Gooey, sticky, sweet, delicious frosted pumpkin cinnamon rolls – They are perfect for Fall!
Want one??? Or maybe an entire pan???!
Normally, homemade cinnamon rolls are so good on their own that there’s not really much you can do to make them even better… But stuffing the pastries with pumpkin and even more cinnamon somehow manages to do just that! Imagine a cinnamon roll filled with pumpkin pie.
Add a sticky, sugary glaze and you’re taking the cinnamon rolls to uncharted territory in deliciousness.
I made this particular batch of vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls on Saturday when my friend Sara came to visit from Minnesota. (You’ll be hearing much more about Sara in the near future.)
Have you ever met someone for the first time and felt like you’ve known that person your entire life?
This is exactly how I felt when I met Sara two weeks ago…
We bonded over a shared love of photography, music, Saved by the Bell, and Freddie Prinze Jr. (Did you know he’s almost 40?!), talking non-stop the entire day about everything from awkward middle school dating experiences to our goals and dreams for the future.
We also spent quite a bit of time with the pumpkin cinnamon rolls.
Can you blame us?
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp yeast
- 1 cup milk of choice
- 2 tbsp sweetener of choice (not xylitol or stevia)
- 2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour, spelt flour, or all-purpose flour, or a combination
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup sugar of choice
- 1/8 tsp pure stevia extract, or 4 more tbsp granulated sugar of choice
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 4 tbsp melted coconut oil or full-fat (but trans-fat-free) butter-type spread
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 5 tbsp whole-wheat pastry or all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp sugar of choice (I like Sucanat here)
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- optional, 1/2 cup raisins
- scant 1 cup pumpkin puree
- dash salt
Instructions
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls recipe: Warm the milk in a small measuring bowl. You want it warm, but not boiling: if you have a candy thermometer, it should read 110 degrees F. Stir in the 2 tbsp sweetener, sprinkle the yeast on top, and set aside for 5 minutes. During this time, it should bubble up. (If it does not bubble up, either your yeast is no good or your milk was too hot or cold.)
In a large measuring bowl, combine the 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, 1/4 cup sugar of choice, stevia, salt, the 2 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Stir very well.
Stir the melted oil and vanilla extract into the milk mixture, then pour this into the large measuring bowl of dry ingredients and stir to form a dough. Especially if using spelt flour, you may need to add a little extra flour until it’s dry enough to form a dough. Form dough into a ball, then place in a lightly-greased large bowl. Cover loosely with a towel, and set in a warm place to rise 20 minutes or until doubled in size. (If your oven has a “bread proof” setting, this is the perfect place to let your pumpkin cinnamon rolls rise.)
Meanwhile, stir together all remaining pumpkin cinnamon roll ingredients (except the 5 tbsp flour) in a medium measuring bowl. Set aside. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking pan. Set aside.
After the dough has risen, punch dough to deflate. Knead dough with your hands, adding the 5 tbsp flour as you knead so that the dough is not sticking to your hands. Knead 5 minutes. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out the dough into a very thin rectangle. Spread the contents of the medium mixing bowl evenly on top. Carefully roll up the dough, lengthwise, lifting and rolling the dough.
Using a large, sharp knife, slice dough into 13 even rolls, wiping the knife after each cut. The filling may ooze out a bit, but this is okay. Place the rolls in the prepared baking pan, and return to the warm place for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. When it reaches this temperature, place cinnamon rolls in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Glaze with the recipe below:
For the Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar or Sugar-Free Powdered Sugar
3 1/2 to 4 tsp milk of choice (or more or less to achieve desired glaze thickness)
Whisk ingredients together to form a glaze. Using a spoon, drizzle evenly over pumpkin cinnamon rolls.
Link Of The Day:
Do you think this recipe would work with olive or canola oil , instead of coconut oil ?
Is it possible for you to make a single serving version of this recipe in the following future? Cuz it’s almost impossible to stop at just one cinnamon roll (we all know)
This isn’t exactly the same, and it’s not Katie’s recipe, but maybe it would do the trick for you? https://lett-trim.today/2014/03/01/single-serving-cinnamon-roll/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Thank you very much fir the resource. I didn’t fine it when I was looking for cinnamon roll recipe
Has anyone tried to make these with a gluten free flour blend?
Unfortunately because of the yeast I don’t think they would rise. But you might try it anyway and just maybe it wouldn’t rise but would still taste good? Be sure to report back if you try!
Hi Katie,
I am going to try making these. I have made several of your recipes and they are always good. I eat an oil free plant based diet so appreciate when you can substitute other things for the oil.
Here is a neat way to cut the cinnamon rolls up: Take a piece of dental floss and wrap it around the roll of dough where you want to cut off a piece. Draw the ends away from each other essentially causing the floss to cut neatly through the roll of dough. Works great.
First, I really LOVE your recipes and this blog! Thank you!!!
Second, have you ever done these as overnight cinnamon rolls? I’d love to try it, and would gladly take any tips you have.
You can! Make them the night before and just do the final baking the day of!
Hi Katie,
Is there a reason why you specify the sweetener at the beginning should not be stevia or Xylitol? Can I use my Truvia for this part?
Love all your recipes btw.
Truvia, stevia, or xylitol will not feed the yeast.
Am I reading this correctly that I don’t mix the pumpkin puree in with the dough that rises? It is spread on later?
I’m making these for Christmas morning!
It goes in the filling only.
Everytime I make cinnamon rolls, I’m too impatient and I can’t cut them up correctly… But your recipe is so tasty that it doesn’t even matter that I have a cake pan full off Frankenstein bread!
Hi! Quick question, does whole wheat flour work? Not whole wheat pastry. Thank you!
Possibly, but you will have to experiment. Be sure to report back if you do!
This was my first time ever making cinnamon rolls – and it went beautifully (if not a bit messy when I was rolling and cutting the dough). The dough is so soft and and pumpkin flavor isn’t overwhelming at all, but gives you the perfect hint of fall and spices when eating. I ended up using more than 5 tablespoons of flour when kneading the dough since it was sticky, but it didn’t mess with the flavor or anything at all. No butter? No eggs? Nobody will even notice if you serve them these. My next goal is to execute these with the perfect size pan (I used one that was too large) and to make the swirls more beautiful so I can take pictures and flaunt them to my friends haha~ All in all, another amazing recipe from Katie and I’m so glad I tried them! Pumpkin is the best!