Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze

Pin It Now!

My next foray into pumpkin deliciousness--Pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  I am a die hard cinnamon roll fan, it is no joke, I love me some cinnamon rolls.  When I saw everyone posting pumpkin cinnamon rolls, I knew I wanted to make them eventually.  When I read my husband off a list of pumpkin goodies from my fellow bloggers, the one he was actually interested in (other than the ice cream) was these cinnamon rolls.  Go figure, this coming from my savory loving husband. 

Since I had made King Arthur Flour's cinnamon rolls before and knew that I really liked them, I decided to give their pumpkin cinnamon rolls a try as my first pumpkin yeast bread endeavor.  Made some adjustments to the dough, filling, and glaze recipes, but it is adapted from their Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Rolls.  As usual, they did not dissapoint!  I like these even better than my KAF standby cinnamon roll recipe.  I am currently fighting the urge to go indulge in another one, and my three year old son has already eaten like two (well, he "shared" two and a half with his grandma, but I think he got more than his fair share), and my newly turned one year old is diligently working on his half of a cinnamon roll, and he is acting like it is the greatest thing he has ever eaten...which it vary well may be.  All in all, rave reviews! 

I tweaked KAF's glaze recipe a bit to make it a maple glaze, and the only negative I have to say about that was that I needed to double the recipe.  So, if you want truly ooey, gooey cinnamon rolls, double the glaze.  A few modifications were made to the dough as well, because it was what I had on hand.

Perfect with a cup of coffee, a news paper, and some wonderful fall weather.  Well, I guess here in SoCal I can get at least two out of three.

I made the dough last night, let the dough rise, rolled them out and made the cinnamon rolls, and then I put them in the pan I was going to bake them in and covered them and put them in the fridge to do their second rise.  When I pulled them out this morning I let them sit out for about an hour on the stove top before I baked them to finish their second rise, since my fridge is realllllly cold, they didn't rise much in the fridge.  They only needed to bake about 32 minutes, so not much more than the unrefrigerated dough.

PUMPKIN CINNAMON ROLLS WITH MAPLE GLAZE
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Rolls)


Makes 12 rolls

Ingredients:

Dough

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lukewarm water*
• 1/4 cup soft butter
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 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 environment, 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

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
• raisins, cranberries, or nuts (optional, I omitted)

Glaze

• 1 cup glazing or confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons real maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• enough milk, apple juice, water, or coffee creamer to reach desired consistency

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) Sprinkle the dough evenly with the brown sugar, and then with the cinnamon, pressing in the filling to the dough slightly. Spread a thin layer over the dough, leaving one short edge free of filling. 

5) Sprinkle with nuts or dried fruit (or both), if desired. 

6) Starting with the long end, roll the dough into a log. 

7) Cut the log into 12 slices. 

8) Place the rolls into a lightly greased 9" x 13" 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. (If they were refrigerated the night before, bake for closer to 30-35 minutes).  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 maple syrup together till the butter melts. Whisk in the sugar, salt, vanilla, and whatever amount of other liquid needed to get the desired consistency.

11) Drizzle the warm rolls with the warm glaze. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired.