These are always a staple for our Thanksgiving and Christmas table.  The pumpkin makes them so moist and good.  Of course they could be shaped into any shape you desire.  I've just always made them into crescent rolls.  The family would be in an uproar if I changed now.

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 cup canned pumpkin or you can use fresh if you have it.  Mashed sweet potatoes would work also.

1/2 cup shortening

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

5-6 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Stir in pumpkin, shortening, sugar, egg, salt and 3 cups of the flour.  Beat until smooth.  Stire in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.  Pleace in greased bowl and let rise until double (1 hour or so)

Punch down dough and divide into two parts. Roll each part into circle.  I use a pizza cutter to cut into 12 sections.  Spread with butter or margarine and roll up tightly.  Make sure the points are underneath and let rise until double.  Bake in 400 degree oven until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Could I use my electric beater, or do I need to beat the ingredients with a wooden spoon?

I have a big Kitchen Aid mixer so I use the mixer to beat and then can use it to knead the dough too.  But you certainly could use a hand mixer to beat it until smooth and then use a spoon to put in the rest of the flour and when the flour is in knead by hand.

These are such good rolls.  The pumpkin gives them a pretty golden color and makes them very moist.  I don't like pumpkin much, I'm not a pumpkin pie lover but these don't have a strong pumpkin flavor and I like them very much.

Hope this helps.  Nancy

Thanks!  We are pumpkin lovers in this household, so a new recipe should be really fun to try.

 These sound really good. I do not like pumpkin very well, but my DH does. Could I use my bread machine to make the dough?

jcrmom:

Could I use my bread machine to make the dough?

If your bread machine can take 5-6 cups of bread I don't see why not.  I'd take the dough out and shape it into rolls though instead of making a loaf of bread.  They have a roll type texture and I don't know how they'd do baked into a loaf.

 I'll have to see how big my other recipes are. I have just recently started using my machine, so I don't have a lot of experience. I have had the machine or nearly three years and I don't know why I didn't use it sooner.

Not that I am an expert, but:

Check the manual for your machine.  It should tell you the capacity for the dough cycle.  You know, I hadn't thoght of mixing it in my bread machine, but that might make life easier.  If you don't have the manual for your bread machine, go to www.hillbillyhousewife.com .  She has a link to free bread machine manuals.

 HTH.  april