The Holidays have come and gone again, and so have the pumpkin rolls! This year was quite the event, with not only my niece Alyssa, but also Rachel, Haleigh, and my wife Jessica!
I want to start out by saying this was probably one of the funnest things I have done with my nieces in a long time! It brought this heart great joy to expand Alyssa and I's pumpkin roll tradition. We tried out new kitchen tools, and with a little coordination from yours truly, we were able to make three very similar, very different pumpkin rolls!
Now normally, and probably erroneously, I start the pumpkin roll making process by doubling the recipe. I like making HUGE pumpkin rolls, with lots and lots of cream cheese filling. We did this with two out of the three pumpkin rolls this year. Why three you ask? Well, the first additional request to the traditional single roll was requested by my younger sister Nicole "I want a gluten free one this year, I never get to have any pumpkin roll." The second request was for Jessica's family, after my mother-in-law noted the first family tradition post and stated "Make one of those for us too." After a tool demonstration by Jessica and some local Chinese fare (We all ended up with Sesame Chicken, and none of them ever tried Calamari before) we all got to work.
I started with Alyssa, my now seasoned Pumpkin Roll aficionado, who admittedly forgot most of the steps but KEENLY remembered how we almost made pumpkin rolls without the pumpkin, took charge over her favorite dessert: gluten free style. I set Rachel and Haleigh on the opposite side of the kitchen, and began offering directions for both rolls. Rachel and Haleigh had to double whatever I called for in the recipe for their inaugural attempt at making our time honored dessert. Ingredient by ingredient we went down the list until we had the batter for both cakes. To keep to gluten free mores, we cooked Alyssa's roll first. We didn't have enough pumpkin to use from our frozen reserve with three rolls this year, so Alyssa made the command decisions on where the precious puree was to go!
On to the filling! Rachel and Alyssa both jumped valiantly into the foray as I called out their ingredients. We didn't have to be as careful with this process because the filling was already gluten free based on it's ingredients. It was fun to watch both get their feet under the hand mixer, carefully attempting to not create a powdered sugar cloud to choke themselves on. Alyssa goes continues in her own endeavor to make the "perfect gluten free pumpkin roll," by adding enough vanilla to startle a horse. In the end it tasted pretty great though! Rachel expertly mixed her filling and patiently awaited for the cake portions to finish baking.
I offered for one of them to try their hand at flipping out the pumpkin cake that we made, and all were a little too skittish for it. I rolled the cakes also so we could cool them down. Rachel leaps into action to make the second pumpkin roll while the first to are cooling. She expertly, and with great efficiency mixed up the next batch and had it ready to go in no time. Spreading the batter was another matter altogether! We found out after baking that the batter wasn't spread quite as flatly as we had thought, leaving some interesting "terrain" to address. It was unfortunately the thing that caused that roll to split. Haleigh, however, was a bit more timid. She worked her way through the cream cheese filling, and with some coaching from both Jessica and I, she made the creamiest, most buttery filling ever!
We successfully completed assembling the pumpkin rolls so we could put them on ice. So what was next? Well, of course you have to taste your creation! We each enjoyed a piece of pumpkin roll (mine was the gluten free one, had to make sure it was edible) and continued upbeat conversation until we were all ready to go.
As a last thought, I have to add this: My father-in-law is not a fan of anything pumpkin. He is a sweet potato pie person. He geared himself up to try it out. To our surprise and to his elation "Hey that's not bad! And I usually don't like pumpkin! High Praise...
For the first part of the story, find the post called Pumpkin Rolls!
If you are interested in the recipe, you can find it HERE.
I started with Alyssa, my now seasoned Pumpkin Roll aficionado, who admittedly forgot most of the steps but KEENLY remembered how we almost made pumpkin rolls without the pumpkin, took charge over her favorite dessert: gluten free style. I set Rachel and Haleigh on the opposite side of the kitchen, and began offering directions for both rolls. Rachel and Haleigh had to double whatever I called for in the recipe for their inaugural attempt at making our time honored dessert. Ingredient by ingredient we went down the list until we had the batter for both cakes. To keep to gluten free mores, we cooked Alyssa's roll first. We didn't have enough pumpkin to use from our frozen reserve with three rolls this year, so Alyssa made the command decisions on where the precious puree was to go!
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