This week I settle into a relaxing routine that begins each day with mixing a batch of bread dough. I really love to bake bread but fitting the fermentation schedule around my daily activities is often challenging. With training currently taking a backseat and a simple daily agenda of leisurely catching up on chores, I am really enjoying the luxury of planning my day around a blob of dough. Wait, that sounded much more logical in my head.
I bookmarked King Arthur Flour’s Cranberry Pumpkin Roll recipe for a long time. There is something enticing about the combination of pumpkin dinner roll dotted with dried cranberries and crystalized ginger. I envision my Thanksgiving feast would begin with these warm spicy rolls and my family would ooh and aaah over the taste. The recipe suggests baking them in muffin pan to create pretty round domes. The picture in my head looked perfectly fine until I spent a little too much time on Pinterest.
Pinterest makes Martha Stewart look like a slob. Seriously, all the cutesy craft projects and party ideas are so inhumanly elaborate. Unless you have a team of dedicated minions, I doubt many of pins are realistically achievable. But it is certainly awesome for inspiration and aspiration. That’s where I got the idea to shape my pumpkin rolls into mini pumpkins. So unbearably cute.
Shaping the dough cannot be easier. Here is how:
- Portion the dough to 16 pieces, about 2 3/4 ounces each.
- Round into tight balls.
- Take a bench scraper and make 8 incisions around the perimeter of each ball of dough.
- Proof until puffy.
- Brush on egg wash.
- Press in a sliver of pecan to the centre for the stem.
See? It is not that complicated. Once baked, the dough puffed up in the heat of the oven and took up the familiar shape of a pumpkin. The naturally orange hue of the buns made them so much more convincing too.
As for taste, you can place your trust in King Arthur Flour’s recipe development team. The rolls are airy and soft, just like any good dinner roll ought to be. I can taste the sweetness of pumpkin. Cinnamon, ginger, and cloves are merely support players to remind us of the season. The rolls are not overly sweet even with the addition of cranberries and candied ginger. They are not to be mistaken as breakfast treats. Although I certainly do not mind chomping on one first thing in the morning either.
Can you believe that September is coming to an end soon? Thanksgiving for us Canadians will be here in a matter of weeks. I cannot think of a better way to dress my Thanksgiving table than an overflowing basket of these mini edible pumpkins. Just between us, I can tell you that is so not going to happen. With a million other things lining up for the oven on the big day, who has time to fuss over cutesy little pumpkin shaped dinner rolls? All I can say is, a girl can dream.
More on Thanksgiving at Dessert By Candy:
- slow cooker turkey
- turkey feast with all the trimmings but not eaten on Thanksgiving
- brunch menu using leftovers
- what I cooked way back when I was young and foolish
- still one of my favourite apple pies
- my family’s favourite ginger not-pumpkin pie
- my family’s favourite cranberry sauce
- how we like our stuffing
- an unusual turkey sandwich
- what to serve to the kiddies
