Dough:
1 C warm milk (1 minute in the microwave is about right)
1/4 C warm water
1 T sugar
1 T yeast
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 C sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin (I use a 15 oz can and separate it)
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
Dash allspice
5 C bread flour
1. Dissolve the sugar in the warm milk and water. Sprinkle the yeast on top, swirl with a fork, and let it get nice and foamy.
2. Add all other ingredients, mixing well after each one. Add the flour one cup at a time, and when it gets close to the right consistency, only add a tiny bit at a time. You want the dough to be soft, smooth, and sticky to touch, but it shouldn't get stuck ON your finger. Does that make sense?? You don't want it dry or you'll have heavy, dense rolls.
3. Lightly coat with oil, if desired, and let rise for an hour or two or until doubled in size.
4. Grease your work area with nonstick spray or light oil. Plop the dough out onto the greased area, but don't knead it or punch it down. Simply start rolling it out. That way it's still really soft and easy to work with and you can get it in the right shape and size easily. As you can see from my picture below, I don't worry too much about the shape. Umm...it's not very pretty. But it works.
Filling:
1/2 C pumpkin (or whatever is left in your can if you used the 15 oz size)
1 C brown sugar
2 T cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
Dash allspice
1. Spread the pumpkin by itself evenly over the rolled out dough. Mix together the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle on the top of the pumpkin and lightly pat with your fingers. (Now I want to warn you that if you mix all those ingredients together and spread them on at once, you might have a drippy mess. I don't think I need to tell you how I know that.)
2. Roll up the dough loosely and pinch to seal. I like to cut my rolls with a bread knife, but you can use dental floss too. Either way works very well. And don't worry if your dental floss is mint flavored - it's not enough to rub off on the rolls!
3. Arrange in two greased 9x13" pans, making sure the rolls are not touching each other. Or at least, not squished together. It's okay if some of the edges are lightly touching. Let rise until they look nice and puffy.
4. Bake in a 350 oven for around 20-25 minutes. You want them to be nice and golden brown. If you don't cook them quite long enough you'll have doughy middles, which some people like, but I can't stand doughy bread. Especially in cinnamon rolls, because not only is it doughy, but kind of soggy as well. Yuck!
Icing:
This is the best part!!!
3 oz cream cheese, room temperature
6 T butter, softened
2 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
Mix together till creamy and smooth (you can add more or less powdered sugar depending on your taste and preference). Spread over hot rolls, and serve! Enjoy!!
Notes:
If you want to make regular cinnamon rolls, use butter instead of pumpkin in both the filling and the dough. Omit all the spices in the dough. Take out the allspice and nutmeg in the filling, and instead of 2 tablespoons of cinnamon, add 3.
This recipe makes quite a lot of cinnamon rolls. I always want to make a lot, because I feel if you're going to go through ALL the work of making them, you may as well make a ton! Problem is, after a day or two, they're not so yummy anymore, and it's hard to eat 2 dozen cinnamon rolls in a day. But I came up with the perfect solution. After they are all cooked, frosted, and cooled, take them out of the pan, put them on a jelly roll pan and flash freeze them (30 minutes works). Them put them in a bag and stick them in the freezer. Now whenever anyone wants a hot cinnamon roll, zap it in the microwave for about 40 seconds. It tastes like it just came out of the oven! I'm not even kidding, it's amazing. I've tried freezing them uncooked, but they just never taste as good, plus it takes a LOT longer to cook when you want them. And you have to make the frosting on top of that! So I much prefer the other way.
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