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+ servings

Fresh Milled Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

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!
Servings 12 cinnamon rolls
Author kristin

Ingredients

  • 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 use all purpose flour, see notes for details**
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tbsp yeast
  • 1 tsp vital wheat gluten optional
  • 1 tbsp sunflower lecithin optional
  • For 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

Instructions

Prepare The Dough

  • 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.
  • 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.

Prepare The 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. 

Shaping 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.

Prepare The Glaze

  • Combine all glaze ingredients in a small bowl and mix with whisk until smooth. Pour the glaze over warm cinnamon rolls.
  • Serve warm and enjoy!

Notes

Try out the shaping variation above to make the rolls look like a giant pumpkin!
To make this recipe with all-purpose flour just start with 3.5 cups of flour and work your way up half a cup at a time. You want a nice bulky dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.