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Pumpkin cinnamon roll with frosting, showing its soft orange crumb
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Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Homemade cinnamon rolls with pumpkin puree in the dough, a brown sugar and fall spice filling, and a thin layer of cream cheese frosting. Soft, fluffy and orange inside.
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Rising and chilling4 hours 30 minutes
Total Time5 hours 50 minutes
7 rolls

Equipment

  • 22 cm (9 in) round cake pan Or a 20 x 30 cm (8 x 12 in) rectangular pan
  • Kitchen thermometer Highly recommended: 92 °C (198 °F) in the center
  • Stand mixer Optional, you can knead by hand
  • Rolling Pin
  • Pizza Cutter Or a sharp knife

Ingredients

Dough

  • 500 g bread flour 4 cups; or all-purpose flour
  • 300 g reduced pumpkin puree 1¼ cups; from about 400 g (1⅔ cups) regular puree, at room temperature
  • 50 g egg 1 large egg out of the shell; at room temperature
  • 75 g granulated sugar 6 tbsp
  • 7 g fine salt 1¼ tsp
  • 70 g unsalted butter 5 tbsp; soft enough to dent with a finger, not melted
  • 5 g instant yeast 1⅔ tsp; or 7 g (2¼ tsp) active dry yeast, or 16 g (½ oz) fresh cake yeast
  • 5 g vanilla extract 1 tsp; optional
  • 2 g ground cinnamon ¾ tsp; optional
  • 1 pinch ground turmeric ⅛ tsp; optional, for color
  • 60 g milk ¼ cup; held back, only if the dough is dry, at room temperature

Filling

  • 90 g unsalted butter 6 tbsp + 1 tsp; soft, at room temperature
  • 130 g brown sugar ½ cup + 2 tbsp packed
  • 10 g ground cinnamon 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
  • 2 g ground ginger 1 tsp; optional
  • 1 g ground nutmeg ½ tsp; optional
  • 1 pinch ground cloves ⅛ tsp; optional
  • 1 g fine salt a generous pinch

For baking

  • 30 g heavy cream 2 tbsp; optional, cold or at room temperature

Frosting

  • 20 g cream cheese 1½ tbsp; at room temperature
  • 40 g unsalted butter scant 3 tbsp; at room temperature
  • 60 g powdered sugar ½ cup
  • 30 g heavy cream 2 tbsp; at room temperature
  • 5 g vanilla extract 1 tsp; optional

Instructions

The dough

  • Mix the puree with the egg and sugar. In a bowl, the 300 g of puree, the 50 g of egg, the 75 g of sugar and the 5 g of vanilla, whisked until smooth. With fresh yeast: crumble the 16 g over the mixture here and whisk until there are no lumps. With active dry yeast: dissolve the 7 g in 30 g of the reserve milk, warm, wait 10 minutes and add it here.
    Whisking pumpkin puree with egg and sugar
  • Add the flour. With the 5 g of instant yeast, the 7 g of salt, the 2 g of cinnamon and the pinch of turmeric. Mix with a spatula and then with your hands, or with the dough hook of a stand mixer on low speed, until there's no dry flour left. If there's flour that won't come together or the dough feels stiff, add milk from the reserve 10 g at a time, up to 60 g at most.
    Flour, cinnamon and turmeric over the pumpkin puree mixture in a stand mixer bowl
  • Let it rest for 20 minutes. Covered.
    Freshly mixed pumpkin dough in the bowl, before the 20-minute rest
  • Work in the butter in three additions. The 70 g, without adding the next one until the previous one has disappeared. With a stand mixer: dough hook on low speed, about 3 minutes per addition and 3 more minutes at the end. By hand: about 15 minutes in total, pushing with the heel of your hand, folding and turning.
    Adding soft butter to the pumpkin dough in a stand mixer
  • Knead until smooth and elastic. It's ready when it pulls away from the counter almost by itself. If it gets very soft or greasy, chill it for 10 minutes and carry on.
    Smooth, elastic ball of pumpkin dough in a bowl, before the first rise

First rise

  • Let it grow by 80%. In a lightly greased, covered bowl. At 22-24 °C (72-75 °F), about 2 hours; at 18 °C (64 °F), 3 hours or more. Go by volume. It can also rise in the fridge for up to 12 hours: when you take it out, if it hasn't reached 80%, wait until it does.
  • Chill it for 1 hour. Cold dough rolls out much more easily. If it rose in the fridge, skip this step.

Shaping

  • Make the filling. Mix the 130 g of brown sugar, the 10 g of cinnamon, the 2 g of ginger, 1 g of nutmeg, the pinch of cloves and 1 g of salt. Keep the 90 g of soft butter to one side.
  • Prepare the pan. Line it with parchment paper and grease it.
  • Roll out the cold dough. On a very lightly greased counter, into a rectangle about 30 x 50 cm (12 x 20 in) and ½ cm (¼ in) thick.
    Rolling out the orange pumpkin cinnamon roll dough with a rolling pin
  • Spread the butter and the filling. The butter over the whole surface and, on top, the sugar and spice mixture, all the way to the edges.
    Pumpkin dough covered with brown sugar, cinnamon and spice filling
  • Cut the strips. For a rectangular pan, 6 equal strips; for a round pan, 7 slightly narrower strips. Mark them before cutting so they come out even.
  • Roll them up and place them in the pan. Each strip in a spiral, with a little space between the rolls. In the round pan, one in the center and six around it.
    Rolling up a strip of pumpkin dough with cinnamon filling into a spiral

Second rise and baking

  • Let them rise for 1-2 hours. Covered, until a light press with a finger leaves a dent that doesn't fully spring back. You can also leave them in the fridge overnight and let them finish rising at room temperature in the morning.
    Seven pumpkin cinnamon rolls in a round pan, before the second rise
  • Preheat the oven. When they're almost ready, to 180 °C (350 °F), conventional bake with top and bottom heat, not convection.
  • Pour the cream over them. The 30 g over the top of the rolls. It's optional.
    Pouring heavy cream over the risen pumpkin cinnamon rolls before baking
  • Bake for about 35 minutes. On the lower-middle rack. Go by the thermometer, not by the color: 92 °C (198 °F) in the center, because the orange dough looks golden before it's done. If they brown too much on top, cover them with foil halfway through.
    Pumpkin cinnamon rolls baking in a round pan on the lower-middle rack of the oven

Frosting

  • Beat the cream cheese with the butter. The 20 g of cream cheese and the 40 g of butter, both at room temperature, until smooth.
  • Add the powdered sugar. The 60 g, and beat until you have a smooth cream.
  • Add the cream and vanilla. The 30 g of cream and the 5 g of vanilla, at room temperature, and beat until smooth and slightly runny. If it splits, keep beating for 1-2 minutes, or warm the bowl in the microwave for 3-5 seconds and beat again.
    Beating cream cheese frosting with a hand mixer
  • Frost the rolls. Straight out of the oven, with a thin layer, so some of it melts and runs between the swirls.
    Pumpkin cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting in a round pan

Video

Notes

  • The puree has to be reduced and cooled: about 400 g (1⅔ cups) of regular puree gives you the 300 g the dough needs. We show you how in our homemade pumpkin puree.
  • Yeast: 5 g of instant, 7 g of active dry or 16 g of fresh cake yeast. Instant yeast goes straight in with the flour. Active dry is dissolved first in 30 g of the reserve milk, warm (35-40 °C / 95-105 °F), and left for 10 minutes. Fresh yeast is crumbled into the puree mixture.
  • If you have pumpkin pie spice, use 14 g (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) in the filling instead of the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
  • Each pinch of turmeric and cloves is about ⅛ tsp.
  • Rising times are for a home at 22-24 °C (72-75 °F). If it's colder, they'll take longer: go by volume.
  • They keep for 3 days in the fridge, well covered. To serve, 40 seconds in the microwave at 50% power.
  • For the vanilla, you can use our homemade vanilla extract.