and divided

For the icing

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup brown sugar

2 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I don't like the taste of powdered sugar, so I try to get away with using as little as possible)

Pinch of salt

1.  Mix the yeast, warm water, and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl, and set aside. Mixture will become foamy if years ts alive and ready to rise.

2.  Warm the butter and milk in a small saucepan until butter is melted.  Combine in a very large bowl with sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Let the mixture cool somewhat until it is just warm (as opposed to piping hot), then stir in your foamy yeast mixture and the pumpkin.  Add the salt and five cups of flour, stirring until the flour is well-incorporated.  The dough should come together in a shaggy ball, but if it still feels moist, add the remaining half-cup of flour (I did).

3.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm, dry place for one to three hours; it should double in size.  Then gently deflate it by pressing two fingers into the top, cover it again, and pop it in the fridge overnight for up to eight hours.  If you'd rather bake the dough right away, deflate it and begin shaping instead of refrigerating overnight.

4.  To shape the rolls, shake some flour onto a large work surface.  Dump the dough out, pat it into a rectangle, and use a well-floured rolling pin to push it into a rectangle that's about 1.5 inches thick, and longer than it is wide (mine ended up being about 20 inches by five inches).  To make the filling, mix the melted butter, milk, sugar, and spices in a medium bowl.  Pour the filling onto your dough rectangle, and spread it around evenly, leaving a half-inch border. Sprinkle one cup of the toasted pecans on top.  Working long-ways, roll the dough into a cylinder and pinch it closed at the top. Using a sharp knife or bench cutter, cut cylinder into rolls about 1.5 to two inches thick.  Arrange them side by side in a few buttered caked pans, cover, and allow them to rise until they look puffy, about 30 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  When the rolls have puffed and are all squished together, bake them for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.  Rotate the pan halfway through baking.  Meanwhile, make the glaze by heating the butter, milk, and brown sugar in a medium saucepan until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat, and sift in the powdered sugar; blend thoroughly with a fork. You now have pourable, awesome glaze. 

5.  When the rolls are golden, remove from the oven. Pour on the glaze and the remaining chopped pecans.  These are best if eaten immediately, but will keep for a day, covered. 

Non-Onomatopoetic Cinnamon Buns

There are three things I have missed from Pilsbury cinnamon rolls during the past six or so years of their absence from my life. First, is the firecracker “pop” that sounds off when you peel back the Pilsbury label and that would send our cats yowling to cower under the kitchen table. Second, is the resounding “thwap” that that heavy log of dough would make when it fell out of its aluminum tube. And third, is the circular cake pan I used to bake the rolls in so they would hug sides and bake up puffy and close. I might miss the convenience of Pilsbury buns too, but it’s hard to feel cheated when your kitchen is filled with the scent of homemade cinnamon rolls and you can excuse yourself for eating three or four since you made them. Oh yes, I operate on a labor-based baking economy. Homemade buns mean I eat at least three, maybe four to account for inflation, and I surely dip a finger in the glaze here and there to preempt my tax refund. And even though the sounds of homemade cinnamon buns aren’t as exciting as Pilsbury’s onomatopoetics, I absolutely enjoyed the suspense of seeing (literally watching) the dough rise and hearing the cinnamon sizzle. This recipe pays off big, in aesthetics, taste, and a certain lack of nutrition facts dictating whether or not five buns is considered a single serving (it is, promise).




Cinnamon Buns with Cream Cheese Glaze
Via Bon Appétit

Dough
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups (or more) unbleached all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/4 teaspoons rapid-rise or instant yeast (from 1 envelope)
1 teaspoon salt
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

Filling
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (plus more if you're really into cinnamon)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt

Glaze
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For dough: Combine milk and butter in glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until butter melts and mixture is just warmed, about 30 to 45 seconds. Pour into bowl, and add 1 cup flour, sugar, egg, yeast, and salt. Beat on low speed with an eggbeater for 3 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add additional 2 1/2 cups flour. Beat on low until flour is absorbed and dough is sticky, scraping down sides of bowl. If dough is very sticky, add more flour by tablespoonfuls until dough begins to form ball and pulls away from sides of bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 8 minutes. Form into ball.

Lightly oil large bowl with nonstick spray. Transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. I let mine rise in the oven, which had been preheated to 200 degrees F. the hour before, then turned off and left open while I prepared the dough. DC was cold that day, so the warming precaution was necessary.

For filling: Mix brown sugar, cinnamon and pinch of salt in medium bowl.

Press down dough. Transfer to floured work surface. Roll out to 15×11-inch rectangle. Spread butter over dough, leaving 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle cinnamon mixture evenly over butter. Starting at the longer side, roll dough into log, pinching gently to keep it rolled up. With seam side down, trim ends straight if they are uneven, and cut remaining dough crosswise with thin sharp knife into 18 equal slices (I made 16, so each was a little plumper).

Spray two 9-inch square glass baking dishes (I used a 9 x 14-inch rectangle dish) with nonstick spray. Divide rolls between baking dishes, arranging cut side up (there will be almost no space between rolls). Cover baking dishes with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, 40 to 45 minutes, though this part may take you longer. I let mine rise overnight in the refrigerator, then took it out and let it come to room temperature for an hour and 15 minutes in the morning before baking.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Sprinkle rolls with extra cinnamon if you so desire, which I did, because cinnamon is rad and highly delicious. Bake rolls until tops are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and invert immediately onto rack. Cool 10 minutes. Turn rolls right side up (I skipped all this and glazed mine in the pan).

For glaze: Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until smooth. Spread glaze on rolls. Serve warm or at room temperature.