Pumpkin-Raisin Cinnamon Rolls

There are some dishes for which I have one go-to recipe, one fail-safe method of producing something tasty. This bread loaf, for example, Moosewood's six minute chocolate cake, garlic-sauteed kale. Not so, however, with cinnamon rolls, my family's breakfast on Christmas morning. My mom and I make them regularly enough that we ought to have a reliable recipe, written down like so many others on a tattered 3 x 5 notecard and tucked into the tiny wooden chest of handwritten recipes that sits on the kitchen counter.

But we haven't got one. For years, we used a recipe from one of my mother's bread books. The dough filled two pans, one we left without nuts for those of us whose tastebuds hadn't yet matured enough to appreciate the crunch they contribute. This was a whole wheat recipe, yielding dense, yeasty rolls. They were good, but we craved the fluffy, spicy clouds we found at coffee shops and bakeries. Then King Arthur's Baking Book arrived in our kitchen, and we turned to its cinnamon roll and sticky bun recipes. That was a messy year. And as 2012 began to enter holiday baking season (that's October for me), my friend and fellow foodie emailed me a recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. I kept it bookmarked until Christmas weekend and then got out the rolling pin.

Nothing wrong with a bit o' butter!

The pureed pumpkin adds subtle flavour and a lovely golden glow to the buns. We cooked up a pumpkin from scratch, although canned should work fine too. And we added extra spices in addition to cinnamon, which heightened the harvesty flavours I usually associate with pumpkin--ginger and allspice. But we still dumped on the cinnamon. And you should too. We also included raisins, which were particularly plump and dreamy after they soaked up some of the cream cheese glaze.

 Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Pumpkin-Raisin Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients for dough:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk, (cow or soy is fine)
1 package active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2/3 cups pumpkin puree, canned or homemade*

Ingredients for filling:
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 TBSP granulated sugar
1 1/2 TBSP  ground cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins

Ingredients for cream cheese glaze:
4-oz. cream cheese, softened
2 TBSP milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
--Brown butter in a small saucepan. Heat butter over medium heat until melted; keep cooking until it turns golden and begins spitting, seven minutes or so. Once a few dark bits begin to gather at the saucepan's bottom, it should be ready. Remove from heat and let cool.
--In another saucepan, warm milk until lukewarm. Remove from heat and combine with yeast and a sprinkle of the sugar in a small bowl. Let sit until yeast is foamy, about ten minutes.
--Mix together flour, rest of sugars, salt and spices in a large bowl. Add 3 TBSP of the butter, the yeast mixture, and pumpkin and stir with a wooden spoon until rough dough begins to form. Use hands to knead dough until smooth, adding more flour if it is too sticky. Once the dough is smooth and feels springy, cover bowl with a towel and let rise until doubled in size, or about one hour.
--Flour a large flat surface or cutting board. Turn dough out onto surface. Using a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a rectangle, approximately 16x11 inches. Brush top of dough with reserved butter.
--Make filling. Mix together sugars and cinnamon. Sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle on raisins, making sure they are distributed evenly. Starting with one long end, roll dough into a tight pinwheel.
--Using a length of dental floss, cut log into 1-inch rolls. Place cut rolls into a greased 9-inch round or square pan. Brush tops of rolls with any remaining butter. Cover and let rise for another 45 minutes or let refrigerate overnight.
--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake buns for 30 minutes. While rolls are in the oven, make the icing. Beat cream cheese with a fork until fluffy. Add milk and stir. Sift powdered sugar into the bowl and stir until glaze is well mixed.
--When tops of cinnamon rolls are golden, remove from oven. Let cool at least ten minutes before eating. We eat them right from the pan, and let each person add the amount of icing they desire.

* To make pumpkin puree from scratch, halve a small pie pumpkin. Using a spoon, scrape seeds and sinew from pumpkin. Place halves, cut sides down, on a baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes, or until flesh is soft. Once cooled, remove flesh from skin and mash with a fork. A small pumpkin usually yields about 2 cups of mashed pumpkin.