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These Fresh Milled Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls are so soft and delicious. With pumpkin in the dough and pumpkin spices in the filling, these easy cinnamon rolls are bursting with pumpkin flavor. Top them off with a smooth honey cream cheese frosting – heavenly!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Fall is my favorite time of year. The cooler days are such a gift after our very hot summers here on the east coast. Something about this time of year just makes me want to bake. I especially love anything with pumpkin. It doesn’t need to be fall to crave the yummy pumpkin flavors, but when it is fall, I make the most of it!

You won’t believe how amazing your home will smell while these pumpkin cinnamon rolls bake up to perfection.

This recipe builds on a classic Cinnamon Roll recipe but adds the beautiful depth of flavor with pumpkin and pumpkin spices.

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Shaping Variation

Instead of rolling up 12 cinnamon rolls, you can try something a bit different if you’re feeling adventurous 😉 Try rolling up each of the 12 strips into one large roll and then using bakers twine to give the cinnamon roll a pumpkin shape.

You will need to divide the dough in half and use either 2 cake pans or 2 cast iron skillets for this method.

Place a piece of parchment paper on the counter and stretch 4 pieces of baking twine across the parchment, each facing different directions.

Start by rolling up the first cinnamon strip, then place that roll at the end of another strip and roll it onto the first cinnamon roll and on and on.

Place the large cinnamon roll onto the parchment with strings, right in the center. Then tie the strings around the large cinnamon roll. Place in the pans and bake as per the directions.

Bake and glaze as per the instructions and stick a cinnamon stick in the top to act as a stem for the pumpkin 🙂

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The Perfect Fall Treat

Who doesn’t love a good cinnamon roll? I can honestly say they might be my absolute favorite baked good. The yummy dough, the cinnamon-y filling and the glaze…oh the glaze! It’s just a match made in baked good heaven, don’t you think? And pair that with a nice hot cuppa joe? Glory.

Ingredients

Alright, let’s talk ingredients. These ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls come together very quickly and easily, I bet they will be a new family favorite in your house!

warm/hot water – these pumpkin cinnamon rolls are made with yeast, so you always want a warm liquid to activate the rising powers of the yeast.
salt – I use Redmond real salt for all of my recipes, I love it and keep big bags on hand.
olive oil – I prefer organic, cold pressed olive oil.
Honey – I like to use honey instead of sugar whenever I can, in this case, it gives the cinnamon rolls a wonderful flavor and softness.
Fresh Milled Flour – if you are unsure of what that is, check out my post here. But basically fresh milled flour is flour you mill at home in an electric grain mill just before you bake with it. There are loads of health benefits and it makes the most delicious baked goods. I like to use a mix of half hard red and half hard white in this recipe, but you can use all hard white if you prefer.
Yeast – Yeast is very important in this recipe as that is how we are rising this beautiful, soft, pumpkin-y dough. I always keep this kind of yeast on hand because it is always active and rises all of my breads beautifully.
Vital Wheat Gluten – this adds a lot of softness to the fresh milled breads and ensures a nice rise.
Sunflower Lecithin – this is an emulsifier and dough conditioner, very helpful in fresh milled bakes.
Pumpkin Puree – anything from the store is fine, just make sure there are no funny ingredients in it. Just pumpkin.
Pumpkin Spice – I just love the dark spices in pumpkin spice blends, I use this kind.
Butter – I like grass fed if possible.
Brown Sugar – or sucanat, or coconut sugar or maple sugar – this is for the filling.
Cream Cheese – we will use this in the glaze
Honey – a little bit of honey in the glaze makes the glaze perfection.
Vanilla – a little splash is all we need

Fresh Milled Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

For The Dough

1 1/2 cups warm/hot water
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
4.5 – 5 cups freshly milled whole grain flour(I like a 50/50 mix of hard red and hard white wheat) You can also use all purpose flour, see my notes below.
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsp vital wheat gluten(optional)
1 tbsp sunflower lecithin(optional)

The Filling

1 & 1/2 cups brown sugar, sucanat, maple sugar or coconut sugar
5 tbsp. melted butter
2.5 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

For The Glaze

8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. honey

*This glaze pairs perfectly with these cinnamon rolls, but if you prefer a sweeter glaze, add a half cup of powdered sugar and a splash of milk to get the desired consistency. This will sweeten the glaze up a bit.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls Directions

Combine wet ingredients and the salt in the mixer. (Water, salt, oil and honey)
Next add the lecithin and gluten if you are using them, as well as half the flour, pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. Mix until well combined. If you are using all purpose flour, start with 3.5 cups of flour and work your way up until a nice thick dough is formed.
Add yeast and the rest of the flour. I like to add the flour slowly, 1/2 cup at a time and watch how the dough reacts. You don’t want to add too much flour. Add just enough to where a soft dough forms and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Knead dough until smooth and elastic. This takes about 6-8 minutes with a mixer and 10 minutes if you are kneading by hand. Do the window pane test to ensure the kneading has been done properly
First rise. Move the dough to a large bowl and place somewhere warm. I like to use my barely warmed oven(preheat for a few minutes and then turn it off). Allow the dough to rise until double in size – in a warm spot that takes 30-45 minutes. If rising on the counter, cover the dough and it may take longer to double in size.
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.

Filling

In a medium size bowl. melt the butter.
Next, combine the rest of the filling ingredients into the bowl with the melted butter and mix until well combined.
Set aside.

If you have a pastry mat, it is useful at this time, but otherwise a clean counter works great. Once the dough has doubled in size it is time to shape the cinnamon rolls.

Roll the dough out into a 10×15 inch rectangle .
Add the entire recipe of filling onto the rectangle of dough. Make sure to spread the filling as evenly as possible, all the way to the ends of the dough.
Prepare a 9×13 casserole dish or 2 round cake pans or 2 10 inch cast iron skillets(I line these with parchment paper if using them) by greasing them with butter or olive oil.
Cut the the dough using a pizza cutter. This recipes makes 12 cinnamon rolls. I like to start by cutting the dough rectangle in half, then each half in half and so on, to get 12 equal strips of dough.
Roll up each dough strip and carefully place them in the baking dish or pans. They should be touching each other, but some gaps are fine, they will rise and spread.
Any filling that gets lost, just toss on top of the cinnamon rolls once they are in the pans.
Allow to rise until doubled in size.
Bake at 350* F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.