Spiced Pumpkin Bread Rolls – We knead to bake

This is one of the most adorable breads I have baked! These supersoft , flavourful,festive  Spiced Pumpkin Bread rolls are just in time for Thanksgiving- whether you celebrate or not 🙂

Aparna aptly chose these for the our monthly bread baking group-We knead to Bake. Thank you Aparna, I had so much fun making them. As gorgeous as they look, they are quiet easy to make.

Apart from looking like mini pumpkins, these rolls use Pumpkin puree too. I followed Aparna’s recipe without making any changes.I made my own pumpkin puree, since canned is not available here. Also I used pumpkin pie spice mix to flavour the rolls, instead of the individual spices. The kitchen smelled heavenly, while the rolls were being baked 🙂

This recipe for the Spiced Pumpkin Bread Rolls is adapted from Beyond Kimchee.I used only the 2 tbsp honey, recommended by Aparna so they were not sweet.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread Rolls
(Adapted from Beyond Kimchee)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup warm milk

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp instant yeast

1/2 cup puréed pumpkin (unsweetened)

40gm butter, melted

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp powdered dry ginger

1/2 tsp allspice

5 to 6 pecans, sliced into 3 vertical sections

Method:

Pour the warm milk into a bowl. Add the honey and yeast and mix well and leave aside for about 5 minutes until the mixture is starting to look “frothy”.

Put the flour, the salt and the spice powders into a food processor or stand mixer bowl and run a couple of times to mix them well. Then add the yeast mixture, the pumpkin purée, the melted butter and the egg to the processor bowl.

Knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough that will be somewhat sticky. It should pull from the side of the bowl. Add a little more flour (or milk) if required, to obtain this consistency of dough.

Turn the dough out to a wooden board dusted with a little flour and knead by hand for a minute or if using a stand mixer continue to knead on medium speed.

Shape it into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning it around to coat it well. Loosely cover and let the dough rise for about an hour or so, until double in volume.

Deflate the risen dough gently to remove large pockets of air and divide it into about 8 or 10 equal sized portions. Shape each portion into a ball. Flatten each ball slightly and using a sharp knife or a pair of scissors make 7-8 cuts at equal distance from each other, from the edge of the ball towards the centre but leaving the centre uncut – like a flower.

Place the dough “flowers” 2” apart on a lightly oiled or parchment lined baking sheet. Loosely cover and let them rise for about 45 minutes. Use your fore finger or the round end of a wooden spoon (dip it in a little oil or flour so the dough doesn’t stick to it) and poke a deep hole in the centre of each “flower” for the pecan “stem”. Brush them with milk (or egg wash if you use it).

Bake the rolls at 180C (350F) for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Take them out of the oven and brush the rolls with melted butter or a little honey diluted with water for a shine, if you like that.

Let them cool and then place a sliced pecan piece for the “stem”into the indentation of each roll.

I served them with a hot soup.

 

No-Bake Cheesecake-this one’s with Wild Blueberries and Cranberries

June was a month of cakes and bakes for me and rightly so since, June is also the Birthday month for A-who is blessed with an eternal sweet tooth! It is surprising to see someone loving sweets to the extent that he does, especially for someone like me who is not at all fond of sweets except maybe chocolates or an occasional ice-cream. (Surprisingly A doesn’t like chocolates! Opposites attract I guess 🙂 )

After we got married I would be amazed to see him eat Kheer or similar Indian sweets for breakfast. I am someone who cannot have even jam on my bread to start the day with; Maybe later in the day but no sweets to start my day !
And I almost envy the fact that even after indulging in so many sweet treats every day he hardly puts on excess weight! I balance for that even without as much as smelling the sweets!

Ok so back to the No-bake Cheesecake. For his birthday I had to make something, as I mentioned earlier, without chocolate in it. With the 6+ hrs. random Power cuts it was only sensible to not bake a cake. I bought some Cream Cheese and dried Blueberries from Mumbai when I went there shopping for my son’s birthday.
A GSE guest from Maine  had gifted us a lovely bottle of Wild Maine Blueberry jam and I had secured it for a long time, to be used for a special occasion. A’s birthday was the perfect occasion and so I made this No-bake Blueberry-Cranberry cheesecake specially for him.

I loved this recipe for the crust where the base of the cheese cake was made using Pecans and Maple syrup, both of which I had.
For the cheese cake filling I adapted this recipe from Epicurious flavoring it with a Cranberry -Blueberry spread.
I made a dried Wild Blueberry – Cranberry compote of sorts, spiced with a little cinnamon for the topping once the cheesecake had set.
The end result was an incredibly zesty cheesecake. The tart cherries complimented the sweetness of the cheesecake fabulously.

Here’s the recipe:
For the Maple Pecan Crust:
~12-15 Digestive biscuits, crushed to crumbs (I used Britannia Nutrichoice)
¼ cup pecans ground
2tbsps Maple syrup
For the filling:
2-8 ounce packets Philadelphia Cream Cheese (I used Kraft’s)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
~1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
3tbsps Cranberry with Blueberyy fruit spread
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water
For the Berry compote for topping:
½ cup dried Wild Blueberries
½ cup dried cranberries
~4-5 tbsps Wild Maine Blueberry Jam
A pinch of Cinnamon powder

Method:

For the Base/crust:
Mix the crumbs, Pecan powder and maple syrup.
Cover the bottom of a 9” spring form pan with silver foil (I found that the cheese cake could be removed easily from the base this way)
Press the crumb mixture evenly into the base of the spring-form pan
Refrigerate till you make the filling.
For the filling:
Sprinkle gelatine evenly over the water in a small pan to soften. Keep it for~8-10 minutes
Stir on low heat till the Gelatine dissolves completely. Keep aside.
Blend cream cheese, cream and sugar with a hand blender until smooth
Add the berry spread and blend.
Add the dissolved gelatine and blend well.
Pour the filling over the base crust.
Chill overnight till firm in the centre and sides.
For the berry topping:
Heat the jam in a small saucepan over low flame. Add the dried berries and Cinnamon powder and mix nicely to coat.
Cool and pour over the chilled Cheesecake.
Chill for 1-2 more hrs further.

Run a knife along the sides of the cheese cake. Unlock the spring and gently slide out the pan over the cake.
Slice and serve (optionally with whipped cream)