Celebrate pumpkin season (and Shabbat) with fresh baked pumpkin challah rolls

I remember one fall many years ago when I tried making pumpkin soup, served in a pumpkin shell no less! I used pie filling and warm spices, and in theory, it should have been delicious. But really, it wasn’t very good (but the color and presentation was very pretty)! Since then, I’ve limited my cooking experiences with all things pumpkin. That is until recently when I made adorable pumpkin challah rolls for Shabbat.

I’ve discovered that there are a couple of ways to bake pumpkin rolls. One method involves wrapping string around a ball of dough to form the ridges. I did this on my first try, and the string tore the rolls when I tried to unwind it after baking. Like my pumpkin soup, it wasn’t edible. My second attempt involved cutting the dough with scissors before baking. This method was just so easy (especially since we used frozen bread dough rolls), and all the pumpkins came out with perfect ridges and so adorable!

Making pumpkin challah rolls is just so festive for fall. They can also be dressed up for “challahween” with homemade icing, sprinkles and candy eyes. This is a fun activity for children (older children with just a little supervision), and littles can help with putting the “stem” into the dough and with decorating. So let’s go bake some pumpkin challah rolls.

Pumpkin challah rolls

Here’s what you’ll need to make one dozen:

12 frozen bread dough rolls (we used Rhodes Yeast Dinner Rolls)
Thin breadsticks or pretzel sticks
Egg mixed with 1 TBS of water

Optional icing and toppings

1/2 cup confectioners sugar mixed with 1 TBS of milk
Candy eyes
Orange sprinkles

Here’s how to make them:

1. Spray a plate with cooking spray. Take 12 rolls from the package and put them on the plate and let them defrost on your kitchen counter. Cover with plastic wrap until they become pliable, about 30 - 45 minutes depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

2. When they’re soft, cut 6 to 8 slits going all the way around your dough. If the dough is sticky, dust with a little flour.

3. Pierce the center of the dough with a breadstick or pretzel stick then place the pumpkin on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.

4. Let all the pieces rest on the baking sheet until they’ve doubled in size (about one hour). Then preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While the oven warms, make an egg wash of 1 beaten egg mixed with a 1 TBS of water, and gently brush over the top of the rolls. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden.

And that’s it! Adorable pumpkin challah rolls.

They’re super cute as is, and also very adorable decorated with candy eyes and sprinkles! To decorate first make the icing by mixing the confectioners sugar and milk in a shallow bowl and then paint the icing onto the pumpkins.

Add some sprinkles, and…

Candy eyes.

We love these little pumpkins and will probably be making them not only for Shabbat, but all season long, and Thanksgiving too! We think they would be delicious served with pumpkin butter and a pumpkin spice latte too (haha, but we’ll skip the pumpkin soup)!

If you’d like, you can say a blessing before eating your pumpkin challah. In Judaism, there are blessings you can say for almost every moment - from when you pick out a pumpkin at a patch for the first time this season to eating yummy food, like a pumpkin challah for Shabbat.

Ba-Ruch A-tah A-do-noi, Elo-hai-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam, Ha-motzi Leh-chem Min Ha-aretz.

If you’re looking for more family fun baking for Shabbat you can make: