Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

I figure I have between now and November 30th to use up the ridiculous amount of pumpkin I've got.  Pumpkin is for fall, and December 1st marks the definite shift to "Christmas season."  Pumpkins aren't for Christmas.  

This season we've had everything from pumpkin scones to pumpkin bars to pumpkin cookies.  I've even made my own pumpkin pie seasoning.  This recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls found its way into my Pinterest feed, where it was promptly pinned and made.  

Yu-um.  They were so scrumptious I made more of the dough, but froze it after I cut it into slices.  On Thanksgiving morning when we have lots of family here, I'll put them in my biggest rectangular baking pan, let them rise that last time, bake them, and slather them with frosting.  Way faster than starting them from scratch  I'm smart that way.  

Especially because starting them from scratch, for me, meant grabbing a pumpkin off of my front porch.  Instead of the baking method, I scooped out the seeds and cut the pumpkin into wedges where I boiled it until it was soft.

When I say from scratch, I really mean it!  The pumpkin gets mixed with a yeast-water mixture, scalded milk, egg, sugar and some butter.

Expected dry ingredients - flour, salt and spices - are mixed in and the dough is kneaded for about five minutes by the fabulous KitchenAid.

Long story made short: it rises, gets punched down, then rolled out to about a 15 x 10 rectangle.  A lot of butter is poured all over it.  

Then a lot of sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice is sprinkled over the top.

You know these naughty ingredients are why the cinnamon rolls taste so good.

Here's a tip for you.  You could cut the roll into pieces with a knife, but it will squish down the rolls.  Instead, grab up some dental floss.  Then do this.

Fun, right?  My kids are forever finding interesting uses for dental floss.  I impressed them with this one.

(FYI, I put the second batch into the freezer at this point).  

If you're baking them, not freezing them, let them rise a second time, give them a turn in the oven, and this happens.

Right?  Cinnamon rolls.  Pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  I pretended I was a school lunch lady and served them with chili at supper time.  They made terrific breakfast food before school the next morning.

Since I didn't alter the recipe I used for the rolls or the frosting, I'm going to share the links to them below.  I would have used the maple cream cheese frosting the pumpkin cinnamon roll recipe called for, but we have a cream-cheese-hater here.  The brown sugar frosting was super, though, and I'd recommend it!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Brown Sugar Icing