Espresso Pumpkin Butter Sweet Rolls and Sticky Buns
These are light, fluffy, ridiculously tender and surprisingly, not too sweet, especially if you only use a little glaze on the sweet rolls. The pumpkin butter filling is not at all cloying as cinnamon roll filling can sometimes be, and the espresso flavor mellows a bit, giving the filling some nice low notes that your Happy Eaters might not be able to put their finger on. I baked my guys in 2 9" cake pans. You can use a cookie sheet, jelly roll pan, glass baking dish--whatever you want. You can even make these in a Bundt-type pan to end up with pull-apart monkey bread.
6-8oz.(or more, if necessary) buttermilk (old is fine. Very old is better)
20oz. AP flour
For the Espresso Pumpkin Butter filling
Follow the link to Espresso Pumpkin Butter above
about 1/4 cup sugar, divided
For the Sticky Bun Topping
2ozbutter, softened (1/2 stick)
⅓cupdark brown sugar, packed
pinchof salt
1teaspoonespresso powder(I used King Arthur)
a few dribbles of dark corn syrup
about 1/2-2/3 cup lovely pecan halves
For the Cream Cheese Glaze for the Sweet Rolls
3oz. softened butter
3oz. softened cream cheese
8oz. powdered sugar
pinchof salt
wee splash of vanilla
half and half, enough to make an icing consistency (or glaze consistency--it's up to you)
Instructions
Put all of the dough ingredients (use 6 oz buttermilk) in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Mix on low speed until the dough comes together, adding extra buttermilk to achieve a fairly soft dough that sticks in the bottom of the mixer bowl but clears the sides of the bowl when kneading.
Once the dough comes together, knead on medium speed until the dough is smooth, supple, only barely sticky and very extensible or stretchy, about ten minutes.
Shape the dough into a ball and place, smooth side up, in a large greased bowl (I just use the mixing bowl since it's already dirty). Spray the dough with nonstick spray or brush it with a little butter or oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled or even tripled in size. (I let mine rise in the oven with the oven light on).
When the dough is ready, turn it out onto the counter and press out all the gases.
Cut the ball in half (if making two types of rolls), and cover one half with a lint-free towel.
Roll the other half of the dough into a rectangle about 12" wide and 10" high. Try to keep the edges as even as possible.
Spread a fairly thick layer of pumpkin butter onto the rectangle, making sure to leave about 1 1/2" of clear dough at one long edge of the rectangle. (at least 1/8" thick. You don't really want to see dough peeking through)
Sprinkle the topping with a light dusting of sugar, about 2 tablespoons (I just did this by hand and didn't really measure).
Roll up the rectangle of dough, starting at the far end and rolling towards yourself. The pumpkin butter is pretty soft, so don't manhandle it. Pinch the edge of the dough where it meets the rest of the cylinder to seal the seam.
Cut off irregular ends (I like dental floss for this) and then slice the rolls however thick you'd like. Again, the filling is soft so this can be a little messy. Don't worry; persevere.
Repeat the process with the second half of the dough.
For Sticky Buns (Skip these next two steps if making sweet rolls)
Mash all of the sticky bun topping ingredients together, except for the pecans.
Line 2 9" round cake pans with parchment circles. Spread the sticky bun topping evenly in one pan. Top with the pecans, pretty sides down (The pretty sides will be up when you turn them out onto a plate).
Place your cut rolls in the prepared pans. I put one in the center and then six around the outsides. Try to leave about 1/2" of space between all the rolls to leave room for rising.
Cover and let rise until poofy and almost doubled, about an hour in a warm place.
Bake at 350F until the internal temperature of the center bun is around 200F (from 195F-205F is fine). This will take about 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. If the tops of the buns start getting too dark, loosely tent them with foil.
If you don't have a thermometer, you can judge doneness fairly well by color and touch, but you won't be able to do the old "thump on the bottom" trick, especially with the sticky buns.
When the buns are done, let cool for about ten minutes.
For the Sweet Rolls (the sticky buns don't need a glaze)
Mix up the cream cheese icing or glaze and apply as liberally or as lightly as you'd like. (If you have extra, it'll keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks with no problem. Or, just make less).
Ice/drizzle glaze on the sweet rolls.
Put a large plate over the pan of sticky buns. Wearing oven mitts or using towels, carefully flip over the pan of buns, shaking if necessary, so they slip out onto the plate. Scrape any topping left in the pan onto the buns, letting some drip Attractively down the sides.
Cool to at least warm before diving in.
Notes
You can manipulate the rising time to a certain extent by increasing or decreasing the amount of yeast you use. Use as much as a tablespoon for a relatively quick rise and as little as 1 teaspoon for a very slow rise. In this case, I went with 2 teaspoons and split the difference. I ended up with seven of each type of bun, plus four end pieces that I cut off of the rolls which I turned into sweet rolls. You, of course, may slice the tubes of dough differently to get more or fewer buns.