Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Pumpkin is back! Pumpkin is back! I love all things pumpkin--drinks, desserts, even savory items. I made a baked pumpkin oatmeal this week and these pumpkin rolls after finally seeing the reappearance of pumpkin at my grocery store. For a real pumpkin lover, they weren't strong in pumpkin flavor, but they were both still great!
I did notice when I logged on to write this up that I have been posting a lot of not-so-healthy items lately! Don't worry, there have been lots of veggies thrown in between, but I don't think anybody wants to see my mixed greens and chopped peppers... but I will admit that the first bite I put in my mouth this morning was a Frito left over from last night's get together, and the second bite was a sample of this caramel icing. I sampled ONE roll and promptly left for a sweaty treadmill session....only make these if you have a place to take them!!
I thought I dreamed up this recipe..I was sitting there one night and said to Norris..Oh my gosh, how good would pumpkin cinnamon rolls be??? I was thinking of my flavor combinations for about 24 hours when I decided I should check out Google, and of course, there were already a thousand recipes for them. So, why reinvent the wheel? I decided to try the one from food.com that had great reviews. It gives approximated amounts, so I'll give you the amount I used. I feel that the pumpkin in the dough just made it even softer, which was awesome. I could not decide on my icing flavor and bounced ideas off a couple of friends. I decided to make both cream cheese icing and a caramel icing (for comparison's sake, of course!!). I liked them both! "Dilemma" unsolved!
Next step is finding a pumpkin cinnamon roll that has an even stronger pumpkin flavor! If you have a suggestion, please shoot it my way!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Serves:12

1/3 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup mashed pumpkin

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

2 1/4 tsp dry yeast

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup bread flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup raisins

2 tbsp softened butter

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp vanilla

a couple of dashes of salt

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

In small saucepan, heat milk and 2 tbsp butter until warm and butter is almost melted; remove from heat. In large bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, and milk mixture. Beat until well combined. Add egg and yeast and mix until combined.

In separate bowl, combine flours. Add half of flour mixture to pumpkin mixture. Beat on low speed for five minutes (instead of kneading..yippeee!!), scraping sides frequently. Add remaining flour mix and mix thouroughly for a very soft dough.

Spray a bowl with cooking spray and place dough into it. Turn dough to coat both sides with spray.

Cover and let rise until doubled (about an hour) OR put in fridge overnight.

Punch down down and turn onto floured surface. Knead a few times for a soft dough, using additional flour as needed. Roll dough into 12x10 rectangle.

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Brush surface of dough with melted butter, then sprinkle with brown sugar/cinnamon mix. Sprinkle raisins on top.

Roll dough and seal seam with a little water on your fingers. Cut into 12 1-inch pieces and place in greased 9x13 pan with a little space in between. Cover and let rise until doubled OR put in fridge overnight.

Bake rolls at 350 for about 22 minutes.

While rolls bake, make icing: In small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and milk and cook over medium low heat for one minute. Transfer to mixing bowl and allow to cool. Once cooled, stir in vanilla, salt, and confectioner's sugar. Beat until well blended.

Cool rolls for about 10 minutes, then drizzle with caramel icing.

Oh, and have you made these yet?? I made them again with raspberry and strawberry and a thinned cream cheese icing and they're just as great! I should have planned and had enough powdered sugar to make the lemon glaze, but this was pretty great too!!