Sweet spiced pumpkin pinwheels

I had seen a recipe for a savory pumpkin ruggelach.  It had pumpkin, sage, walnuts, chili flakes, and shallots.  Finally a pumpkin treat I might actually like (minus the walnuts...and trust me, I thought about that)!  But then in the height of my "I can make almost anything into a heavenly ruggelach pinwheel" hayday, I figured why not try a pumpkin pinwheel?  But I didn't want to make them savory for two reasons - first of all, my pinwheel dough has sugar in it (and the original recipe for the savory pumpkin ruggelach did not), and secondly, I wanted them for dessert.  So I decided I would make my own sweet pumpkin filling.  Excepted it ended up being a little bit spiced, too, and thus the sweet spiced pumpkin pinwheels were born!

I thought about adding some pecans to them, but decided to keep them nut-free, since this way I could bring them to Thanksgivukkah dinner (my cousin E is deathly allergic to all nuts).  I think they'd be good with some chopped pecans added -- or maybe some craisins, as one JulieBakes fan suggested (thanks, R!!).

If you've ever read my blog before, you know that I don't like pumpkin.  I don't hate that orange vegetable itself, it's just that I don't particularly like the spices added to pumpkin.  So since I made my own pumpkin filling, I only added the spices that I like: cinnamon, ginger, and a little nutmeg (I don't love nutmeg, but I don't hate it either).  It resulted in a subtly spiced pumpkin-y flavor without being overpowering.

 

Sweet Spiced Pumpkin Ruggelach

Ruggelach Pinwheel Dough
(originally from SmittenKitchen)

Ingredients:

Dough:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups sifted bleached all-purpose flour

Topping:

1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth and creamy.
Add sugar and continue processing until fully incorporated.
Add flour and pulse just until dough comes together.
Divide dough into 2 equal pieces, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the filling.

Sweet Spiced Pumpkin Filling
(a JulieBakes original)

Ingredients:

1 cup pure pumpkin
4 Tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
nice splash of vanilla extract

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  How's that for easy?

ASSEMBLY:

On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick.
My tip: roll the dough between two floured pieces of parchment paper.
BEFORE going any further, slightly flour the up side of dough and transfer the rolled out dough onto a piece of saran wrap by flipping it over (the floured side will now be down).
Spread a moderate thin layer of filling over dough. (my cookies have a nice thick layer of pumpkin filling, but when I took them off the parchment paper, the middles fell out of some of the cookies.  Hence, I think my filling was too thick.  Make your filling layer thinner than I did.
Roll dough into a log beginning with one of the long sides.  This is where the dough being on saran wrap helps.  The dough is pretty soft by now, and rolling can be a little bit difficult.  UNLESS its already on the saran wrap.  You can use the plastic wrap to aid in rolling, making sure that the roll is tight (less filling lost later), and it makes it much easier for the next step.
Wrap rolled dough in plastic wrap.
Transfer dough log baking sheet.
Repeat process with remaining piece of dough.
Place dough logs in refrigerator; let chill at least 1 hour. Because this filling is really wet (and my dough was particularly soft), the roll was pretty soft.  I decided to freeze my roll so that it was easier to slice without the filling oozing out.

Slice frozen dough logs crosswise, about 1/4 inch thick. They're actually easier to slice than I thought.  Use a sharp straight (non-serrated) knife.  Mine sliced perfectly.
Toss each cookie in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  The cinnamon sugar actually stuck to them well.  If you find that it doesn't stick well, press it on a little bit.
Place cookies 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake until lightly browned, 18 to 20 minutes.
If there isn't enough cinnamon sugar on them for your liking (I felt that way for my first batch out of the oven), you can sprinkle some of the cinnamon sugar on top of them when they're fresh out of the oven, and a little bit of it sticks to the warm cookies,
Lift parchment paper from baking sheets and transfer to a wire cooling rack; let cool.