The Best Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls You’ll Ever Eat
The BEST pumpkin cinnamon rolls you'll ever eat are deliciously fluffy and baked with pumpkin pie spice in every bite. Top these gorgeous homemade pumpkin cinnamon rolls with an incredible maple cream cheese frosting for the ultimate fall brunch or treat!
Servings 12 cinnamon rolls
Ingredients
- For the cinnamon roll dough:
- ¾ cup (180g) milk (whole, 2% or almond milk will all work)
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons quick rise yeast (1/4-ounce package yeast)
- ¾ cup (183g) pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup (57g) melted butter
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 4 cups (480g) bread flour
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- For the filling:
- ⅔ cup (142g) dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup (57g) butter, at room temperature
- For the cream cheese glaze:
- 4 ounces (112g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup (28g) powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- Pinch of salt
- For garnish:
- Sprinkle of ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Warm milk to around 110 degrees F. I like to do this by placing milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwaving it for 45 seconds. It should be like warm bath water. Transfer warm milk and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Stir pumpkin puree, room temperature egg and melted butter, mixing until smooth and well combined and creamy. Next stir in bread flour, pumpkin pie spice and salt with a wooden spoon until a dough begins to form.
- Place dough hook on mixer and knead dough on low speed for 8-10 minutes. Dough should form into a nice ball and be slightly sticky. (If you don’t want to use an electric mixer, you can use your hands to knead the dough for 8-10 minutes on a well-floured surface.)
- Transfer dough ball to a large bowl greased with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray, then cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel. Allow dough to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. This may more or less time depending the humidity and temperature in your home.
- After dough has doubled in size, transfer dough to a well-floured surface and roll out into a 14x16 inch rectangle. Spread softened butter over dough, leaving a ¼ inch margin at the far side of the dough.
- In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Use your hands to sprinkle mixture over the buttered dough, then rub the sugar into the butter.
- Tightly roll dough up the dough, starting from the 14-inch side (the smaller side) and place seam side down making sure to seal the edges of the dough as best you can. You will probably need to cut off about an inch off the ends of the dough as the ends won’t be as full of cinnamon sugar as we’d want it to be. Then cut into 1 inch sections with a serrated knife. You should get 12 rolls. I like to make dents in the dough before cutting as demonstrated in the photos, to make 12 even rolls.
- Place cinnamon rolls in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. I highly recommend lining the pan with parchment paper as well, in case any of the filling ends up leaking out. Cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel and let the cinnamon rolls rise again for about 30 minutes, then preheat your oven.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap and towel and bake the cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges. You want to under bake them a little so they stay soft in the middle, that’s why we want them just slightly golden brown. Allow them to cool for 10 minutes before frosting. Makes 12 cinnamon rolls
- To make the frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer or in a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, maple syrup and salt. Beat until smooth. Spread over the pumpkin cinnamon rolls and serve! Sprinkle cinnamon rolls with a little cinnamon for a pretty look. Enjoy!
Notes
To make overnight pumpkin cinnamon rolls: After placing rolls into the greased pan (in step 7), simply cover immediately with plastic wrap and place overnight in the fridge, then bake them in the morning as directed. I like to bring my cinnamon rolls to room temperature first by leaving them on the counter for 30 minutes before baking, then preheating the oven so they will rise for about 45 minutes total (this is known as the second rise).
To make vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls: simply leave the egg out of the recipe and add 3-4 tablespoons more pumpkin puree to the dough. You'll also need to make sure to use almond milk, vegan butter, and vegan cream cheese in the recipe.