pumpkin cinnamon rolls with ginger cream cheese glaze

really, does this post need any other words beyond the title?
i mean, honestly—it says all you need to know. (but that doesn’t mean i’m not going to add lots.more.words)

i had this recipe pinned forever on my “food i must eat one day” pinterest board. (alternate title: this is why you’re fat)
it’s a lovely recipe with spectacular photography.

Source: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com via Shannon on Pinterest

it just has one, errr…how shall i put this? not problem per se. more of an issue:

it’s vegan. meaning: no real butter, no real cream cheese, no real milk. and while i am a vegetarian i am the ovo-lacto variety because—well, put simply--the googiemomma can’t live without butter, yo. (and cheese. the googiemomma can’t live without cheese either. but that’s another blog post)

(oh, and ice cream.)

(and probably i really couldn’t live without milk. not that i drink it, cause i don’t. but: milkshakes, icing, alfredo sauce…well, you see where i’m going with this, right?)

annnnyway…so a nasty, rainy day a few weeks back provided the perfect time to work my de-veganing cinnamon roll magic in the kitchen. the recipe from healthy happy life provided a jumping off point. inspiration. sadly, i’m no stranger to this concept. i do the same with “light” recipes too.

what’s that? 4 egg whites? mmmhmm. two whole eggs. 4 tablespoons margarine? five tablespoons butterrrrr. 1/2 cup skim milk? well, to my eyes that clearly says “1/2 cup heavy cream”. isn’t that what you see?

behold:


it all starts with the dough.



i used all white flour, instead of the half whole wheat pastry flour in the original recipe. and i used half butter and half shortening in place of the vegan shortening.



for the filling i omitted the pecans. not all the kids are fans. they probably get it from me: i prefer my soft squishy foods completely soft and squishy. no crunchy bits.



don’t you love my blood pressure cuff there in the background? like i a) couldn’t be bothered to move it before taking the picture, and b) had to check my bp before indulging in these things.
again, i used regular dairy butter in place of the vegan butter called for in the original.





were i to make these again i’d probably double the filling amount. it seemed like it needed more. and face it, you’re not making these things if you’re watching the old ell bees.






they do look purdy.



then i tripped, and dropped more butter all over the tops.



oops.

and we bake…



when it came to the glaze i pretty much did my own thing. she uses vegan cream cheese and vegan butter and soy creamer and maple syrup.

i had half a block of regular cream cheese and store brand butter flavored pancake syrup, which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

so i improvised with some pumpkin cream cheese spread and some regular cream cheese, along with melted butter:






ginger powder



powdered sugar (to taste), and a splash of milk (until it was the right consistency)




rolls, still warm from the oven, before:



and after:







and we ate until our eyes were floating in our heads, awash in pumpkin gingery goodness. then we heaved ourselves onto the couch and died.

if you’re interested in my version, here’s my basic outline of ingredients. i followed the instructions found on the original recipe to make it. and one final warning: these are time consuming. about 3 1/2 hours start to finish because of rising time for the dough. but it’s totally worth it.

pumpkin cinnamon dough
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
5 cups white flour
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 packet yeast
1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup melted shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
*extra white flour as needed to handle, knead and roll out dough

cinnamon sugar filling
(these are the measurements i used. i would do at least 1 and 1/2 next time)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter

ginger cream cheese glaze 2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 cup pumpkin cream cheese
4 oz. cream cheese (1/2 block)
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2-4 Tbsp powdered sugar to thicken as desired