I have been known to be inept at cooking or any variation of it such as baking. That all changed on September 13. For the Quill, my school’s newsmagazine, we decided that we were going to do a fall recipe. I chose to be in charge of it and began researching a cutesy recipe to do. I found the most adorable pumpkin rolls. My only worry was that I, an inexperienced bakist, had to make the dough for the rolls from scratch. Nevertheless, I pressed on, determined to create the most adorable pumpkin shaped rolls anyone has ever seen.
The first problem arose when I needed a hook attachment and a stand mixer, neither things that I own. When I looked up alternatives to using the hook attachment, all I found was that I could knead the dough by hand. I knew this would not help my chances at succeeding, so I immediately tried to think of who would have a mixer I could borrow. Next thing I knew, I was heading over to my grandma’s house to borrow her kitchenaid mixer with the hook attachment. I grabbed a coffee on the way home to give myself the energy I would need to pull this off. It was about 5:00 when I began making the rolls.
The first step was to get all of the dough’s ingredients into the mixing bowl. I did not gather my ingredients beforehand, so this took me a while, but I did it. Then I turned on the mixer and allowed my dough to form. I will mention that I was extremely nervous during this whole process because I had to make these rolls perfectly so that they would be ready for their “photo shoot” for the magazine during the class period the following day. I needed them to turn out, so I was quite disheveled. Anyways, once I transferred my dough into a greased bowl, I had to let it rise for about 45 minutes to let it double in size. I learned that if one of my ingredients was too hot when I put it in, I could kill the yeast and the dough would not rise. I prayed that this would not happen. I set the timer and started cleaning up all of the supplies I had dirtied in the initial stage.
After 40 minutes, the dough looked good and risen, so I got it out of the bowl. This was extremely satisfying because the dough was perfect, or at least it seemed that way to me and my limited experience with dough. Then I had to form equal sections of the dough. I had to form 15 rolls. This was a bit of a challenge. I made sure to flour up my station, my hands, and the knife I was using to cut the pieces. When I started cutting the dough, I didn’t really plan for the 15 rolls I was supposed to make. This added some time to the process, but I finally got 15 pieces out of the dough that were relatively the same size. I then formed them into balls.
Next came the fun part. I had to make the pumpkin shape. I cut 8 slices into the dough from the edge of the center, making sure that I did not cut all the way through the center. Next I covered my beautifully cut pumpkins with a clean towel to let them rise again. We only have one baking tray at my house, so I immediately realized I was going to have to bake the rolls in three different baking times. I also realized I did not have parchment paper, so I did some quick research and discovered that a greased pan would be fine, just not ideal. I mixed together the second egg with two tablespoons of water. After about 25 minutes of waiting for the first six rolls to rise, I brushed the egg-water concoction over each of the rolls. Then I popped them in the 350-degree oven. I did not wait as long for these to rise because the kitchen was very warm. That made the dough rise faster, and I took a chance.
While I anxiously awaited my hopefully-not-botched pumpkin-shaped rolls, I began to work on the cinnamon butter. For this, I did plan a little bit ahead, and I made sure to set the butter out earlier to bring it to room temperature. Way to go Hannah! I added the ingredients for the butter in a bowl and used the hand mixer that we do have at my house for this step. I mixed for a few minutes and the masterpiece that came from that labor was amazing. I mean what wouldn’t be good with butter, honey, cinnamon, and powdered sugar?
Alas, the 15 minutes had passed and the moment of truth had come. I was hoping I could handle it (did you catch my joke there? If not, I still think it’s funny). I peered down at the oven and turned on the oven light. My rolls were……. drumroll please……. perfect!! The golden-brown color shown through, as did the ridges of the pumpkin shape. I could not have been prouder. It honestly may have been the proudest moment of my life so far. I took out those suckers, moved them onto a cooling tray and stuck the pecans into the center to make the stems. Then I got to baking the other nine rolls.
This experience taught me that I am capable of being a bakist no matter what I thought about my nonexistent skills. I also thought I hated cooking, but it was actually fun. Well it was fun aside for the heart palpitations I felt during the whole experience. The fact that they turned out taught me about myself and gave me something pretty to look at, eat, and show off to my friends. I will put the link to the recipe after this post. I hope that you all try it or something else that you thought you couldn’t do. Wow, I am trying to make baking inspirational. How am I doing? Just try something new and surprise yourself. Spice things up.
P.S. I will also mention that, in addition to using the printed-out recipe, I used a step-by-step youtube video that I have to attribute some of my success to even though I would love to keep all of it for myself.
P.P.S All of the photos you will see were taken of my pumpkin rolls for the Quill. The photos really capture their beauty if I do say so myself. These photos were taken by Halle.
P.P.P.S. The reason this post is so late is because I have been extremely busy working on my first Quill as editor-in-chief. It was really stressful, but we pulled it off!! I will do a reveal of the first issue when we get it from the printer. I can’t wait to share it with everyone!
Recipe: https://www.handletheheat.com/pumpkin-bread-rolls-cinnamon-butter/
Faking It Made 