Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Rolls, reviewed

Pumpkin can be found just about everywhere in October, and that includes the refrigerated case at Trader Joe’s, where I recently spotted a new seasonal product: Pumpkin Rolls with Pumpkin Spice Icing. The rolls came in the same sort of cardboard tube that you find refrigerated biscuts and crescent rolls packaged in, but with the promise of pumpkin spice – which made them sound like a good option for quick and easy fall brunches.

I stored the package in my refrigerator for about a week or so before breaking it out because I wanted to make sure I had a few people around to share them with! Whole the container makes only five cinnamon rolls, they’re quite large and may be large enough to split if you are serving other (breakfast) dishes along side of them. They’re a good size for a satisfying afternoon snack when paired with coffee or tea.

The cardboard package pops open just like similarly packaged pastry products, though I had a bit of a problem with my dough sticking to the wall of the package and breaking apart some of the rolls. The dough came back together fairly easily, but I would guess that a very quick unrolling (like pulling off a bandaid) would be better than the slow, methodical route I took. The rolls were perfectly baked in the time directed on the package and I drizzled the included pumpkin spice icing over the top when they had cooled slightly.

The rolls were much lighter than I expected, with a very light and slightly flaky texture to the pastry itself. I had expected it to be more dense, however the pumpkin in the yeast dough is dried pumpkin and that keeps the pastry very light. The dough itself is not too sweet, but there is more sweetness to be found in the cinnamon filling and the icing. It was a good combination of flavors for anyone who is a fan of pumpkin spice, however I would have preferred less of the very sweet pumpkin spice icing and more of the pumpkin roll filling. Still, these were very pleasant and a fun seasonal alternative to traditional cinnamon buns. Next time, I might put in the extra effort to make a cream cheese frosting for these, which would add a little extra richness and a hint of tang to contrast with the sweet rolls.