KA Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Rolls

I hear a lot about KA flours when reading everyone else's blogs, and I always knew they were a source for a vast array of flours. For years, my dad had a hard time getting his hands on graham flour to use in an old family recipe until he finally stumbled upon it on the KA website. But I buy flour in the store and don't really venture too far beyond AP and whole wheat flour, so I never had much of a reason to visit their website. Then I was reading a post by Jessica of A Singleton in the Kitchen for a soup recipe which she served with Garlic Knots. They looked so yummy in the picture and I knew I would be making soup this weekend with the impending Nor'easter, so I followed the link to the KA website. And boy was I surprised- so many different baking products, baking utensils, gadgets, cookbooks... They have EVERYTHING there!

While I was perusing the website, I saw this pan that looked really neat. It was a stoneware dish that was made especially for cinnamon buns and below it they had a link to their recipe for cinnamon swirl pumpkin rolls. Oh my gosh- seriously?! They sounded amazing. So I quickly printed out the recipe and decided to make them for our Saturday breakfast.

The dough could not be any easier. You literally dump everything into a bowl and turn on the mixer with the dough hook. The only thing that makes me a little nervous about recipes like this is you don't proof the yeast. To me there is nothing worse that putting forth all the effort to make bread only to find out it won't rise. But it slowly began to puff up in my oven- phew! The dough was incredibly easy to work and rolled out without sticking to the counter or the rolling pin. I did not have the cinnamon mix it called for so I just brushed melted butter on the dough and sprinkled with a generous portion of cinnamon sugar. I cut into 11 rolls which was much more than the eight the recipe said it yielded (these would be some seriously huge rolls) and refrigerated overnight. I took them out in the morning for the final rise which took about an hour and then popped them in the oven. Oh boy did these smell wonderful when they were baking! The smell of the pumpkin and spices were just what we needed to warm us up on a cold and blustery day. I mixed up the cream cheese icing from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book we used for last week's sticky buns and waited for the buns to finish up.

I was so excited to taste these and had been building them up in my mind all week! Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the end result. I probably shouldn't have made these on the heels of last week's sticky bun recipe because I think I had really high expectations for them. The rolls seemed a little too dry, which could have been a result of the whole wheat flour the recipe calls for. I was also expecting a much more pronounced pumpkin flavor. To be honest, if it weren't for the orange hue of the buns, I would not have known there was pumpkin in them. In all fairness, they were still pretty decent cinnamon buns, just not what I expected. In my opinion, if I am going to go through the effort of making a recipe like this, I want it to knock my socks off.

I still like the idea of pumpkin cinnamon rolls and have not given up on them yet! I think I may try to play around with one of my other favorite cinnamon roll recipes or try to tweak this one. You can find the recipe on the KA website here. Oh! And sorry about the picture... its very dark at 6:30 in the morning...

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

So I wanted to make something special for our neighbor up the street because they were there when our dog was hit two weeks ago and held her while she was passing. I really wasn't sure what to make. I mean what can you make for a person that says thank you for loving my dog in her last moments when I couldn't be there? It killed me to think of our little Lola lying on the side of the road by herself after she was hit, so I was incredibly relieved to learn they were there with her. Honestly, there aren't any words kind enough or a baked good scrumptious enough to show them how appreciative I am, but after much deliberation, I decided to make a coffee cake I had seen on The Food Librarian several weeks back.

The recipe was very easy to put together. The only reason you couldn't throw it together in less than ten minutes is you have to separate the eggs and whip the egg whites to fold into the batter. But not to do so would be a shame because the resulting cake is substantial like a coffee cake should be, but it has a delicate touch to it. The recipe calls to layer the batter with cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips, which may I add is an outstanding flavor combination! The only mistake I made was using a store bought aluminum cake pan. I deliberated between the deeper pan and the "cake pan", and went with the shallower cake pan. LUCKILY, the batter didn't pour over the sides when baking, but trust me, it was touch and go for a while there. It did puff up enough that I couldn't put the plastic lid on top which was actually a good thing, because I brought the cake up to the neighbor while it was still warm and used the plastic lid to insulate the heat from my hands.

I did make two small mini coffee cakes in a ramekin so I could have a taste before bringing it up to them (I just can't make a new recipe and not taste it before I give it away!). Just one word- DELICIOUS! Like I said, substantial but light and I loved the chocolate and cinnamon flavors. Next time, I may throw a little cinnamon into the batter as well. I would highly recommend this recipe next time you need to bring something to a brunch or get together.

And the one good thing that has come from this heartbreak is I got to meet two wonderful people whom I hope to have a longstanding relationship. Because they were several doors up, we had never met their family, but what warm and caring people. I feel blessed that they have come into our lives.

Here is the original recipe Mary got from The Smitten Kitchen.