Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
These pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls with maple cream cheese frosting are an explosion of all things fall! The dough has real pumpkin and loads of pumpkin spice, as does the filling. Top it off with a delicious maple cream cheese frosting!
Equipment
- Small pot for warming your milk.
- Water proof thermometer for testing the temperature of your milk.
- Stand Mixer with whisk and dough hook attachments.
- Plastic wrap you can also use a tea towel, or beeswax wraps
- Rolling Pin
- Rubber Spatula
- Dental Floss –this is for cutting the rolls. You can use a knife or a pastry cutter, but dental floss works best for a clean cut.
- 12 inch cast iron skillet
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Dough
- 1 cup milk
- 2 ½ tsp yeast
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ cup pumpkin
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp ginger
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp cloves
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 ½ cups flour
Pumpkin Spice Filling
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ Tbsp cinnamon
- ½ Tbsp allspice
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 4 Tbsp maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Dough
- Warm milk in pan over medium heat to 115 F
- Transfer warm milk to stand mixer bowl and add yeast, sugar, and pumpkin.
- Mix well, then let sit for 5 minutes to allow the yeast to activate.
- Add dry ingredients and mix until completely combined.
- Switch out whisk attachment for dough hook and knead on medium speed for 5 minutes until a nice dough forms. If kneading by hand, you will need to knead for about 15 minutes.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, tea towel, or beeswax wrap and set in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
- While the dough rises, make pumpkin spice filling.
Pumpkin Spice Filling
- Add salted butter, brown sugar, and spices to a bowl.
- Mix until completely incorporated.
Assembling the Cinnamon Rolls
- After your dough has risen, place it onto a well floured surface.
- Add more flour to the top of your dough, and roll out into approximately 15x24 inch rectangle. This will take a few minutes because the dough will want to spring back a little. Keep at it for about 5 minutes or so, it will relax and you can get it rolled out nicely.
- Once the dough is rolled out, spread your Pumpkin Spice filling across the entire sheet of dough using a rubber spatula. It wants to glob up a little, but I’ve found that small strokes with the spatula works the best.
- Roll the dough on the long side into a tight spiral.
- Slice dough into 12 equal pieces using dental floss (see note below in tips and tricks) Each slice should be about 1 ½ inches thick. I sliced my dough in the middle, then made cuts for 3 equal sized rolls and cut off the ends that weren’t perfectly even. I did end up just putting those end bits into my pan to make 2 mini pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls in addition to the 12 regular sized rolls.
- Place pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls into your cast iron pan, cover with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
- When your rolls have risen, drizzle with heavy cream. Be sure to drizzle around the center of each roll to prevent the centers from popping out during baking.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place an 8oz block of cream cheese and 3 Tablespoons of salted butter into the bowl of your stand mixer. Allow to sit at room temperature until softened.
- Add 4 Tablespoons of maple syrup, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- Mix on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer for about 2 minutes, or until fully incorporated.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!