In a small bowl or measuring cup, warm the milk to 100-110 degrees.

Add the yeast and a spoonful of the sugar to the warm milk. Gently stir, then let sit for 5 minutes to bloom.

In the stand mixer bowl, add the pumpkin puree, the remaining sugar, salt, melted butter, and egg.

When the yeast has bloomed, add to a large bowl the pumpkin mixture—then using a paddle mix on low until combined.

Slowly add in the flour, about halfway through, switch to a dough hook, then continue to add in the remaining flour.

This dough will be soft and sticky; it should pull away from the edges after kneading for a couple of minutes. If it does not, add in a little extra flour.

Knead the dough for 7-10 minutes.

Pour a little oil into the bottom of a large bowl. Form the dough into a ball and roll in the oil to coat. Leave the dough ball in the oiled bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.

While the dough is rising, cut 64, 10" pieces of food-safe twine. Place the cut twine into a small bowl with 1-2 Tablespoons of oil, let soak.

After the dough rises, doubling in size, dump the dough out onto an oiled work surface. Cut the dough into 16 equal pieces. Take each piece and shape

into a ball by pulling all of the edges to the center and pinching to seal, set aside.

Take 4 pieces of the oiled cut twine. Arrange the twine so that the center of each piece crosses each other and fans out to look like a cut pie, making sure the sections are all equal in size.

Take one of the dough balls and place it seam-side up on top of the twine. Take the ends of one of the pieces of twine and gently tie it together over the top of the dough ball. Repeat this with each of the 4 pieces of twine. Trim any excess twine. Place the dough ball onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, knot-side down.

Repeat the tying process with all of the dough balls, placing them on the prepared baking sheet with plenty of space between them (you will need 2 baking sheets to fit 16 rolls).

Cover the tied rolls and place in a warm area to rise for 30-60 minutes or until almost doubled in size.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 for 20-30 minutes.

Remove rolls from the oven and let cool.

Once cooled, gently cut and remove the string from the rolls.

Cut the ends of the pretzel rods off, so the end pieces are about 1.5" each.

Gently press the cut-end of the pretzel rod into the center of each roll from the top down.

Serve and enjoy!