Kabocha Pumpkin Squash and Potato Cinnamon Roll Recipe

Sounds like a mouth full right?  I was on a quest for a recipe to use both my kabocha squash and potato water (the water you boil your potatoes in).  I found a recipe that seemed like it could work, but I had to make some modifications.  The original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen.  I almost always make cinnamon rolls on a day that I make mashed potatoes, because potato water makes wonderful cinnamon rolls!  I also had roasted some of our kabocha squash and thought it would be great in place of pumpkin.  Actually from what I have read, many prefer to use kabocha in place of pumpkin.  I will be trying a pumpkin pie using kabocha soon and will let you know the verdict on that as well.

  

This makes about 16 rolls.        Printable Recipe from Google Drive

Dough

1/4 cup of butter (1/2 stick)

1/2 cup warm potato water (this is the water you boil your potatoes in) If

you don't have any potato water, you can use warm milk instead

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast 

4 cups all-purpose flour, you will need some more to roll the dough out

later too

1/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2/3 cups pumpkin puree, canned or homemade (smitten kitchen has a good

tutorial on making homemade)

1 large egg ( I prefer duck)

Oil for coating rising bowl

Filling

1/4 cup butter melted (1/2 stick)

3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Make your dough: 

Melt your butter, you can do this in a microwave or on the stove. You

can brown the butter if you so desire. I am however too lazy to use a pan,

I just nuke it in the microwave! You will be melting butter for the filling

as well so keep your bowl/pan for melting handy. Set aside to cool

slightly.

Add your yeast to your warm (not hot) potato water, set aside for 5+

minutes until it becomes foamy.

Combine flour, sugars, salts and spices in a mixing bowl.

Add your butter, yeast mixture,egg and pumpkin, mix until just combined.

Switch mixer to a dough hook and run it for 5 minutes on low. This is a

fairly sticky dough.

Scrape mixture into a large oiled bowl and cover, I used foil, you can use

plastic wrap or a towel too. 

Put the bowl in a warm location to rise for about an hour until doubled.

Line a cake pan and a pie plate or other small dish with tin foil, this

helps get them out once baked.  For me the recipe filled the cake pan and

there were about 4 rolls that went into the pie plate. If you have a bigger

cake pan you may not need the extra pie plate :)

Assembly: 

Place dough on a generously floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll it

into a 16x11 rectangle.  This is not a precise measurement, just make a

guess and call it good :) 

Melt the butter (1/4 Cup) and spread it on your rolled out dough.

Mix your filling mixture of sugars/spice together and then sprinkle on

top of the butter. 

Roll your dough up, pinching the dough together at the seam.

Slice into roughly 1" rolls with a serrated knife.

Place the rolls in the pans, don't squish them together they need room to

rise some more.

Cover and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Remove cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Enjoy! 

In the original recipe there is a glaze, but these were already rich and

sweet enough so I didn't use the glaze.

Hermity Christine's Elk Chili

Chili is one of our favorite wintertime foods.  Hannah especially loves it, I think she could eat chili for every meal.  We also have an abundance of deer and elk in our freezer so we typically use it instead of beef.  Here is one of my recipes for chili, yes I have many ;)  This recipe is not a hot version, if you want more heat please feel free to add more :) We cut and package our own wild game so the meat that comes out of my packages is ready to use.  To avoid a strong game flavor you want to make sure ALL the fat is trimmed off. With beef and pork you don't need to be so picky though.

Hermity Christine's Elk Chili
Printable Recipe Click Here.
~1 pound elk cut into small bites (beef or deer are suitable replacements)
~1 medium sized onion (diced)
~2tbsp olive oil
~1-2 tsps pappaw's fuego de sal seasoned salt  (special blend made by friends but  you can use about 3/4 tsp regular seasoned salt with 1/8th-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper instead of 1 tsp of the mix.) I included ordering info below for the seasoned salt.
~1 tsp. black pepper
~1 tsp. salt
~1 tsp. garlic powder
~1/2 tsp. chili powder
~1 can of diced tomatoes
~2 cans of mexican style chili beans the kind in a sauce (i was lazy this round and didn't make my own sauce but you can if you want)
~1cup of sweet potato puree (i make my own from roasted sweet potatoes it is a staple in my freezer) you can omit this but it will not make the chili as thick and nice
~2 cups of water
*tortilla chips,cheese and sour cream if desired to top finished chili*

1.In dutch oven or large pot add the olive oil, onions and meat.  Cook until the meat is browned on medium heat.
1 1/2. *My kids are picky and don't like chunky tomatoes so I run my diced tomatoes through the blender before adding them. You could just use tomato sauce instead but it seems to have a different consistency.
2.Add the diced tomatoes, sweet potato puree and water.  You may choose to add a little more water if you want a more soup like chili, but we like ours thick.
3.Give it all a stir.
4.Add the seasonings, stir and let simmer with the lid on for about 10-15 minutes. Stirring every 5 min or so. You may need to turn it down to Med/Low you don't want to burn your chili on the bottom!
5.Add the chili beans and let simmer for another 5 minutes.
6.Taste test now, you might need to add more or less seasoning to suit your own tastes!
7.Now you are ready to enjoy!
~Hermity Christine

P.S. If you are interested in getting your hands on the Fuego De Sal here is more info.  Pappaw's Seasoned Salt varieties are hand made in the Texas Hill Country.  There are a variety of heats that includes the regular Pappaw's seasoned salt,  Pappaw's Fuego De Sal which is my favorite, Pappaw's Quatro Caliente which is my husbands favorite and Pappaw's Pedos Del Diablo which is pretty dang hot and with a translation of Devil Farts you just gotta love it!  We have been using these seasoned salts for quite some time now and love them!  Ordering information can be obtained by emailing sales@pappaws.com.