I’m afraid it’s true. Looks like things are never going to return to “normal” around here. I’ve crossed a very subtle line and I doubt there’s any turning back. That line was the divider between food obsessed/not food obsessed; food lover/food appreciator; baker/person who eats baked goods. These days, I become inordinately excited about a good-looking recipe, I could talk your ear off about pie, and most thoughts that occupy my brain now revolve around what I’m going to cook next. Today, for example, on a spiffy day off, while I browsed books at the bookstore, picked up a winter coat, and started working on a new card design in my head, I was also thinking cinnamon rolls cinnamon rolls cinnamon rolls.

This is my life now. I tried to tell myself I didn’t have to make them today, that I could bake them Saturday or Sunday or not at all, but in the end, the cinnamon rolls won. ‘Tis the season for packing on a few pounds, and I’m not sorry about any of it.

My intention was to add the pumpkin to the dough itself, but I was so focused on getting all of the flour mixed into the dough, which becomes quite stiff, that I completely forgot the pumpkin. So, I mixed it with the butter for the filling of the cinnamon roll.

I used the raisins called for in the recipe, but omitted the pecans. Notes for next time: use the 9×13 baking dish called for. I used two smaller baking dishes and the rolls are absolutely exploding out of each dish.

The results: Perfect. Eating one warm, just out of the oven, I was convinced it’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I would serve these for dessert any day of the week, any season of the year.

One year ago: Progress! Night Song Print, Round Two