Pink Cookies with Sprinkles: Taste of Fall...

Pumpkin Spice

Pull-Apart Bread

YAY, it's almost the weekend!
I love weekends...
I love having time with my family
(but I don't like having 1:00 church...
can't wait until January 2012 to start having 9:00 church again).

Since Sunday mornings are pretty laid back
as we don't have church until 1:00 it means we can take our time with getting up and we can go on a morning walk around the block and then lounge around and write in journals or read a book
AND there is plenty of time in our morning to make this yummy bread recipe to enjoy for breakfast.

This reminds me of "Monkey Bread"
that mom used to make for us when we were kids
(with canned biscuits rolled in cinnamon and sugar and sprinkled with brown sugar and butter).

It's absolutely delicious and another FUN way
to use our abundance of cooked squash and pumpkin.

Don't let the steps fool you...
it is VERY easy to make.
Plan on about 2-1/2 to 3 hours from start to finish
(with most of it being RISING time)
(if you started making this at 7:00 am
you could plan on eating BRUNCH around 10:00)

Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread

(ingredients for bread dough)
2 Tbsp. REAL butter
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup pumpkin or squash puree
1 tsp. salt
2-1/2 cups unbleached flour

(ingredients for sugar filling)
2 Tbsp REAL butter

2/3 cup brown sugar (recipe originally called for 1 cup...feel free to use that amount if you like it more sweet)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

(ingredients for glaze)
2 Tbsp. REAL butter
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 capfuls Rum flavored extract (if you don't have this, use vanilla)

Melt butter in saucepan until lightly browned. Add in milk slowly until heated through.
Put milk/butter mixture in mixing bowl and let cool 6 minutes
Add in yeast and sugar and let stand until bubbly (about 6-8 minutes)
Then add in salt, pumpkin/squash puree and 1 cup flour and stir.
Add in rest of flour and mix with dough hook for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Put dough in oiled bowl and coat well with oil, cover and let rise one hour

(while dough is rising, melt butter and then add in sugar and spices and mix well)

After one hour of rising, punch down dough and roll out on floured board into a 20x12 inch rectangle.
Sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture onto dough and press it into the dough with your palms.
Cut rectangle into 6 strips
Lay strips on top of each other and then cut each strip into 6 squares (cut in half and then in half again)
Stack strips vertically in either a greased bread pan, OR, Bundt pan.
Cover with towel and let rise 30 minutes.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes until top is golden brown.

While bread is baking make glaze by heating butter, milk and brown sugar.

Bring to boil and then add in powdered sugar and extract.

Turn to low and make sure not to burn.
After pulling bread from oven, drizzle with however much glaze you would like...

I just put the tiniest amount as I didn't want that much sugar