Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

I combined three recipes for these delicious rolls, and I have to say, they turned out pretty yummy! 

For the Dough:

3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

4 1/2  teaspoons dry yeast 

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter or margarine (1/2 stick), room temperature

1 large egg

Cooking spray to grease bowl and pan

Filling:

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon mixed together

Icing:

1/2 cube butter, room temperature

1 lb powdered sugar

1 vanilla bean (makes it extra yummy!) or 1 tsp vanilla extract

milk (enough to make it smooth, but not runny

Directions

1) In a mixer, stir 2 cups of the flour, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, the salt and yeast until well mixed. In a 1-quart saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until very warm and an instant-read thermometer reads 120°F to 130°F. Add the warm milk, 1/4 cup butter and egg to the flour mixture. Beat on low speed 1 minute, until flour mixture is moistened. Beat on medium speed 1 minute. Stir in enough of the remaining flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until dough is soft, leaves side of bowl and is easy to handle (dough may be slightly sticky).

2) Continue mixing about 5 minutes, until dough is smooth and springy. Spray a large bowl with the cooking spray. Place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place about 1 hour 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in size. Dough is ready if an indentation remains when you press your fingertips about 1/2 inch into the dough.

3)  Spray countertop with cooking spray.  Gently roll out the dough into a long rectangle. Mix the pumpkin, cinnamon, brown sugar, & nutmeg together,  Spread a layer all over the dough, leaving a 1 inch border on one of the long sides of the rectangle so you can seal the edge. Then spread melted butter over the pumpkin, then sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture on top.

4) Beginning on a long side, roll dough up tightly. Pinch edge of dough into the roll to seal edge. Stretch and shape roll until even. Using a sharp knife, cut roll into 1-inch slices. Place slices slightly apart in the cooking sprayed pan. Cover pan loosely with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place about 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in size. Remove plastic wrap.

5) Move the oven rack to the middle position of the oven. Heat the oven to 350°F. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove rolls from pan; place right side up on a cooling rack. Cool 5 minutes.

6) Make icing.  Mix butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and a little bit of milk until smooth.  Add milk as needed for the right texture.

7) Once rolls are cooled, slather them in icing.

If you don't want to make your own dough, you could always use crescent rolls.

It must be love

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a loss as to what to get for Kendall to take to work for lunch.  He was tired of all the Costco stuff, so I decided to make a huge batch of one of his favorite things...spicy breakfast burritos.  It started off with two huge rolls of sausage from Costco.  I added a lot of heat with cayenne and red pepper flakes.  This is where the love part comes into it...I do not like sausage...at all!  For me to cook this much of it was almost making me gag...just looking at this picture is gross.

 Then came the eggs.  It ended up be 6 dozen eggs in total.  I added a jar of jalapenos and a little bit of milk.

 Maggie cooked a ton of tortillas for me.  She loved being in charge of making sure the bubbles were all popped, then flipping it over.

The finished result was 2 of these trays of 50 breakfast burritos.  We put two in a ziploc bag and threw them in the freezer.  He has been ever so happy to take these babies to work.  It ended up taking way longer than I thought it would, but at least he has a nice change of food for work.

 On this Costco trip I picked up a huge box full of suckers to try to entice Joshy to be more interested in using the potty.  It worked for a day, then we had stubborn fits over wanting the sucker, but not wanting to go #1 or #2.  Oh well, I guess he'll get there when he's good and ready...and not a minute sooner!  He was pretty happy about these green suckers...green is his favorite.

Some lovelies

This is kind of a random post, but I wanted to post a picture of these cutie patootie cupcakes.  Actually, forget the cupcakes, look how cute the little toppers are.  I found them on clearance at Target and couldn't pass them up.  We had a fundraiser auction on Wednesday for our Young Women, and I made these cupcakes for it.  They are vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream on top.  Yumm!

 Then, I have discovered something super yummy and wanted to share it with you.  I have been wanting to make a mix that I can have ready to munch on when I get done at the gym...otherwise I'm a ravenous beast! So while at Costco I found some new granola bites.  This is the mix:

 Give it a good mix and this is what you get:

 Ingredients:

(I realize these aren't healthy, but I had to put them somewhere or else I'd eat the whole bag!)

 My new favorite treat in the whole world!  Also, I do not like greek yogurt at all, but these taste like white chocolate covered goodness!

 Basically, just filler.

 These are pretty good, but not my fave...next time I will add dried blueberries too.

And of course, almonds.

It is very satisfying and super tasty!  Any good mix recipes you'd like to share???