Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls & Cardamom Maple Glaze
Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls & Cardamom Maple Glaze
* its practically Halloween *
I have 2 modes that I shift in between during the year - spooky season and not spooky season.
October is my favorite month of the year because pumpkins are everywhere and as I shift into spooky season, my need for baking is at an all time high. So with that I bring you the ooiest and indeed, the gooiest pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls with a cardamom maple glaze. I know, just a little something and nothing too crazy.
I promise it easier to make than it looks as I know cinnamon rolls can seem daunting but in an effort to convince you - it can actually be done in under 3 hours so if you haven't made anything on my site I hope I can influence you to try this one. I baked these in some sweetened coconut cream to replace heavy cream and it made for the most fluffy texture making it perfect for peeling away and eating it in layers. Which I believe is the only way to enjoy a cinnamon roll.
Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls
* Makes 12 Rolls * Ingredients - For the dough
4 1/2 cups - all purpose flour ( divided ) ( 540 g )
1 packet - activated yeast / ( 8 g )
1/2 cup - sugar ( 100 g )
1 1/2 cups - almond or oat milk ( 270 mL )
1/3 cup - pumpkin puree ( 87 g )
1/4 cup - melted vegan butter ( 57 g )
1 tbsp - pumpkin spice
1 tsp - vanilla extract
Ingredients - Filling
1/2 cup - vegan butter, room temp
3 tbsp - pumpkin spice
2 tbsp - pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cup - brown sugar
1/4 tsp - salt
1 cup - sweetened coconut milk - for pouring in between the rolls before baking !
Ingredients - Icing
1 cup - powdered sugar
pinch of salt to counteract sweetness
1/4 tsp - cardamom spice
2 tbsp - softened vegan butter
1 tbsp - maple syrup
1/4 cup - vanilla almond milk or any other plant based milk
Tools you will need
stand up mixer
bench scraper
rolling pin
off set spatula or something similar
casserole dish ( 9 x 12 in. )
Instructions
Step 1 - Gather all ingredients
There is nothing worse than going to make something and realizing you don’t have the stuff ! Grab a bowl, preferably glass and warm up the milk in the microwave. You want the milk and bowl to be warm. The milk should be around 110 degrees Fahrenheit. If the milk is too warm or too cool, it won’t activate the yeast.
To bloom the yeast, whisk in the 1 tablespoon of sugar along with 1 tablespoon flour into the warm milk. Once that has been whisked in, sprinkle over the activated yeast and over the bowl and allow this to bloom and activate for about 10/12 minutes. If it has grown in size and looks foamy/bubbly your have successfully bloomed your yeast.
Step 2 - Start the dough & first proof
Once the yeast is activated, pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand up mixer with the dough attachment set up. Add in the remaining sugar, pumpkin puree, melted vegan butter, pumpkin spice and vanilla extract. Mix on low to medium speed to allow this to combine. In small incroments, add in the flour. I like to do this roughly in thirds. So once the wet ingredients are mixed I roughly put about 1/3 of the flour into the mixer. Let that incorporate a bit and then a little more flour. Let that do its thing for another minute and then the last bit of flour until its all combined.
Once the dough is combined, it should look a little shaggy so don’t feel like you have to over mix it here.
Clean a workspace to kneed out the dough and sprinkle over some flour before plopping the dough on the table or counter. Sprinkle some more flour over the dough and kneed it for about 3 minutes till its firm and not sticky. I like to round out my dough and let it rest in a greased bowl, covered with a tea towel for an hour for the first proof. Its good to let it rest in a warm area. Maybe outside if its warm, or by a window and also the oven is a great place - just make sure its off !
Step 3 - Make the filling + prepare casserole dish
While the dough is rising during its first proof session is a great time to work on the filling. First grease a casserole dish and line it with a parchment paper, then set to the side for later.
To make the filling I simply do this with a bowl and a fork - nothin too fancy for this step. In the bowl add in the room temp vegan butter, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin puree, and a touch of salt. Mash this with a fork until smooth and set to the side.
Step 4 - Make the cinnamon rolls !
The dough should appear to have doubled in size, so now its time to lightly bunch down the dough and flour a clean work area again to roll this out. Get your hands nicely coated in flour along with a bench scraper and a rolling pin. Roll out the dough to be a rectangular shape somewhere around 12 x 18 in. You don’t want the dough slab to be too thin or too thick. Once the dough is nicely rolled out, make sure there is a decent amount of flour under it otherwise it will make it harder to roll later. I like to check this by kind of fluffing it with my hands and making sure it isn’t stuck the the table or counter underneath.
Add all of the filling to the center of the stretched out dough and using the off set spatula spread it around evenly. With the area of the dough closest to you, that’s typically where I start rolling so I like to be generous there with the filling because I love a sticky ooey gooey middle !
Once the filling is spread out, start rolling the dough away from you and try to roll tight rolls and as you go give the dough log some scrunches to keep it tight. This allows for your rolls to have nice pretty spirals and also not have any weird gaps. It may be helpful to check out the video as a visual for this step. Once its all been rolled, its time to pinch the seal shut. To do this all you need is a little ramekin with water to dip your fingers into. Where the seam is of the dough go with a pinching motion and pinch the seam to make it more seamless. This will help your cinnamon roll to not unravel. Do that from one end all the way down to the other. With the bench scraper, cut off the top and bottom little misfit pieces. I always still bake these separately as they don’t come out as pretty but are obviously just as tasty. Now you should have a cinnamon roll log. Cut it in half to make two pieces, then cut those 2 into 4. I basically cut the rolls in half until we have 12 cut cinnamon rolls. Now place each one into the lined baking dish and cover with the tea towel for the second proof for 30 minutes. This is when I pre heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and while the oven is pre-heating I place the rolls on top as its now a perfect place for proofing.
Step 5 - Bake !
Just before baking, go ahead and pour in the canned coconut milk in between each roll. This sort of acts as a heavy cream and makes for the most divine cinnamon rolls ever as they come out so plushy and most. Once the coconut cream is poured in, pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
When they are done, carefully take them out and let them carry over cook and cool down for about 10 minutes. This is when I like to prepare the glaze.
Step 6 - Glaze
You could do this in a bowl or stand mixer. Simply whisk or cream together the butter, powdered sugar, pumpkin spice or cardamom, salt, and vanilla plant based milk. To put icing on each one I like to use a large spoon and spoon on the icing to cover.
Eat right away and enjoy. If you have any left over you can reserve them in a air tight container in the fridge for up to 3/4 days. To warm them simply pop them in an air fryer or convection oven.
In case no one has announced it yet - It’s officially Hispanic Heritage Month !
I was about to claim Sancocho as a Puerto Rican dish but my partner who is from Columbia was quick to claim it. So with that being said, to respect the famous Sancocho. According to the very wise ( sarcasm ) Wikipedia, Sancocho is popular in the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Tobago, and Venezuela!
It usually consists of large chunks of meat, chunky vegetables and a broth that seems to temporarily…fix all my life problems. I think what I love the most about it is its unique texture that develops from the yuca, calabaza, plantain and potato as they cook down and become one with the broth - truly a beautiful process. This over some rice with avocado is just indescribable with words as it just needs to be experienced for yourself.
Sancocho
* Serves 8 * Ingredients
Grapeseed oil for cooking
2 - green plantains cut into large chunks ( approx. 3 cups )
1 1/2 cup - yuca cut into a large dice
1 - medium yellow onion medium diced ( approx. 1 cup )
7 - cloves garlic
1/2 cup - sofrito
10 cups - vegetable stock ( Better Than Bouillon - Veg Base )
1/4 cup - chopped cilantro + culantro
1/4 cup - lime juice
1 tbsp - fresh or dried oregano
1 cup - calabaza squash cut into medium / large diced chunks
1 pound oyster mushrooms or enoki mushrooms
2 ears of corn - I cut each one in half and then in half again
1 tbsp - adobo
1 packet - sazon
1/2 tsp - salt
To serve
My favorite way to serve sancocho is with some fresh white rice and with some avocado for the perfect melt in your mouth creaminess. I also like to squeeze over some fresh lime juice and a generous sprinkling of cilantro.
Instructions -
Step 1 - Gather all ingredients and prep all the vegetables
There is nothing worse than going to make something and realizing you don’t have the stuff !
If you don’t already have the sofrito made go ahead and make that and set it to the side.
I like to peel the yuca first and soak it in water while I work on the rest. Soaking the yuca in some warm water helps it to soften. You can decide whether or not to peel the potato, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Then go about cutting it into medium to large sized diced chunks and set aside.
To cut the plantain, I cut off the tops and bottoms and then do a slit down the middle. With my thumb I pry open the plantain peel to separate it from the plantain itself ( sometimes it helps to do this in the sink under warm running water ). Then go about cutting the plantain into large chunks. I like to cut these on the larger side because they shrink and cook down as they thicken the sancocho.
After this there are 2 veggies that are on the harder side to cut - the calabaza squash and the corn. I typically buy just a piece of the calabaza as its usually very big. From the big hunk of squash, cut off a large chunk and go about dicing that chunk to get about 1 cups worth. For the corn, peel off the husk and cut off the head and bottom before cutting it in half and then in half again to get nice personalized corn cobs.
For the mushrooms I either shred oyster mushrooms by pulling them a part or do a similar process if using enoki mushrooms. Chop up some cilantro and culantro, then set aside along with the lime juice. For vegetable stock I use a base so for that I like to make that while I am gathering the rest of the prep. I simply boil some water and dissolve in the appropriate amount of base.
Now all that’s left is to dice a yellow onion along with 7 cloves of garlic or as much as you desire because there is never too much.
Having this all prepped out before getting started is pretty essential otherise I would imagine this could be pretty stressful.
Step 2 - Cooking the starchy veggies
In a large soup pot on medium heat, pour in a couple tablespoons of grapeseed oil and then add in the chunks of plantains. Saute these up until they develop some nice golden brown color. After this I do the same thing with the diced yuca and potato. Once those veggies have also got some nice color on them, add in a touch of oil if needed and then the onion and garlic then saute till golden.
Now that everything has developed some good color add in the sofrito and mix well to combine everything together. After a few minutes go by allowing the sofrito to cook along with everything else, now its time to sort of deglaze the pot with the vegetable stock and allow this to come to a simmer.
Step 3 - Season the sancocho
Once all the stock in the pot and everything is simmering well. Add in the calabaza followed by the seasonings adobo, sazon, oregano, salt and pepper stirring everything in well. Let all this cook on low heat for 30 minutes. When returning to the pot add in the lime juice, corn, shredded mushrooms, cilantro and culantro. Stir all this in to combine and let this all cook together on low heat for another 15 minutes before shutting off the heat.
Step 4 - Serving
To serve, I like to accompany sancocho with fresh white rice, cilantro, and avocado with some lime wedges to squeeze over the top. The combination of sancocho with rice and avocado is what dreams are made of. I also love to enjoy this with arepas as they are so good to dip into the broth.
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3