Pumpkin Shaped Bagels

These Pumpkin Shaped Bagels are made with pumpkin and all the delicious flavors of fall. The bagels are sandwiched together with a pumpkin spice cream cheese that makes these a delicious breakfast for your fall mornings. The pumpkin shaped bagels can be made in roughly an hour and have that delicious characteristic chewy exterior and soft interior.

Fall is probably my favorite season. I mean I really love summer, but there is something about fall – the changing leaves, the cozy vibes, pumpkin EVERYTHING! Basically once September hits, I go all in on everything pumpkin and apple and these pumpkin shaped bagels are perfect for that.

I don’t eat bagels regularly for my breakfast, but I do love them. Bagels actually remind me of fall. I ran cross country in college and we often ate bagels for our breakfast before our races. My bagel flavor of choice was always the blueberry bagels. But, I love any bagel!

These pumpkin shaped bagels are a fun fall bagel. They are made with real pumpkin and a homemade pumpkin pie spice blend, then sandwiched together with a pumpkin maple cream cheese. If you want to make your morning bagels feel like fall, make these! Plus, who doesn’t love a cute pumpkin shaped bagel? If you don’t feel like taking the time to shape these into pumpkins, certainly, you don’t have to. But, I recommend at least trying it : ).

The details

The ingredients

• Pumpkin Shaped Bagel Dough
  • instant yeast – I prefer using instant yeast, because it rises faster and needs no activation time, meaning you can just mix it directly in with the other ingredients.
  • warm water (warmed to 110F) – warm water helps the yeast work. However, you want to make sure the water doesn’t get too hot. Keep the water temperature between 108-112F.
  • orange gel food coloring – this is optional, but if you want the pumpkin shaped bagels to have the bright orange color, you will need it. The pumpkin puree alone won’t give the outside of the bagels the orange color. They will be more of a golden brown when baked. The inside of the bagels will look yellowish/light orange when baked, if you use just the pumpkin puree.
  • brown sugar – this helps sweeten the bagels just enough to balance with the pumpkin puree.
  • bread flour or all-purpose flour – bread flour will give the bagels a chewier texture, which is the characteristic texture of a bagel. You can certainly use all-purpose flour with equally delicious results. They just won’t be as chewy.
  • salt – salt helps to balance the flavors in the bagel.
  • pumpkin puree – the pumpkin adds delicious pumpkin flavor to the bagels.
  • ginger – the spices are my own homemade version of pumpkin spice. These spices make these bagels truly taste delicious.
  • nutmeg
  • cinnamon
  • cloves
  • allspice
• For Boiling
  • water – the bagels are boiled in a water bath, which creates the characteristic chewy texture of a bagel.
  • honey – This adds a hint of sweetness to the outside of the bagels. This helps promote browning in the outside of the bagels as well.
• Pumpkin Shape
  • kitchen twine – this is how you create the pumpkin shape for the pumpkin shaped bagels.
• Pumpkin Maple Cream Cheese
  • cream cheese – You’ve got to have the cream cheese filling, right!?
  • pumpkin puree – I love the addition of the pumpkin to the cream cheese.
  • maple syrup – the maple syrup sweetens the pumpkin cream cheese perfectly and creates a delicious spread for the bagels.
  • cinnamon – the addition of the cinnamon and nutmeg add delicious flavor to the pumpkin maple cream cheese.
  • nutmeg

Which flour should I use (bread flour or all-purpose flour)?

Honestly, both bread and all-purpose flour produces delicious results for these pumpkin shaped bagels. However, if you are looking for the true characteristic chewy texture in a bagel, you’ll want to use the bread flour. Bread flour has a higher protein content and creates that chewy texture in the bagel.

Now, with that being said, if you use all-purpose flour, you will still have some chewy texture in the bagel. The bagels boil in a water bath prior to baking which creates the chewy exterior texture in the bagels. So, you will still have that chewy exterior.

Instant vs. Active Dry Yeast, What’s the Difference?

These pumpkin shaped bagels use instant yeast. Instant yeast means it works instantly. In other words, you don’t have to add the yeast to warm water and sugar and let it sit for 5-10 minutes to activate. You can simply add the yeast in with the other ingredients and mix. Another difference is that instant yeast rises faster than active dry yeast.

Active dry yeast needs an activation step. In order for active dry yeast to work, it needs to be mixed with a warm liquid, in this case, warm water. The water temperature needs to be between 108-112F. If the water gets above 115F, it can kill the yeast, and your dough will no longer rise. Active dry yeast does rise slower than instant yeast, and usually needs about 15-20 minutes more rise time than the instant yeast.

If you choose to use active dry yeast, you certainly can. Just substitute in a 1:1 ratio. Add the yeast to the warm water with the sugar and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes or until the mixture is frothy. This means the yeast is active and ready to be used.

What if my pumpkin shaped bagel dough doesn’t rise?

If your dough doesn’t rise, there could be one of two things that happened. Either the yeast was old and expired, OR the water was too hot. You want to make sure that the water temperature is between 108-112F.

I recently made three different products using the same batch of yeast. All three of them barely rose. I made them on different days, so I know I didn’t make the same mistake with all three products. It turns out the yeast was just a bad batch of yeast. It wasn’t old, as I had just bought it. So, keep this in mind. If you followed everything you needed to, it’s not you! It’s most likely the yeast (hey, we have to blame someone, right!?) Kidding aside, just get a new batch of yeast, and that should fix your problem.

Shaping the bagels

Okay, this seems like it’s the tricky part, but I promise it’s easy! There are two different ways you can make the pumpkin shaped bagels look like a pumpkin.

method one

The easiest way to make the pumpkin shaped bagels is to cut the kitchen twine into 32 pieces, roughly 12 to 15 inches long. For each bagel you will need 4 strings. Take 4 strings and place 2 in a cross shape, then place the other 2 diagonally across.  There should be a middle point and 8 end points. Place dough in center, then tie strings around the dough. Now you have your pumpkin shaped bagels!

method two

The other method involves a lot of turning the bagel dough over. You’ll cut a piece of twine that is roughly 36 inches in length. Place the bagel in the center of the twine. Bring the twine up and over the bagel, crossing the twine at the center. At this center crosspoint, turn the kitchen twine so that it is now facing either vertically or horizontally from the first crosspoint. Turn the dough over. Cross the twine at the center point again, and now turn the twine so that it is diagonal. Turn the dough over again and cross at the center point. Turn the twine so that it goes diagonally in the last direction. Turn the dough over and tie at the bottom.

Method two is a bit difficult to explain in words, but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy enough to do. You should have 8 “bumps” sticking out to make the pumpkin shaped bagels.

Here are a few other bagel recipes I think you will love

• Homemade Pumpkin Bagels – these have a delicious cinnamon sugar crunch like the Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagels. These are so good!
• Pumpkin Swirl Bagels – these bagels have a cinnamon sugar swirl throughout the bagels. Not only do they look like they came straight from a bakery, they taste delicious!
• Blueberry Bagels

Let me know what you thought!

If you make these Pumpkin Shaped bagels, let me know what you thought in the ratings and comments below. I absolutely love reading all of your comments! Also, make sure to snap a picture of your own pumpkin shaped bagels and tag me @simplebakingwithpep on instagram. It truly makes my day to see all of your wonderful creations.

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