Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Buttermilk Icing

 

This week I've been enjoying an extra-special treat: my 18-month old nephew (okay, and my sister Anna too) are visiting all the way out from Pittsburgh.  So, I wanted to make an extra-special breakfast, and knowing that Anna loves my pumpkin pancakes, I thought she'd love something like these pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

The egg-y yeast bread, fragrant with pumpkin, is a perfect backdrop for the brown sugar and cinnamon filling that bubbles up and over the rolls while they bake.  And drizzled with a vanilla-buttermilk icing, these breakfast spirals don't get much better.  Except for maybe the fact that the dough is really easy to mix up and there's no kneading necessary!

 A little boy found his way into the kitchen as I was just finishing up icing the pan of rolls.

Good morning Teo!  Ready to try some pumpkin cinnamon rolls?

Well what do you know...he gets a cinnamon roll AND freshly steamed milk foam for breakfast.  Lucky boy.
 
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Buttermilk Icing
Makes 12

Yeast Dough
1/4 cup warm water (105-115 F)
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
scant 2 Tbs. active dry yeast
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 Tbs. melted butter
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups flour, plus more for rolling

Filling
3/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 1/2 Tbs. cinnamon
3 Tbs. melted butter

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. (or more) buttermilk

Combine warm water and sugar in a large bowl of a stand mixer, and sprinkle yeast over.  Let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.  (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.  Add pumpkin, eggs, butter, and salt, and beat with paddle attachment until thoroughly mixed.  Add flour one cupful at a time, mixing well between additions.  (The dough will be rather sticky.)  Scrape down the sides of the bowl to form a ball of dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.  Meanwhile, mix together filling ingredients.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured piece of parchment or wax paper and sprinkle evenly with flour.  Roll dough out to a 24 x 16-inch rectangle, then sprinkle filling evenly over the dough.  Roll up the dough jelly-roll style to enclose the filling, lifting the parchment paper and scraping the dough off of it to aid rolling.  (The dough becomes stickier the longer it rests, so it is important to work quickly.)  Cut roll into twelve 1 1/2-inch slices and arrange 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

 

Let rolls rise 20 minutes, then bake in a 425 F oven until golden, about 20 minutes.  Whisk together the icing ingredients and drizzle over the rolls.  For the best experience, serve these luscious rolls while they are still warm from the oven.