Sexy Vegan Mama: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

My family loves cinnamon rolls, but I think they're sort of... *yawn.* When I was shopping for ingredients for my pumpkin pie, I picked up a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie filling instead of a 15-ounce can, like the recipe called for, because it was cheaper. I figured I'd think of something to do with the other 15 ounces.

What I ended up with is nothing short of a miraculous revamping of the same-old cinnamon rolls.



Sexy Vegan Mama’s Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

1 1/8 c. warm water (“baby bath water” warm - not too hot, or you'll kill the yeast)
1 1/2 T. dry yeast
2 T. oil
1 – 15 oz. can pumpkin pie filling

6 to 7 c. unbleached white flour
1 T. salt
2 T. evaporated cane sugar crystals or vegan sugar

2 to 4 T. vegan stick margarine, softened

1/4 c. evaporated cane sugar crystals or vegan sugar
1 t. ground cinnamon

Glaze:

Blend until smooth or desired consistency:

2 to 3 c. powdered sugar
2 to 3 T. vanilla soy milk
Add more powdered sugar or soy milk if necessary.

Directions for rolls:


Preheat oven to 375 degress.

In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over water and allow to dissolve. Add oil and pumpkin, mix thoroughly.

In a large bowl, combine and mix flour, salt and sugar. Make a “well” in the middle of the dry mixture, then add liquid mixture. (See photos of this well/liquid thing if you don't get what I'm saying, here.) Stir liquid into flour until it’s too stiff to stir with a spoon, then oil your hands and knead the dough.

Add a little more flour or water if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Dough should be slightly sticky, but not totally clinging to hands or bowl. When dough forms easily into a ball, remove from bowl, put about a teaspoon of oil into the bottom of the bowl, and roll the ball of dough in the oil to coat it.

Allow to rise until doubled in size – about an hour.

Punch the dough down, divide in half and roll out on a floured board into two large rectangles – about 15” x 9”. Spread a layer of softened margarine over each rectangle.

Mix sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle over buttered rectangles.

Starting at the wide end, roll the dough tightly into a long roll.

Slice, using a serrated knife, into 12 rolls. Place the rolls into oiled muffin tins and let rise for about 20 minutes.

Bake until golden brown on top, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Top with glaze while warm.

It's a Vegan Thanksgiving, Sexy Mama! Recipe + Video: Tomato Sesame Pepper Rolls

Want to find more great vegan bloggers? Check out the 2010 blogroll at VeganMoFo!

These rolls are my family's favorite. I always make a double batch because I know 24 rolls won't be enough. This recipe can also be formed into a loaf (great for sandwiches!) or two bread braids. Also, try making soft pretzels out of it for a tasty change.





Tomato Sesame Pepper Rolls
(makes 24 small rolls)

Ingredients:

1/2 c. warm water (you’re looking for “baby bath water” warm – if it’s too hot, it will kill your yeast)
1 1/4 t. yeast
1 1/4 c. canned diced tomatoes, juice included (I like to use petite cut, but you can use regular diced)
3 T. oil

1 t. salt
2 T. raw sugar or evaporated cane juice crystals
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1/4 t. ground red pepper
1 1/2 t. black sesame seeds
1 1/2 t. white sesame seeds
2 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. unbleached white flour

Directions:

Pour water into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast over top and allow a few minutes to dissolve. (Tip: Start measuring your dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl while you wait.) Stir dissolved yeast into water, then mix in tomatoes and oil.

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.

Using a spoon, make a “well” in the middle of the dry ingredients.

Well, well, well...

Pour the liquid mixture into the well.

Stir wet and dry ingredients together until the dough becomes too stiff to stir – then, it’s time to get your (clean!) hands dirty. (Tip: Pour a little oil on your hands first to help prevent the dough from sticking to them.)

Stirring up trouble?

Using your hands, knead dough until it’s elastic and not sticking to the bowl or your hands. You may need to add a bit more flour or water at this point to achieve the proper texture.

When the dough is properly elastic, form it into a ball. Put a little oil in the bottom of your bowl, place the top of the dough ball in the oil, coating it, then turn the ball upside down. You’re doing this to prevent the dough from drying out while it’s rising.

Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until it’s doubled in size (usually about an hour), then punch down and divide into 24 equal sections. Then, form your rolls. Here’s my video tutorial on how to do it:



Now, I like to put my rolls in muffin tins to give them a uniform shape, but you may place yours on a baking sheet or in a baking pan. Just allow enough space around each roll for the second rise.

This is a good time to preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Allow the formed rolls to rise again to double their size (Note: Keep an eye on them – the second rise will take only about half as long as the first), then bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The baking time depends on the size of the rolls, and they will be done when they begin to brown slightly on top.

More holiday recipes:
Oat, Seed & Vegetable Loaf
Roasted Garlic & Basil Mashed Yams
Apple Almond Stuffing (or Dressing)

Sexy Vegan Mama: Chai Balsamic Pasta Salad and No-Rise Tomato Herb Bread

Let me apologize for the poor photo quality, folks. My digital camera was stolen (stolen!), and I've resorted to taking photos with my kids' crappy cell phone camera because I'm rockin' an old-school Blackberry World, which doesn't have a camera.


Feel free to send me gifts of new cameras, or pass the word on to the PR department of Kodak that I'd love to do a review.

When it's hot out, the last thing I want to do is compete with the air conditioner by spending an hour hovering over the stove. The heat really wipes me out, too, and I'm too drained to put much thought into dinner during the summer.

That's why my kids got this the other night:

Chai Balsamic Pasta Salad

1 lb. whole wheat pasta (your choice; I used shells)
1 - 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 - 15.25 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
1 - 14.25 oz. can diced tomatoes, juice included
1 cucumber, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 stalk celery, sliced
1 bell pepper, diced

1/4 - 1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 c. balsamic vinegar

To taste:

black pepper
cinnamon
nutmeg
ginger
cardamom
ground cloves
garlic powder
basil
peppermint

Variations or additions:

Jicama
Grape or cherry tomatoes
Baby corn
Water chestnuts
Zucchini
Apples (I have great success with Granny Smiths in this recipe)
Peaches

Prepare the pasta as directed and drain. Add remaining ingredients and chill before serving.



No-Rise Tomato Herb Bread

1 1/2 T. dry active yeast
1/2 c. warm water
1/4 c. olive oil
1 - 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes (juice included)

3 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. salt
2 t. evaporated cane juice crystals (look for this in the Latin or Hispanic foods section if you can't find it with the sugar)
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried sweet basil

1 - 2 c. whole wheat flour
1 T. olive oil
1 t. nutritional yeast (I use Red Star miniflake. Get it at natural foods stores or larger supermarkets.)
1 t. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pour water into a large bowl and sprinkle dry active yeast on top. Allow yeast to dissolve.

While waiting for yeast, combine three cups whole wheat flour, salt, evaporated cane juice crystals, oregano and basil in a separate large bowl. Use your spoon to make a hollow in the dry mixture.

Return to dissolved yeast and stir well into water. Add oil and tomatoes. Mix thoroughly, then pour into hollow in dry mixture. Stir all ingredients into a sticky dough.

Add additional flour, half a cup at a time, until it forms a kneadable dough. Form into a ball and let rest for five minutes.

Place dough into an oiled 9x13 glass baking dish and press into bottom and sides of dish. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle nutritional yeast and garlic powder on top.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until edges begin to brown. The bread will rise in the oven!

This is a dense, chewy bread with a lot of flavor. You may like to add dried onion flakes or seeds to the recipe, as well. Also, you can make this into rolls. Just form them, put them on an oiled sheet (I like to put mine in muffin tins so they have a uniform shape), and bake for about 12 minutes. Please remember they rise while baking to about double their formed size, so if you're using a muffin tin, don't make the unbaked rolls bigger than half of your cup size (in your tin, not your bra).

Sexy Vegan Mama: Easy One-Rise Seedy Dinner Rolls

Mr. Wright requested that I make bread yet again this week. *sigh* Maybe I should start sharing some of my bread recipes so you people can make them and then invite him over to dinner. You know - spread the workload a bit?

Anyway, I was diligently working away, sending funny mommy stories to magazines across the country, and completely forgot about the bread until it was almost dinner time. I calculated the time it takes to make bread: measure, stir, knead, rise... form, rise, bake... Nope. Wasn't gonna happen.

Fortunately, I found a bread loaf recipe in Mother Nature's Garden that only required one rising. I didn't have all the ingredients, but so what!

I decided to do what I usually do when I make bread... I winged it.

Here's the dinner roll recipe, as I modified it:

Easy One-Rise Seedy Dinner Rolls

1 3/4 c. warm water
2 1/4 t. active dry yeast

1 T. dark molasses
1 T. shoyu or tamari or low-sodium soy sauce
2 T. olive oil

2 c. whole wheat flour
2 T. soy flour
1 T. black sesame seeds
2 T. flax seeds
2 T. dried onion flakes

2 to 2 1/2 c. unbleached white flour (I only used the white flour here because I was skeptical that using all whole wheat would allow for enough of a rise with one rising. Next time, I'll probably try it with all whole wheat flour.)

Pour water into a large bowl and sprinkle yeast on top. Allow yeast to dissolve, then stir in molasses, shoyu (or tamari or soy sauce) and olive oil.

In a separate large bowl (Are you lucky enough to have TWO clean large bowls? I had to wash one!), mix wheat flour, soy flour, seeds and onion flakes.

Use your spoon to make a small hollow in the center of the dry mix, then pour liquid mixture into it. Stir well.

Add white flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough is thick and kneadable. Knead for ten minutes, then divide into 24 equal rolls. (I put mine in oiled muffin tins.) See my video tutorial on how to shape perfect rolls here.

Allow to rise to double, then put into a cold oven.

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and set your timer for 15-20 minutes. (I use smell to time bread, but I did set a timer this time so I could share the instructions!)

Here's the original bread loaf recipe, as found in Mother Nature's Garden:

Whole Wheat Seed Bread


Yields one loaf

1 3/4 c. lukewarm water
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 T. dark molasses
1 T. reduced-salt soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos (Bragg's would be my first choice, but I was out)
2 T. safflower or canola oil
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 T. sesame seeds
1 T. sunflower seeds
1 T. onion powder
2 T. soy flour
2 to 2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

In a large bowl, stir the yeast into the warm water. Stir in the molasses, soy sauce or Bragg's, and oil, then stir in the next five ingredients, and mix well. Gradually stir in enough whole wheat flour to form a kneadable dough. Knead the dough on a floured board for 10 minutes, then shape the dough into a loaf. Put the loaf in a lightly oiled 9- by 5-inch nonstick loaf pan. Let dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in bulk. Place the loaf in a cold oven, set the oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake the bread for about 35 minutes, or until the crust is light brown. Remove the bread from the pan, and let it cool before slicing with a sharp serrated knife.

There you have it... You, too, can be a Sexy Vegan Mama, and your family will think you're a rockstar. The fact that it took half the time will be our little secret, okay?