These homemade pumpkin cinnamon rolls are always a hit any time I make them. They’re especially nice during the autumn pumpkin spice season, though.
I make them without the glaze because they’re sweet enough without it, but you can add a glaze if you’d like to.
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Pumpkin cinnamon roll recipe.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon rolls made with pumpkin for the autumn recipes baking season (Or year-round.)
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer
- 1 paddle attachment
- 1 dough hook optional
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- 1-2 baking sheets
- 1 offset spatula
- Parchment paper
- cooling rack
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
- 5 1/2 cups All Purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
Filling
- 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
Glaze
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 3 Tbsp milk
Instructions
- Put the warm water in the mixer bowl and sprinkle the yeast and sugar over it. Let it soften for a few minutes.
- Beat in the eggs, melted butter, and pumpkin using the beater paddle.
- Beat in the flour and salt little by little until a soft dough forms.
- Either remove the dough from the mixer bowl and knead by hand for about ten minutes, or change to the dough hook and knead the dough in the mixer bowl until it forms a rough, blistered-looking surface. The dough will be soft, but you should add a little flour if needed to keep it from being sticky.
- Let the dough rise in a bowl until its doubled in size, about 1 1/4- 1 1/2 hours.
- Grease the baking sheets and make the filling by mixing the ingredients by hand.
- Make sure that the filling is well-mixed, with no lumps of butter visible.
- When the dough is doubled in size, divide it into two balls.
- Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface to make a rectangle that's about 10×16" in size.
- When the dough rectangle is the right size, add half of the filling onto it.
- Spread the filling out with a spatula, making it as even as possible.
- Roll the dough up jelly roll style, bringing the long edge toward you.
- When the roll is complete, pinch the long edge to seal it to itself.
- Flatten the ends out with your hands, and cut the roll into pieces that are a little larger than 1" wide. The two ends won't be complete, but they might be fine to bake.
- Put the rolls onto the baking sheet or sheets, and put them aside to double in size again.
- Repeat the process for the second dough ball.
- While the rolls are proofing, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- When the rolls have doubled in size, it's time to bake them!
- Bake the rolls for about 30 minutes, but check them starting at about 28 minutes.
- Remove the rolls from the pan by sliding the parchment off of the pan, and put them on a cooling rack. Don't take them off of the parchment, because the hot sugar will leak out of the bottom. Let them cool off on the parchment.
- To make the optional glaze, stir the sugar and milk together and drizzle the mixture over the rolls while they're still a little warm.
- Serve warm, or when the rolls are cooled, store in a sealed container.
Get the equipment to make the rolls on Amazon (these links will earn a commission if they’re used to purchase something.)
For an article with a nut cake recipe, click here.
Tips for making the rolls.
- I mixed the dough using a stand mixer and the paddle attachment, then I kneaded it using the hook attachment.
- I make them without the glaze, they’re sweet enough without it, but it does add the traditional iced look to the rolls.
- You can freeze the pans of rolls after you put the pieces in the pan. Wrap well, then thaw in the fridge before you’re ready to bake them.
- You can do the second rise by putting the pans in the fridge overnight, then baking the rolls in the morning.
- Store the baked rolls in an airtight container or freeze them after wrapping them well.
- If you’d like to, you can add pumpkin pie spices to the filling to give the rolls a more pie-like flavor. Or sprinkle chopped walnuts over the filling before rolling the dough up.
- When you roll out the dough, start in the middle and go out to the side, then go back to the middle to roll out again. Don’t roll it back and forth:
