Activate the yeast

• Warm the milk slightly and stir in the yeast and a little of the sugar.
• Let stand until foamy.

Make the dough

• In a bowl combine the flour, remaining sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ground cloves and salt.
• Add the pumpkin purée, egg and yeast mixture, then knead into a dough.
• Knead in the soft butter until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Let the dough rise

• Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.

Prepare the cream cheese filling

• Beat the cream cheese with the brown sugar until smooth.
• Mix in the pumpkin purée, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and ground cloves.

Shape the breads

• Divide the dough into equal portions and roll each into a ball.
• Flatten each ball, add a spoonful of filling and seal the dough around it.
• Tie kitchen twine around each ball in a cross pattern to create the pumpkin segments.

Second rise

• Place the shaped breads on a lined baking tray and let them rise again.

Bake

• Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C until golden brown.
• Remove the twine while the breads are still warm.

Coat in cinnamon sugar

• Brush each warm bread with melted butter.
• Roll in the mixture of sugar and ground cinnamon.
• Top each bread with a cinnamon stick as a stem.