Saturday, November 2, 2013

November ABC challenge: Pumpkin Pecan Rolls


How do you eat a cinnamon roll?  Do you dive in with a big bite, rising to the surface with frosting all over your nose?  Delicately employ a knife and fork?  I must unwind them, and sometimes have to hunt diligently for the beginning point.  Of course, this is a two-handed effort, and a messy one.


7" x 22"


These rolls are enhanced with pumpkin and spices in the dough.  I halved the recipe and added chopped pecans to the cinnamon-sugar filling.  Also, I didn't realize the recipe called for WHITE whole wheat -- I used regular.  It worked out fine.


A mini roll -- half the full recipe length.
It always gets a little tricky halving a rolled recipe, particularly when the full recipe produces an odd number of rolls, like this one.  I had initially decided to cut the loaf into 4 equal rolls, as each would be only slightly larger than the original recipe.  But after rolling up the loaf, it had squished out to about 8", which allowed me to easily produce 5 rolls.  Once cut, though, I realized the last end piece had been shorted and was considerably less dense than the others.

Risen, and ready for the oven.








The other issue is a matter of finding the right pan. Nine rolls would fit nicely in the suggested square pan, but how does one bake 5 rolls? I split the rolls into two pans, squeezing the little end roll between two others.

The pans produced entirely different results.  The darker, non-stick pan browned more and even burned the sugar.  I prefer the result from the aluminum pan.




I drizzled the rolls with a penuche glaze rather than the white glaze from the recipe.  Love the orange color!




Conclusion:  These were only okay.  I thought they needed a little more salt, as I found them a bit flat tasting despite the pumpkin and spices.  Furthermore, I found the flavors made me want the dense moistness of pumpkin bread, while the yeasty dough made me want a traditional pecan roll.  

Recipe:  Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Rolls via King Arthur Flour





10 comments:

  1. Your rolls look great, Paula, especially with the penuche glaze.
    I must admit that, much to my family's embarrassment, I eat my rolls with knife and fork....they prefer to dive in taking big bites, glaze on the nose and all ;)!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I'm going to have to change my technique -- especially in the office! Cinnamon rolls and paperwork just do not go well together!

      Delete
  2. they are lovely / Pumpkin Pecan Rolls mmm and they look fluuffy / light / I like it with creamcheese. great job!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Even though you weren't crazy about them, they look fantastic. XL rolls, I'll size them down next time. I don't know what a penuche glaze is, but it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Penuche is just a brown sugar and melted butter mixture, cooked down a bit. I was going to use maple syrup for it, which it why I went that direction, but then changed my mind. The rolls really were HUGE.

      Delete
  4. I thought I was the only one who thought that these rolls were just OK! Haha! These rolls do not have the fluffiness that I expected. But nevertheless, we finished them all, though it took three days! I'm lost with penuche glaze, but they sure look so "caramel-ly good!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Penuche is sort of carmely -- it's brown sugar and butter cooked together. I did enjoy the rolls, but I prefer plain.

      Delete
  5. The penuche glaze sounds heavenly with these spicy rolls.sorry you didn't like them much. I like your creativity with the loaf pans :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I liked them, I just prefer plain ones. But I enjoyed the adventure!

      Delete
  6. I like the idea of adding nuts to the glaze, and interesting to me (who was abroad and didn't bake them, yet) that opinions are divided on the taste.
    Dark pans always brown faster than light aluminum ones, but it's striking to see in comparison how the results differ.

    ReplyDelete