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:
Thanks! I was looking for a healthy rolls recipe. this is perfect!
Ah the scent of a fresh from the oven (pumpkin) cinnamon roll is one of the best things I can imagine on a crisp autumn morning. What a perfect way to start off the holiday season, too! Thanks for a lovely recipe, Katie!
WOW!!! I’d give anything for a pan of these to appear in front of me right now LOL
I just started screaming out of happiness! 😀 Oh my god. These look so GOOD. I’ve been searching for the perfect healthy recipe for so long. I’m going to surprise my sister with em!:) Thank you so much katie.
Katie!! Wow! But….the big question….think we could make these gluten free??
Unfortunately I’m not seasoned enough in gf baking to know if it would work… I worry the lack of gluten wouldn’t feed the yeast and therefore the rolls wouldn’t rise or stay together. Perhaps there is something that could be substituted for the gluten? If you experiment, definitely be sure to report back!
Katie what is the scant 1 cup of pumpkin and where is it added?
What can I do if my dough doesn’t rise properly? Is there another way to use my ‘broken’ dough with the same filling?
Or–Do you think it would be fine if I just try baking the rolls as-is? (and have maybe denser, less-risen rolls?)
You should be able to tell right away, when the yeast is still with the milk, if the yeast is no good. If it’s no good, don’t proceed with adding the milk to the dry ingredients until you buy some new yeast (or try a second time with new yeast and milk if the problem was an incorrect temperature).
So I ended up making a yeast paste & folding that into the dough (I didn’t want to have to waste the dough I’d already prepared)
…and now it is rising! (slowly but surely)
Thank you for your recipe & your quick reply! I can’t wait to taste these babies ; )
Hi. How did these turn out? Did the pumpkin add to or take away from the cinnamon roll taste experience? I see so many postings but not from anyone who actually made them. Thanks!
These tasted great! I did have a problem with sticky dough, but the pumpkin flavor was amazing : )
Wow Katie you have outdone yourself AGAIN! These look amazing and in perfect time for the fall!!
There you go again! I was lusting after some pumpkin cinnamon rolls just last night–a recipe that was NOT conducive to weight loss or healthfulness. I was feeling kind of down about some things, and I was SO tempted to make them, but I thought I would just wait it out. And here is my answer TODAY. Thank you so much. I cannot wait to give these a try!
WOW! these look so awesome! I love your photography….Just wondering, do you always have your hair down when you’re cooking?
Despite my efforts to tie my hair back, there is always stray hairs floating around…Except for the last couple months, I’ve been eating a lot of chocolate….Maybe the iron is keeping my hair in? 🙂
Usually it’s down… I don’t know that I’ve ever noticed a problem. Could definitely be the chocolate. Chocolate is responsible for many good things in this world.
Constructive criticism: Hair in the food is gross. That photo ruins it. Your hair in the dish?
Constructive criticism to you, anon: your comment is completely unnecessary.
Yum! These combine all my favorite flavors!