Our dog, Gertie, hates change. We are pretty sure she has some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder. She has a certain toy that no matter how many times I clean it up, she drags back to her mat by the door. In our old neighborhood there was a street sign that terrified her so much that on walks she would pull her leash into traffic to cross the street to avoid it. And every year when I break out my Halloween decorations, she freaks out about the “Trick or Treat” sign. No matter where I decide to place it, she finds it and barks at it every time she reenters the room for at least the first 48 hours.

Sometimes Gertie likes to bark at random corners or bookshelves. We like to say that she’s barking at the ghosts in the walls. But when we watched the last two installments of Paranormal Activity on Friday night, she sat eerily quiet on the couch. Spooky. But I was clearly nervous when we had friends over last night to carve pumpkins. A glowing object at her height. This could be trouble. The second these new objects entered her home, she was thrown for a loop and the barking commenced.

Weirdly she was perfectly happy once they were carved and illuminated. Maybe it was that Chris attempted to carve his pumpkin (far left) to resemble Gertie herself.

One thing she actually does love about Halloween is her own costume. Every year she is grapes. We figured, we are usually drinking some wine to celebrate the holiday so she could be our fruity mascot.

While Gertie might be up to some tricks this Halloween, I have an insanely delicious treat for you- Pumpkin Butter Rolls with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing!!!

Simmer pumpkin puree, apple cider, sugar, and pumpkin pie spices for 30 minutes to make and easy, spicy, sweet pumpkin butter. You can make this up to a week in advance. Plus the recipe makes extra to have on hand for a quick breakfast treat or to stir into other recipes.

The dough has a hint of sugar and uses milk and butter to make it soft and fluffy. Once your dough begins to come together, it’s time to get messy. Flour your hands and a clean surface and get kneading. Keep going for at least 5 minutes but 10 if you can.

Let the dough double in size, then roll out to about a 15″x10″ rectangle and smear with pumpkin butter.

Roll them up and then use a really sharp knife to cut your rolls. You should get 15 pieces, each about 1-inch thick. You can make them up to this point the night before you plan to serve them. Just take them out of the fridge about an hour before you want to bake them up.

Since these need to sit at room temperature in the morning for about an hour, I recommend setting your alarm, running to the kitchen to take them out then resetting your alarm and getting back in bed! Sleep for 45 minutes, then turn on your oven, brew some coffee, and get ready for a breakfast treat that will blow your mind.

Once you smoother these with cinnamon cream cheese icing, they are perfection!

Seriously. It doesn’t get better than this. A million times better than your regular old cinnamon rolls.

Pumpkin Butter Rolls with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing*

Makes 15 rolls

½ cup milk

5 Tbs butter, plus more for the baking dish

½ cup warm water (100-110˚F)

1 packet yeast

1 egg

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp salt

3 ½ – 4 cups flour

1 cup pumpkin butter, recipe follows

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing, recipe follows

Pour milk into a small saucepot and bring to a simmer. Melt butter into the milk and turn off the heat.

In a small bowl whisk the yeast and warm water together to dissolve the yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together the egg, sugar, and salt. Add the milk then mix in 2 cups of flour. Once combined, add the water and yeast mixture. Mix in 1 ½ more cups of flour. Knead on a clean floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes, adding additional flour as necessary to touch without sticking to your hands.

Place dough in a large greased bowl and let rise until doubled, about 60-90 minutes.

Prepare a 13”x9” glass baking dish by greasing with butter.

Roll the dough out to about a ½ inch thickens into about a 15”x10” rectangle. Spread the surface evenly with 1 cup of pumpkin butter. Roll the dough onto itself using the long side of the rectangle.

Using a sharp knife, slice the roll into 15 slices and place cut-side down in the baking dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove rolls from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 45-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes then spread cream cheese icing on the rolls.

Pumpkin Butter (makes extra)

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree

1/3 cup apple cider

¾ cup white sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground clove

Stir together in a small saucepot. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool and reserve. Can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 week.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

2 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2 oz. butter, room temperature

1 ½  cups powdered sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon

Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Add the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time and blend until smooth. Blend in the cinnamon. Reserve

*Pumpkin butter adapted from allrecipes.com and base dough from Paula Deen @ foodnetwork.com