A better for you cinnamon roll with the rich flavors of fall in a fun to eat fan shape. These pretty sweet rolls are made with whole wheat pastry flour and pumpkin puree. They have a beautiful, hard-to-resist orange color and they’re easy to make.
Hodgson Mill invited me to participate in their 2012 ‘Have a Grain Holiday! Baking Contest. Contest participants were asked to “say goodbye to dense and unhealthy holiday treats by putting a spin on their favorite baked goods using high-quality Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flours.” I was sent packages of Hodgson Mill Best for Bread Flour, Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flour, and Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour to bake with.
I used Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour flour in these rolls. I love whole wheat pastry flour and bake with it often. You can substitute whole wheat pastry flour for half of the flour in most recipes. I also used Hodgson Mill Best for Bread Flour, which helps breads develop more gluten and rise up bigger and fluffier.
Last year for the contest, I baked a beautiful Citrus Cranberry Cream Cheese Danish Braid. That recipe was a winner, and I think this year’s recipe is a winner too. My family loved loved loved these sweet rolls.
I made them a few days before Thanksgiving so I could freeze them and serve them for breakfast Thanksgiving morning. But they were too irresistible and we ate half of them as soon as they came out of the oven. My daughter wanted a second sweet roll and offered to buy my son’s roll for $2. (Since he’s a teenager and always short of money right now, that’s a pretty tempting offer.)
This recipe is a cross between the Lemon Pull-Apart Bread I made last month, and the Overnight Pumpkin Monkey Bread I made last fall, in a fun new shape.
Don’t be afraid to make these rolls. They look complicated, but they’re easy, especially if you whip up the dough in a mixer. As with most breads, each roll doesn’t have to be perfectly cut or shaped. Some of my ends weren’t as big as the middle pieces, so I added some of the scraps to the cup. After rising and baking, they all looked beautiful.
My husband wanted more icing on his roll. In fact, he thought you should serve the icing as a dipping sauce so you could dip each sweet, cinnamon pumpkin layer in the icing. Sounds like a brilliant idea to me!
Pumpkin Fantail Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 –2 ¾ cups bread flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons 1 package instant yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¾ cup unsweetened canned pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg room temperature
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter very soft
Maple Cream Cheese Icing
- 3 ounces Neufchatel ⅓ less fat cream cheese, room temperature
- ⅛ teaspoon maple flavoring
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 or 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, combine 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 1 cup bread flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
- In saucepan or microwave safe dish, heat milk and butter until warm (120°–130°F). Add heated milk and butter to flour mixture. Mix in egg. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla. Blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed.
- Switch to the dough hook and mix in the remaining flour a little at a time, to make a soft dough, adding more or less flour as needed. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.
- While the dough is resting, make the cinnamon sugar filling. Grease 12 muffin cups with butter.
- Punch down the dough. Divide dough in half and keep remaining half covered with plastic wrap. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a 12 inch square. Spread the butter evenly over the dough with your fingers or a rubber spatula. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar filling on top of butter. Press the cinnamon sugar into butter.
- Cut dough in to six strips, each 2 inches wide with a pizza cutter. Stack strips, buttered sides up, and cut crosswise into six 2 inch pieces with bench scraper.
- Carefully place each piece, cut edges up, in a muffin cup. Separate outer layers of each roll to fan outward. Make more rolls with remaining dough in same manner.
- Loosely cover muffin pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled, 30 to 60 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- Bake 18 to 22 minutes until rolls are golden brown. Cover the top with foil if rolls are browning too quickly. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. While bread is cooling, make the icing.
- Icing
- In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add maple flavoring and beat until incorporated. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add the milk slowly, a little at a time until the icing is the desired consistency.
- Drizzle icing over warm rolls or serve in bowls for dipping. Serve warm or at room temperature.
GIVEAWAY
As part of the contest, Hodgson Mill will giveaway to one lucky Barbara Bakes reader a selection of assorted Hodgson Mill products – a $25 value! To Enter the Sweepstakes Giveaway leave a comment on this post before Sunday, December 3, 2012 at 10:00 am, MST.
The giveaway is only open to residents of the US. Be sure your email address is included with your comment. Winner will be chosen randomly, notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen.
BAKER’S HOLIDAY GIFT PACK SWEEPSTAKES
In addition Hodgson Mill is also holding a Baker’s Holiday Gift Pack Sweepstakes, which is open to the general public. It’s easy to enter – all you need to do is fill out the form for a chance to be randomly selected to win one (1) of fifty (50) prize packs of Hodgson Mill products, valued at $85 .
Terra
When I shared this last night, I thought they were so cute! What a fun, creative idea! I just made pull apart bread recently, and loved making it! I definitely need to make these Soon! Hugs, Terra
jehanne@thecookingdoctor
Wow, these look amazing Barbara. Anything with cinnamon is a winner to me. Was scouring through here looking for your DB cookie challenge this month, but this recipe is even more exciting!
Barbara Schieving
I’m so sad I didn’t have time to make the challenge this month. I’m just pulled in too many directions this time of year. I’m heading over to check out your cookies. Thanks for stopping by!
Veronica
definitely gonna have to try these out! 🙂
Tanya
These look delicious!
sally @ sallys baking addiction
Barbara – these cinnamon rolls took my breath away – seriously. they are SO perfect and so beautiful. pinning them and can’t wait to make them for my mom over the holidays. she LOVES cinnamon rolls as much as I do 🙂
Lisa
I remember reading through a Good Housekeepng cookbook, the bread section, when I was in my late teens. They showed how to shape dinner rolls in so many different ways..step-by-step photos for each. I loved the fantails the most, but have yet to try them! Yours are gorgeous and even better as a sweet roll with pumpkin and cinnamon. Love the maple cream cheese icing!
Barbara
Barbara, I can almost smell these from here! Fabulous recipe and I’ve already stashed it in my pumpkin file.
Ala
These look absolutely fantastic–I got to try your lemon pull-apart bread previously, and I’m looking forward to giving these a go!
Tabitha W
Oh my. . . I am so glad I saw your recipe on Foodgawker! I’m going to a “breakfast for dinner” bash tomorrow night, and wanted to make pumpkin muffins, but wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted. . . and you hit the nail on the head with this post!
I think I might need to make an extra batch today for me and the hubby, though. 😉
Shannon Ashworth
These look yummy. I have just started baking with whole wheat flour, so I am excited to try this recipe out.
natalie@thesweetslife
i don’t care that pumpkin season is practically over—i think i need to make these!
Susan
These look so delicious, Barbara! They look pull-apart tender and so beautiful with the drizzled glaze.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
A great twist on traditional cinnamon buns. They look irresistible!
Annamaria @ Bakewell Junction
My mouth is watering…these look so delicious. Can’t wait to try them.
Kate
I need to try these beautiful rolls!
Valérie (Franche-Comté)
Joli en effeuillage comme ça !! et la potimarron un régal dans nos pâtisseries
Belle journée
Valérie.
Meeta
Oh my Barbara! How gorgeous these look. I seriously need one for breakfast now!
Leanna R
I just happened to have all the ingredients in my pantry. Guess what I’m making tomorrow.
Mercedes
I have been dying to try one of these pull apart breads and how fantastic that these are individually sized! And thank you for the step-by-step photos, that helps so much!
And thank you for the giveaway!
Maria
Oh my, these look delectably delicious. It’s jumping to the top of my must-try list!