Last weekend, a few friends and I went out to Ithaca to visit with Julie. I hadn’t been to Ithaca in years, and it was so nice to go back and spend the day there. We went to lunch, visited the annual library sale (where I bought a few fun new cookbooks for a song), walked around the commons, and ate cheese fondue.
It was pretty much a perfect day except that I didn’t get a pumpkin bagel. We had gone to the Ithaca Bakery for lunch and although my pear and blue cheese sandwich with thyme-infused balsamic was amazing, I was jealous of Julie’s toasted pumpkin bagel slathered with Nutella. We went back a little later to get drinks for our walk back to Julie’s (their Fall chai, which involves apple cider, still haunts me) and I attempted to buy a few bagels to bring home, but they, unfortunately, had none left. It didn’t take me very long to decide that I’d just have to make my own, the very next day.
Luckily I’ve made bagels before so I had a general idea of what I was getting into with this project. Bagels are surprisingly easy to make, but they do take a while to rise so you’ll need to make them on a day where you don’t have much planned. They’re the perfect project for a lazy Sunday!
Since I love my original bagel recipe, I used that as a jumping off point for these. The only substantial difference that I really made was to replace most of the water with pumpkin puree. Even though it was a pretty simple swap, the effect that they had on the final product was pretty dramatic. In addition to having the subtle pumpkin flavor that I was hoping for, the puree improved the texture of the bagels as well. Their soft, fluffy interior made them some of the lightest bagels I’ve ever eaten, but with a perfectly chewy crust. I couldn’t have asked for more.
Homemade Pumpkin Bagels
Ingredients
Yeast
Brown Sugar
Warm Water
Pumpkin Puree
All Purpose Flour
Whole White Wheat Flour
Salt
Instructions
Mallory says
09/06 at 4:34 pmI feel like cinnamon would be delicious in this! But i have heard problems with cinnamon, whole wheat, and yeast….have you tried cinnamon in this recipe?
Lauren says
09/07 at 9:41 amI’m not sure what problems you mean? I’ve made whole wheat cinnamon bread and have never had problems, so although I haven’t tried it in this recipe, I’m sure it would work. You could also just use butter and cinnamon-sugar/spelnda as your topping.
Barb says
09/06 at 3:37 pmDo you know the nutrition facts for these bagels? Specifically the calories per bagel. Thanks!! I’m excited to make these!
Lauren says
09/06 at 4:44 pmAccording to http://caloriecount.about.com they’re 190 calories each.
Andrea says
11/10 at 10:27 pmHi!! Thank you for the recipe… I am kind of ridiculously into pumpkin these days, so I was excited when I stumbled across this. Made them last night, ate this morning for breakfast. Was my first time making bagels (although I’ve made pretzels, which is a similar process), so they turned out slightly chewier than soft in the middle, although still delicious. Could the chewiness be due to how I kneaded them? Or maybe if they didn’t rise enough in the initial rising?
Lauren says
11/11 at 2:36 pmI based these off of my recipe for New York Style bagels, which are genrally more chewy than something like Lender’s (which are more bready). It’s actually the boiling that makes them chewy – if you prefer a less chewy bagel, try reducing the boiling time to 30 seconds on each side.
I hope you liked them anyway! 🙂
Andrea says
11/11 at 2:51 pmOh trust me, they were eaten, and my tummy thanked me greatly 😉 I’ll try less boiling next time!
Hannah says
10/19 at 12:00 pmWow, pumpkin bagels sound like such a lovely fall treat! I’m glad you were inspired to try making them yourself so we can all enjoy. 🙂
Emily @ Relishments says
10/18 at 4:01 pmI keep thinking about making bagels, but then getting scared off. Thanks for the reminder…maybe it’ll happen soon!
CaroG87 says
10/17 at 10:35 pmOMG. I cannot WAIT to try this!!!
Cara says
10/17 at 8:13 pmI imagine the only thing better than a pumpkin bagel is one shmeared with hazelnut spread! That looks amazing 🙂
Monique says
10/17 at 11:19 amI so wanna try bagels but I am SO lazy! that seems like a days work! and I am fearful to take the plunge.
Would it work just as well if i used all AP flour?
Lauren @ Healthy Delicious says
10/17 at 11:42 amAll AP flour would be fine.
They take all day but its mostly just letting them rise. Mixing up the dough takes about 5 minutes, shaping it takes another 5, maybe 10. Boiling them goes quickly… It’s just lots of waiting. 🙂
Julie says
10/17 at 9:43 amThese look amazing! Can’t wait to try them! But the top of the recipe says 1/4 cup warm water and the next part says to add yeast to 1/2 cup warm water. Which amount do you recommend I use?
Lauren @ Healthy Delicious says
10/17 at 10:03 amuse 1/4 cup. Sorry about that, I must have missed the change when copying from my older recipe. I will fix the typo asap. 🙂
Joan says
09/16 at 6:25 pmstill says 1/4 cup up top and 1/2 cup on the bottom – thankful I read the comments before starting!
betsy says
10/17 at 9:16 amGreat recipe, printing as I type!
Christin says
10/17 at 8:00 amI can only imagine how wonderful Nutella tastes on a pumpkin bagel!
Julie @SavvyEats says
10/16 at 9:34 pmMmmm pumpkin bagels. I will have to make these come November, when pumpkin bagels aren’t the monthly special anymore!
Natalie @ Once Upon a Cutting Board says
10/16 at 8:06 pmPumpkin bagels – I’ve never heard of them! What a great idea, and such a nice change from the pumpkin donuts I’ve been seeing everywhere lately. These look delicious!
bellini says
10/16 at 5:50 pmNow these are something I could definitely sink my teeth into. I do love Nutella but I also have both some maple butter and apple butter in the cupboard.
Tessa says
10/16 at 5:45 pmI have never made bagels, but your description of these has me sold. They sound so good!
Alicia says
10/16 at 5:20 pmYUM! These look so good!! I have never made bagels before, I want to try!