I recently had a coworker give me some homegrown pumpkin. I wasn’t about to let that go to waste and I was craving cinnamon rolls. So I did a little research and found some recipes I liked and then as is my want, I customized them to make them unique to me. Mostly the addition of bourdon to the frosting and I added some of my Herman starter to the mix. This made the dough a lot more flavorful and rich.

Pumpkin Dough

• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup pumpkin*
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 Tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 envelope)
• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup Herman starter

Filling

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, room temp (8Tbsp)
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

make the dough

Warm the milk and butter together until the butter is just melted. You want the mixture to be between 105° and 115°. In a bowl or stand mixer whisk the pumpkin, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Slowly add in the milk mixture, egg, yeast, and Herman starter. Slowly add in 1 cup of flour. Mix for at least 1 minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add in the rest of the flour a 1/3 of a cup at a time and beat until smooth.

Kneed the dough for 5 minutes, this is much easier with a stand mixer. You’ll want to switch to a dough hook. If the dough is too sticky you may need to add a little more flour, do this 1/8 of a cup at the most. I had to do this because my pumpkin happened to be really “wet”. You want the dough to be smooth and elastic, a little tacky is good but not super sticky. If you add to much flour though it won’t be a delicate dough but tough instead.

Let dough rise in a lightly greased bowl for about 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Roll out the dough

Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll it out to 10″x14″ rectangle. Let it rest for 10 mins. In the meantime grease your baking dish, you can use a 9″ round or 9″x13″ rectangle. Makes between 10-12 rolls.

This is also a good time to skip down to the filling recipe and put that together.

Spread the soften butter evenly on the dough. Combine the brown sugar and spices and sprinkle on top of the butter.

Roll up the dough from the long side (14″). Use a sharp knife or unflaroved dental floss but the log into 10 to 12 discs. Arrange them in the buttered backing pan. Cover the rolls with either plastic wrap or a light towel, let them rise for 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 350°.

Bake the rolls for about 30 mins, the tops should be nicely browned. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 mins.

Maple bourbon cream cheese frosting

• 1 package (4oz) cream cheese, at room temp
• 3 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp Bourbon
• 2/3 cup of powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and slightly fluffy. Slowly, I mean slowly, add it the maple syrup. If you do it too fast the cream cheese will start to chunk up and no one wants that! Once it’s again light and fluffy slowly add in the Bourbon and then beat in the sugar a little at a time. Once it’s all combined and smooth you can frost the rolls and enjoy!