This Past Weekend

I'm sure many of your are well aware of the Typhoon that hit the Philippines recently. While we were safe in the northern island of Luzon many areas, including where we had just vacationed, Bohol and Cebu, where greatly effected. We ended up with no more than a thunder storm and some winds. We had power and there was little interruption here, Manila had some flooding and got more of a hit, but still remained fine. 

I was supposed to go down to Manila on Friday after school to meet a family friend, however I decided to stay in Subic incase things got bad, as it turned out I probably could have gone, but it's better to be safe than sorry. So this weekend consisted of catching up on tv shows and baking. 

Thanks to the Pumpkin I had specially shipped in from Canada (Thanks Dad and Terri!) I was able to make Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting. My friend Erin and I undertook this baking challenge and it was amazing!

Also there were monkeys on my walk home from Erin's. And I know how everyone at home loves the monkeys, so I thought I would get a picture for you guys. 

Recipe for your very own Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting 

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast
• 2 cups bread flour (you can use regular all purpose flour but bread flour makes them lighter)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Icing

• 4 ounces of Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup of butter softened
• 1 1/3 cups of icing sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla 

Instructions

1. In small saucepan, heat milk and 2 tablespoons butter just until warm and butter is almost melted, stirring constantly. In large mixer bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Add milk mixture and beat with electric mixer until well mixed. Beat in egg and yeast.
2. Add half of the flour to pumpkin mixture. Beat mixture on low speed 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Add remaining flour and mix thoroughly (dough will be very soft). Turn into lightly greased bowl, then grease surface of dough lightly.
3. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Spray a surface with cooking spray or turn onto floured surface. Knead a few turns to form a smooth dough, sprinkling with enough additional flour to make dough easy enough to handle. Roll dough into 12x10 inch rectangle.
4. In small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Brush surface of dough with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Beginning with long side of dough, roll up jellyroll style. Pinch seam to seal. With sharp knife, cut roll into twelve 1- inch slices. Place rolls, cut side up, in greased 11X17 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Bake rolls at 350 degrees about 15-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan to waxed paper-lined wire rack. Cool 10 to 15 minutes. Drizzle with Cream Cheese frosting. Makes 12 rolls.