Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

I decided to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls from scratch for work Wednesday for those of us laboring the day before Thanksgiving. We had anticipated a crazy day, so I thought a pre-Thanksgiving edible celebration would help take our minds off work for at least 10 minutes. As it turns out, the day was not so bad and the cinnamon rolls were extra delicious.

Tuesday after work I came home and started on the cinnamon rolls as soon as I had settled in. This was my first time making home-made cinnamon rolls and I wasn't really sure how much time it might take.
As it turned out...it kind of took all night, but it wasn't hard, just a tad time consuming.

There are three parts to the cinnamon rolls: the dough, the filling, and the glaze.


Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls:
1 package dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
4 2/3 cups whole wheat flour, divided
1 cup canned pumpkin (I used a 1/2 cup more to add more pumpkin flavor)
1/2 cup 2% milk
5 T butter, melted
2 T sugar
1 1/4 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t pumpkin pie spice


Dissolve the yeast in warm water in a large bowl. Add 3 and 2/3 cups flour, the pumpkin, milk, butter, sugar, and spices and mix until smooth. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface adding the remaining flour as needed. Shape into a ball and lightly coat dough-ball in olive oil. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with saran wrap and let rise for 45 minutes. Punch down dough and let rest for another 5-10 minutes.


While your dough is rising, mix together the filling.

Filling:
7 T sugar
5 T brown sugar
3 T flour
3 t cinnamon
4 T chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Mix ingredients.

Flour your counter or table and roll dough out to a 12x10 rectangle. (Rolling dough into a particular shape--be it a rectangle or circle--can be more difficult than meets the eye...) Sprinkle evenly with your filling and roll length-wise towards you tightly. Pinch the seams and ends. I generously sprinkled extra cinnamon and sugar over the pre-made filling mixture as I saw fit. Feel free to do the same. Once you've got your log, simply cut into 1-inch thick slices. I loaded the slices into a round cake pan and then the leftovers into a square cake pan. Be sure to coat the pans with cooking spray. Cover with saran wrap and let rise for another 25 minutes.
This is when I put the rolls in the fridge and went to bed.



The next morning I made my glaze.

Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 T milk
1/4 t vanilla


Bake cinnamon rolls for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Drizzle generously with glaze and enjoy!

Pizza Dough!

Due to a combination of both delicious looking flat-bread recipes on my food blogs, and my co-worker's mention of making her own pizza dough last week, I have taken it upon myself to try a home-made pizza dough as well. And I'm throwing a pizza party to test it all out.

Before the party, though, I first must pre-make the dough. That's what tonight's adventure shall be about.

Here's what you'll need:

1 package dry active yeast (2 tspns)
1 cup warm water
3 cups flour (I used whole wheat again)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
3. Make a well in the center of flour mix and pour olive oil and yeast mixture into it.
4. Mix dough until a ball starts to form, then knead on lightly floured surface for 4-5 minutes.


5. Lightly oil a glass bowl and the ball of dough, cover, and let rise for about an hour. Set in warm location.

I let my dough sit for an hour, walked my dogs, and when I came back I was very happy to see that my pizza dough had indeed risen. I have read about other bloggers not having the same luck. Then...I poked it down and let it rise for one more hour.


Roll your dough out on a lightly floured surface. Trying to achieve a nice, round, pizza-like shape is probably the hardest part of this whole process.
Then spread your sauce and add your toppings. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling!