Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze

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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.

 

Apple Pie Mookies

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I really liked my chocolate chip banana mookie recipe.  Mookies, in case you are not familiar with my previous post, are what I dubbed this cross between a cookie and a muffin.  These are fluffy, slightly cakey cookies, with just a phenomenal hearty texture.  When I started to think about what other kinds of "mookies" I could make, I must have had apples on the brain.  Thus, apple pie mookies were born.  With oats, hearty chunks of apples, wonderful warm apple pie spices, and butterscotch chips, these just scream cozy fall day.  And considering it is 95 degrees out, I could very much use a mental escape to a more pleasant season.  The apples are softened but juicy, and a tart contrast against the sweet butterscotch chips.  Slightly chewy oats give way to a fine, cakey crumb.  Seriously, I don't know how many ways to describe the awesomeness except to say you just have to try them.

Let me just say, my house smells beyond amazing right now.  If I could eat the air I would.  But I guess I will settle for eating these cookies instead.  And at just around 100 calories each, I can afford to have a couple!  

These are absolutely a must try.  Really, seriously, in the stratosphere tasty.


APPLE PIE MOOKIES

Makes approximately 34-38 mookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 large egg
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal (if you don't have or don't want to use, add an extra 1/4 cup flour)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1-1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup tart apples, diced and peeled (like granny smith)
• 6 oz (1 cup) butterscotch chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together flour, almond meal, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger in a small bowl and set aside.  
3. Place butter, and sugars into a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until they are well combined.  Depending on how soft the butter is, it may take several minutes for the mix to come together.
4. Reduce speed to low.  Add egg, applesauce, and vanilla and mix until combined.   Beat for 1 minute on medium until well combined.
5. Add flour and spice mix and mix on medium until well combined and fluffier.  
6. Mix in oats, apple pieces and butterscotch chips with mixer or by hand until well incorporated. Don't fear, this dough is very moist.
7. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or 2 Tbs cookie scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets spacing about 2 inches apart.  Using a fork, flatten the dough into a disk shape, they do not spread much.
8. Bake cookies until they just start to turn golden brown and just set, about 12 to 13 minutes. The centers will be fairly firm, like a cooked muffin, when done.

Powdered Sugar Toast: Ode to My Childhood

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This is my child hood memories on a plate when it comes to special food.  Ok, this, and a special birthday cake that my mom has made me every year since I was like five, but that is another post.

Powdered. Sugar. Toast.  Yep, that is what I said.  It may be hard to conceived of putting powdered sugar on toast and feeding it to your kids (or eating it yourself), but believe me, it is one of the most wonderful, addictive, simple, special breakfasts you could make.  I have such fond memories of my mom making this for my siblings and I on our birthdays, or school days off, or holidays.  Waking up to the smell of cinnamon and sugar wafting through the house and up to my bedroom--fantastic way to wake up.  It was our "special day" breakfast. I remember that if she was making it when we were already up, I would stand at the oven staring at it just waiting impatiently for it to be done (it only bakes for like five minutes, but it seemed like forever!).  Who would have thought that sandwich bread, sugar, and cinnamon could be transformed into something so memorable and just screaming love.  Maybe it screams love because you really do have to love your kids to give them a piece of bread with a bunch of sugar on it for breakfast because you know your kids will be bouncing off the walls after and it is all your fault...I don't know, just saying. This is one of those foods where you give it to your kids and just watch them.  They will develop their own quarky way to eat it, and it will be something you will cherish, and they will cherish.  I know I do.

When I talked to my mom and told her I was going to do a post on this, she told me that I should credit her mom, my grandma, for the recipe, since she made it for my mom and her siblings when they grew up.  It is a family tradition, one that today, I am starting with my kids, and it is bringing me such joy!  So I would like to give thanks and credit to both my mom and my grandma for loving us enough to give us this blissfully delicious treat on those special days.

As I sit here and type this up, my 1 year old has already devoured his piece that I so painstakingly cut into tiny pieces, and my three year old (who is a pretty picky eater) has been carefully picking up the powdered sugar with his fingers and licking it off for the last 15 minutes.  He did however decide that the whole thing was tasty and has eaten the toast part as well.  He just finished his first piece, and came up begging for another.  As I am writing this I look over to see him licking the sugar right off his second piece of toast.  I think we have a winner.  Whatever I can do to get him to eat whole wheat toast, right? I will pay for this in an hour when he is running around like a mad man worse than usual. 

I know you may still be trying to wrap your head around dumping sugar on toast and calling it breakfast, so for clarity, and fun, I have included step by step pictures in this post.  There are no measurements, just to taste, and how ever many pieces you want to make.  I guarantee you, it will be more than you think.  I always had to be cut off, this stuff is like breakfast crack I tell you!  Without any more delays, here is the recipe for my beloved powdered sugar toast.

POWDERED SUGAR TOAST

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat sandwich bread (or white), seriously, just the plain old sliced sandwich bread, nothing fancy
• powdered sugar
• cinnamon
• butter spread (I used smart balance butter)

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Toast the bread in the toaster and lay toasted sliced on a foil lined sheet. 

 Butter the toasted slices.  If you butter it while it is hot (top slices) you will get more loose powdered sugar after baking then if you butter it when the toast cools (bottom slices), so pick whichever you prefer.  I like lots of loose powdered sugar after baking.  I used to dump the extra powdered sugar from all my slices onto one slice, save that for last, and have one happy powdered sugar pile on my last slice (I'm telling you, this is my childhood, children do funny things!)

After buttering, take about a dinner spoon size spoonful of powdered sugar and sprinkle it over the toast until it is all covered.  Do not smooth down or spread out.
 

  Sprinkle the toast with cinnamon, however much you like to taste.  I love cinnamon, so I give it a pretty good dose.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about five minutes.  The edges of the toast will get a bit more crispy, the powdered sugar will start to melt with the butter, and the rest of the powdered sugar will get a bit crystalized. 

The piece below is a slice that the butter was NOT melted when I put the powdered sugar on.  See how more of the powdered sugar has melted into sugary happiness?

This slice below was when the powdered sugar was put on when butter DID melt into the bread before adding the powdered sugar.  This yields a more messy toast slice, with lots of loose powdered sugar to lick, dump, just make a mess with in general.  This is my style choice for this toast, but it is all personal preference and they both taste the same.

And here is the finished product.  A slice of heaven, and it was so deceptively simple....

I hope you will take a morning (or afternoon or evening) and make this for your kids, make some memories, and have some fun.  Thanks for joining my journey through my childhood memories.

Microwave Sweet Potato Chips

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My favorite way to eat a sweet potato is just baked, with a little butter, and a sprinkle of salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  My son likes it that way too, he calls it "pie." (Hey, who am I to correct that one, hehehe).  He really loves sweet potato chips too.  Unfortunately, even with sweet potatoes, those chips don't seem too much better for you and are usually expensive, so we don't get them.  A few weeks ago I saw a recipe for microwave potato chips on yahoo, well, actually my husband did, and he sent the article to me.  I thought it was interesting, so I tried it right then and there, but we didn't have white potatoes, so I tried it with our sweet potatoes.  They took a bit longer to cook, but my son and my husband liked them so much that I had nothing left to shoot for a post picture.  Oh well.  Today however, my husband is at school, kids are up for naps, and I was actually able to make some and get a picture before they were devoured.

I seasoned these with salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Slightly reminiscent of my baked sweet potato I dearly love, but not over whelming.  I have also done just salt, as well as Lawry's Seasoning Salt.  All of them were delicious, so season with whatever you like.  The nutmeg and cinnamon scream fall though, and I so desperately want it to be fall.

I haven't perfected these, but it is because I don't have a mandolin, I am too lazy to pull out my food processor, and my knife skills leave something to be desired.  If you have one of the first two items, I highly recommend using them if you plan to make a bunch, it will be easier, and they will come out more uniformly.  Otherwise, cut them as thin as possible.  The thinner they are, the quicker they cook, the crunchier they will be.

**Microwave times will vary, depending on the strength of your microwave and how thick they are cut, so keep that in mind, try for the lesser time, and add 30 second increments.  The ingredient amounts are based on how many you want to make, so use what you need, and season to your liking.

MICROWAVE SWEET POTATO CHIPS

Ingredients:

• sweet potatoes, washed and scrubbed, skin on
• ground cinnamon
• salt
• nutmeg
• olive oil cooking spray

Directions:

1. Slice the washed sweet potatoes using a mandolin, food processor slicing attachment, or a sharp knife.  Cut as thinly as possible, 1-2 mm thick.
2. Place slices in a bowl of cool water for 5 minutes.
3. Remove slices and dry well with a paper towel.
4. Spray a microwave safe plate with the cooking spray and place a single layer of sweet potato slices on the plate.  
5. Spray the slices with the olive oil cooking spray lightly and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
6. Place in microwave for 2-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of your slices and the strength of your microwave.  Mine took about 3 min and 30 seconds, but my microwave sucks and I cut them with a knife, so they were kind of thick.
7. They will curl around the edges and feel fairly dry when done.  The one in the center will probably start to brown, be careful not to over cook, they do actually burn (found out the hard way).
8. The sweet potatoes will continue to get a bit more crispy as they cool, so take that in to consideration.  Repeat with remaining slices until the desired amount is reached.