Pumpkin Week - Day 3 - Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Fall is a great time for pumpkin recipes.  I recently found myself with too much pumpkin to fit in my freezer, and I couldn't throw it out, so I made cinnamon rolls.  Hubby's co-workers as well as the family of his drum student got surprises the next day.

  For Dough:                                                                              2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

  1/2 Cup 1% Milk                                                                     1/2 Tsp Ground Nutmeg

  5 Tbl Butter                                                                             4 Tbl Butter, Melted

  1 Cup Pumpkin Puree                                                              For Caramel Frosting:

  1/4 Cup Sugar                                                                          8 Tbl Butter

  1 Tsp Salt                                                                                 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

  2 Large Eggs, beaten                                                                1/4 Cup 1% Milk

  4.5 Tsp Yeast                                                                           1/2 Tsp Vanilla

  2 Cups Flour                                                                            1 Pinch salt

  2 Cups Bread Flour                                                                  1 1/2 Cups Confectioner's Sugar

  2/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed                                       

For Dough:

In small saucepan, heat milk and butter just until warm (120-130 degrees) and butter is almost melted, stirring constantly, set  aside.

In large mixer bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar and salt.  Add milk mixture to pumpkin and beat with electric mixer until well  mixed. Beat in eggs and yeast.

In separate mixing bowl, combine flours. Add half of flour mixture to pumpkin mixture. Beat mixture on low speed 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Add remaining flour and mix thoroughly (dough will be very soft).  Put dough into a lightly  greased bowl, turning so all sides are greased.  Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.  Punch dough down. Turn onto floured surface. Knead a few turns to form a smooth dough, sprinkling with enough additional flour to make dough easy to handle.  On lightly floured surface, roll dough into 24x10-inch rectangle.  Brush with melted butter.  In small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg then sprinkle over the butter.  Beginning with long side of dough, roll up jelly roll style. Pinch seam to seal. With sharp knife, cut roll into 24 slices, about 1 inch wide each. Place rolls, cut side up, in 9-inch square or round baking pans that have been lined with waxed paper and greased.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Cover rolls and let rise until nearly doubled.  Bake rolls at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until golden.  Using wax paper, remove from pan to wire racks.

While the rolls bake, make the frosting:

In small saucepan, heat butter until melted.  Stir in brown sugar and milk. Cook over medium low heat 1 minute. Transfer to small mixer bowl and cool mixture until you remove the rolls from the oven.  When the rolls are cooling, stir in vanilla, salt, and confectioner's' sugar. Beat with electric mixer until well blended. If necessary, add more confectioner's' sugar for desired  consistency.  As soon as the frosting is done, drizzle over cinnamon rolls.