Recipes

[Carol1229]

I love to make bread and sweet rolls, but don't get the chance to much any more-with just 2 of us here, there's no way we could-or should-eat them all, and my freezer will only hold so many. So.......I take any chance I get to bake for bake sales that different organizations have every so often.

Saturday was one of those occasions......the town was holding a town wide yard sale and our Historical Society was having a bake sale along with their annual book sale. This was the PERFECT opportunity to try an idea that's been rolling around in my head for some time now.

I love making Cinnamon Twists and have been thinking of different ideas to make new versions of them. I've seen a lot of pumpkin cinnamon roll recipes that look so good......that got me thinking about how good pumpkin twists would be-especially for a bake sale. After running many a bake sale at our church, what I've found is people like to mix and match what they buy.....individual items always sold faster than a whole cake or a full pan of cinnamon rolls. People like "easy pick-up" goodies.

I found a recipe that looked close to what I wanted and made some changes-find the original recipe HERE

I love the idea of adding instant pudding to bread dough-I make a Lemon Easter Bread that has instant lemon pudding mix in it and it's WONDERFUL. The original recipe uses 1/3 cup of 2 flavors of instant pudding......partial boxes? I had stashed some of the Pumpkin Spice instant pudding in the freezer that I picked up last fall and still had a couple boxes. This would be PERFECT for this recipe. I measured the amount of pudding in the box......1/3 cup equaled a little more than half the box-a generous 1/4 cup remained. I decided to go with the whole box of pumpkin pudding rather than opening 2 different flavors and having partial boxes left-what can be done with partial boxes of pudding? I'm sure there are recipes that use them-until I find them, this is the way I'll go. If you can't find the instant pumpkin pudding mix in your area, instant butterscotch pudding would do the trick nicely in these rolls.

I added the same spices I add to my pumpkin pie to the dough along with vanilla and butter flavoring to bump up the flavor. I always use bread flour in my yeast breads so substituted that for the all-purpose flour....I find it makes a lighter and softer textured bread which we love.

I can't begin to say how happy I was with the end result of this kitchen experiment.

This recipe makes A LOT..........I cut the strips of dough a little wider than I slice the cinnamon twists I usually make, and I still got 33 out of the batch. This is a great big batch recipe-if you need a lot of treats to take some place, slice each rectangle into 1" strips and you'll get 4 dozen out of one batch.

These rolls are light, soft and perfect for the fall. The pumpkin flavor is subtle, but there, and the cinnamon, ginger and spices add a nice warm flavor that just says fall. The light glaze adds a nice sweet note without being overpowering.

Two dozen of the twists were donated to the book sale-the rest stayed here. What a wonderful mid-morning treat one is with a cup of coffee.....Mmmmmm!


Carol


PUMPKIN TWISTS
(Source: adapted from recipe in Taste of Home October/November 2008)

2 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water (110-115 degrees)
4 eggs
1 c. shortening
1 c. canned 100% pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 c. warm milk (110-115 degrees) (low fat milk works fine)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. butter flavoring
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1 (4 serving size) pkg. pumpkin spice instant pudding mix
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. salt
71/2-9 c. bread flour
3 Tbsp. butter, melted (for brushing on the rolls after baking, optional)

FILLING:
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

GLAZE:
1 1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
3-4 Tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. clear vanilla OR pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. cheesecake flavoring oil (optional)

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add eggs, shortening, pumpkin, milk, vanilla, butter flavoring, granulated sugar, brown sugar, pudding mix, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and 6 c. flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).

Turn onto a floured surface; knead in enough of the remaining flour until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down; divide in half.

Roll each portion into a 12x24-inch. rectangle; brush with butter. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough to within 1/2" of edges.

Fold dough in half to make a rectangle 6x24-inches; pinch all edges to seal. Cut dough into 1 1/2" strips; twist each strip 2 times. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover; let rise until doubled, about 35-45 minutes.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Brush lightly with a little melted butter, if desired. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely.

For the glaze, combine confectioners' sugar, vanilla, cheesecake flavored oil (if using) and 3 Tbsp. milk; mix until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining milk to a desired drizzling consistency. Drizzle glaze over rolls. Makes about 33 twists.

NOTE: If you'd like, you can cut each rectangle into 1" strips which would give you 48 total. If you're making more twists, be sure to double the glaze so you'll have enough to glaze them all.