Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns

These pumpkin cinnamon buns are what October morning dreams are made of. They’re soft, gooey, doughy, and delicious. Both the filling and the cream cheese frosting are packed with pumpkiny goodness. You truly won’t be able to stop yourself from having more than one.

This recipe consists of three parts: the dough, the filling, and the cream cheese frosting. The shorter, printable version of the entire recipe can be found at the bottom, but read on if you want a more detailed step-by-step on how to make these delicious pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

If you don’t want to wake up at the crack of dawn on a weekend morning to prepare these before you or your family’s hanger sets in, you can make them ahead of time and leave them in your fridge overnight. More on that below.

The Dough

First, you will need to make the dough, which will require the following ingredients:

• 1 cup of warm whole milk
• 1 Tbsp (or one packet) of instant dry yeast
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp salted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 3 cups of bread flour

Attach the dough hook to your KitchenAid mixer, and add the warm milk and instant yeast to the bowl. I like to warm up the milk by sticking it in the microwave for 45 seconds. Be sure that you use instant dry yeast and not something else, such as Bread Machine instant yeast. I’ve made cinnamon buns with the Bread Machine instant yeast in the past and it gave them a very white-sandwich-bread texture, which isn’t ideal for cinnamon rolls.

Mix the milk and yeast on low speed (with the dough hook attachment) for just a few seconds to get the two ingredients combined. Then, add in the sugar, salt, butter, and egg and mix on medium speed. Last, add in the 3 cups of bread flour. Begin incorporating the flour on low speed, then increase to medium speed. I prefer to use bread flour because it makes the rolls more moist and soft when they’re done.

King Arthur Bread Flour works great in this pumpkin cinnamon bun recipe.

Let the dough hook do its magic on medium speed for about 5 minutes. You’ll know the dough is done when there is no longer any of it stuck to the side of the mixing bowl. When you touch the dough, it should be sticky—but not so much so that it’s rubbing off on your fingers. If that’s the case, then add in a little more flour.

With the dough done kneading, grab a large bowl and lightly grease it. Then, take the dough, put it in the middle of the bowl, and cover it with a dish towel or cloth napkin. Let rise for 1 hour. In the meantime, lightly grease the pan that you will be baking the cinnamon rolls in and set aside. Then, if you’re like me, go watch an episode of Gilmore Girls.

When you return to the bowl an hour later and lift up the towel, you should see that the dough has nearly doubled in size. It will also smell delicious. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a clean and uncluttered countertop.

Next, use a rolling pin to begin rolling out the dough. You ultimately want to roll it into a 18×12 inch rectangle, which can be a challenge. Take your time and be patient. You can use a tape measure during this process to ensure that you’re on track.

Once you’ve got your dough formed into a rectangle, it’s time to add the filling.

The Filling

You will need the following ingredients for the pumpkin cinnamon bun filling:

• ½ cup of salted butter (or one stick), softened
• ½ cup of pumpkin, such as One Pie or Libby’s
• ½ cup of dark brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp of cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp of pumpkin pie spice
• ¼ tsp cloves

Take the stick of butter and pop it in the microwave for about 20-25 seconds to soften it. Next, put the butter on the dough and use a silicone pastry brush to paint the butter onto all parts of the dough. Then, spread the pumpkin on top of the butter, again covering all of the dough.

Now, it’s time to blend the brown sugar and spices together. In a medium bowl, combine the dark brown sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and cloves. I love adding cloves to this mixture because it has such a rich smell and taste. Use a spoon to really break the brown sugar up so that it mixes in well with the spices. Then, using a spoon, sprinkle the brown sugar and spices mixture onto the dough, on top of the butter and pumpkin. Be sure to cover all parts.

Next, gently pick up the edge of the long side of the dough closest to you and roll it up. Then, cut the rolled-up dough into 12 pieces, each one about 1 ½ inches wide. I like to use a tape measure to make precise little marks with my bread knife on the dough before I fully cut each piece.

As you cut, place each piece into the pan you’ll be baking the buns in. For the end pieces, be sure to face them ends-down in the pan, so that the top of them have that swirly cinnamon roll look. Once you have all 12 rolls placed in the pan, cover it with a towel or cloth napkin and let rise for 1 hour. Note: it’s perfectly fine for the rolls to be touching each other in the pan, they do not need to be spread out.

If you plan to make these the next day, then instead of covering the pan with a towel, wrap it in plastic (any Twin Peaks fans out there?) Place the pan in the fridge. The next morning, remove the plastic wrap, cover the pan with a towel or cloth napkin, and let the rolls rise for 1 hour.

About a half hour into the rolls rising, set your oven to 325 degrees. After the full 1 hour, you should notice that the cinnamon rolls have puffed up a bit. By this point, your oven should be heated up as well. Place the pan in the middle rack and bake for 18-20 minutes. Since everyone’s oven is different, I suggest starting to check on the buns every 2 minutes once they hit the 14-minute mark. As they bake, you can begin making the cream cheese frosting (see below.)

When they’re done, the rolls should look slightly golden brown on top, but still very light and doughy. Let them cool for 5-10 minutes.

The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

While the pumpkin cinnamon rolls are in the oven, you can begin making the pumpkin cream cheese frosting. To do so, gather the following ingredients:

• 4 oz of cream cheese (a half of a block), softened
• ¼ cup of salted butter (a half of a stick), softened
• 1 ½ cups of powdered confectioners sugar
• ½ tsp of pumpkin extract
• 2 Tbsp of pumpkin pie spice
• ½ Tbsp of half and half

If you’re lucky enough to have two KitchenAid mixing bowls, then grab your second one. If you’re like me and only have one, then you’ll have to take a moment to wash it. You’ll also want to remove the dough hook attachment from your mixer and add the wire whip or whisk on.

Put the softened butter and softened cream cheese (I heated them up in the microwave for 20 seconds and 25 seconds, respectively) into the KitchenAid mixing bowl and whip on slow speed to begin, gradually moving up to medium speed. Once the butter and cream cheese are whipped together, add the powdered sugar a little at a time in ½ cup increments, letting each ½ cup fully incorporate before adding the next.

Then, add in the pumpkin extract and pumpkin pie spice and whip at slow speed, gradually working up to high speed. Once everything is combined, add the half and half and again whip on high speed until completely incorporated. Set aside.

Once your buns have come out of the oven and cooled for 5-10 minutes, frost them with the pumpkin cream cheese frosting! You can then use a butter knife to gently separate the rolls from each other to serve. When you take a bite of these pumpkin cinnamon buns, you will be in autumnal heaven.

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