Halloween might be the last day on which you need another excuse to rustle up sweet treats for the family... but Melanie Johnson's recipe is irresistible.
They’re ‘surprisingly easy’, Melanie says, and ‘possibly the best Halloween treat’.
Recipe: Pumpkin cinnamon rolls
Ingredients
(serves 6)
- 200g pumpkin, chopped
- 250ml scalded milk
- 65g unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 85g caster sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 600g plain flour
- 1 7g sachet easy-bake yeast
- 75g unsalted butter
- 150g brown sugar
- 2tbspn ground cinnamon
- 1tbspn mixed spice
- 400g icing sugar
- 60g unsalted butter, softened
- 50ml milk
- 1tbspn vanilla essence
Method
Preheat your oven to 180˚C/350˚F/gas mark 4 and butter a round, 25cm (10in) tart tin.
Steam the pumpkin until soft. Purée to smooth and then set aside to cool.
Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan until shivery and the butter is melted, but not boiled. Set aside.
Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Add the salt, then pour in the warm milk and butter. Add half the flour, mix well, sprinkle over the yeast, then add the remaining flour. Bring everything together and either knead by hand until smooth or place in a stand-mixer and knead with the dough hook for 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a large, oiled freezer bag or in an oiled bowl covered with clingfilm, and leave somewhere warm for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.
Roll out the dough to a rectangle. Spread with the butter and then the pumpkin puree. Sprinkle over the brown sugar, cinnamon and mixed spice, then roll up the rectangle of dough from the long side to make a roll. Cut this into six even-sized pieces and arrange them in the prepared tin. Bake for about 35 minutes. If they start to brown too much on top, simply cover with foil. Remove from the oven and let them cool in the tin.
Mix the icing sugar, butter, milk and vanilla essence to make a smooth paste. When the pumpkin cinnamon rolls have cooled completely, drizzle with the icing and serve.
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