When I think of fall I think about apples, caramel, cinnamon, fall leaves and long daylight drenched evenings turning into the darker nights I remember way back when. I read about a contest to submit your favorite fall recipe to Style Me Pretty (SMP) and pondered what I would make. I decided that I have never made cinnamon rolls from scratch and it’s been on my list of “stuff I want to try baking at least once” so I decided that a fall twist on a standard cinnamon roll recipe would be appropriate.

Because I couldn’t decide, I made a regular version and a chocolate version. I just like to make things difficult on myself.

Ingredients for the Dough– Regular Version:

1 Large Bowl – oiled with Vegetable oil, Pam, or any oil.

1 tablespoon of dry yeast (or 1 packet)

5 cups of warm water (between 110-120 degrees)

10-14 cups of all-purpose flour

½ cup of dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon of sea salt (I used vanilla bean sea salt)

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of fresh ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon of cayenne

Ingredients for the Dough– Chocolate Version:

Everything the same except add ½ cup of coco powder

Inside Mixture Ingredients:

Pumpkin Butter

Cinnamon

Vanilla Sugar

Frosting:

¼ cup Hangar 24 Gourdgeous Beer (or any pumpkin ale)

1 box or 4 cups Powdered Sugar

2 tbsp of Light Corn Syrup

Directions:

Heat up the water to the desired temperature and mix in the yeast. Let yeast mixture sit for a few minutes. Put 5 cups of flour in a stand mixer (or a bowl) with the bread attachment. Add the warm water. Mix on low until mostly incorporated. Add salt, sugar, and spices (and chocolate powder if making the chocolate version) into flour mixture. Add in the remaining 5-8 cups of flour. Add slowly and once the dough is smooth and incorporated and not very sticky but not dry either it’s ready to rest.

Put the dough in a large oiled bowl and put plastic wrap over it and let sit for 1 to 1 & ½ hours or until double in size. Once the dough is ready, have a work surface dusted with flour to roll out the dough. You want to roll it out in a big square. About ¼ – ½ inch thick. Once rolled out, spread pumpkin butter all over the dough. Don’t go all the way to the edge so you can seal the cinnamon roll. After the butter is spread, sprinkle cinnamon and vanilla sugar over the butter and roll dough into a big log.

Once the dough is rolled, cut into 1-1&1/2 inch rounds (a dough cutter works wonders for this step) and place on a buttered sheet trey. After all the rounds are cut, cover with plastic wrap and allow the rolls to rise again for another 30 minutes to an hour. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes on the middle rack. You know when it’s done by the bottom of the roll having a little gold coloring and the top of the roll golden and slightly crunchy. Take out of the oven and place on a cooling rack. Mix the corn syrup and powdered sugar and beer together in a bowl with a whisk. If the frosting looks too runny add more powered sugar. If it’s too dry then add more beer. You want the frosting to be thick so it won’t totally soak the roll. Frost your cinnamon rolls and enjoy! They are best if eaten immediately. They will last for a few days, but if you eat a day or two old cinnamon roll, heat it up in the microwave first otherwise they tend to get hard.

These cinnamon rolls were fantastic. The frosting had the slight beer flavor that was sweet and malty and mimicked the pumpkin fall spice lineup that was lying in wait within the dough. I don’t know why more people don’t add spice to the dough of cinnamon rolls. The roll was sweet, savory and every bite had little wispy hints of cinnamon, vanilla bean, nutmeg, and pumpkin. The chocolate version with the chocolate powder in the dough was like eating a Mexican hot chocolate souffle. Either roll version is best served with a coffee or hot toddy on a crisp autumn morning curled up with a good book. Let me know if anyone makes this and what you think!