In my last post, I made a pumpkin coffee cake that left me with a decent amount of opened pumpkin puree. So, in an attempt to use it before it goes bad, I made pumpkin sweet swirl buns (similar to cinnamon buns). I didn't have graham crackers, so I ground up a crunchy granola bar that aready had pimpkin seeds in it. I also had to grind hazelnuts into a meal which is a bit tricky not to turn into nut butter.

This used almost all of the remaining puree which is great. It also let me use my stand mixer to knead the dough. I'm glad for any chance to use it.

At first, I was afraid I didn't roll the dough tight enough to get a good swirl. However, the overnight proof in the fridge filled in the gaps. I also made a cream cheese frosting by whipping cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar together. You can add a little bit of water to thin it out to your desired consistency.

The buns were really good! They were perfectly fluffy, a nice shade of orange, and the hazelnut filling was a perfect match for the spices. My only (minor) complaint is that the pumpkin flavor was not strong enough. I think the best takeaway is to try other fillings for cinnamon rolls. The dough is just a fluffy, yeasty, buttery vehicle for the filling.