Last week I shared my recipe for home-made spiced pumpkin butter. This week I’m using that same pumpkin butter to fill puffy cinnamon rolls topped with a brown butter cream cheese glaze. It is a very good use of pumpkin butter.
If I’m offered baked morning treats, I almost always go for something soft and fragrant with warm spices. If toasted nuts are involved, that only makes my choice easier. I’m a sucker for things like sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, apples fritters–I love them all.
In these pumpkin butter cinnamon rolls, I’ve really piled on the fall flavor with rich, thick pumpkin butter, toasted pecans, cinnamon, and brown butter. These cinnamon rolls feel like you should be eating them with a cup of coffee in hand as you walk through the fall foliage.
These pumpkin butter cinnamon rolls are easy to make and can even be assembled the night before you want to bake them. For the dough, after you’ve activated your yeast in milk, simply pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and give it all a good knead until smooth. After a nice long rise, rolling out the dough is a dream. This dough is perfectly pliable and so easy to work with. Next the filling is spread on in layers– butter, pumpkin butter, a mixture of brown sugar & cinnamon, and finally a generous helping of toasted pecans. The whole thing is rolled up tight and sliced into little rolls before being tucked away for either another rise or in the fridge until the next morning.
After baking, it’s time to slather something delicious on top. As much as I love a cinnamon roll, I don’t really like the frosting. More often than not I find the flavor of the roll overpowered by the powdered sugar frosting and I end up scrapping it off. These rolls need no such scrapping. They’re lightly covered in a brown butter cream cheese glaze. The brown butter gives the glaze a rich caramel-y flavor and the cream cheese balances the sweetness of the roll with a bit of tang. It’s addictive and the perfect final touch to what I consider the ultimate cinnamon roll for fall!
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Pumpkin Butter Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Glaze
These pumpkin butter cinnamon rolls are the perfect mixture of delicious fall flavors! A soft dough is filled with home-made pumpkin butter, a mixture of brown sugar & cinnamon, and toasted pecans before being drizzled with a nutty & tangy brown butter cream cheese glaze.
Ingredients
Cinnamon Roll Dough
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (reserve one teaspoon to use in proofing the yeast)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup milk, whole or 2%
- 2 1/4 teaspoon quick rise yeast
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup pumpkin butter*
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Glaze
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup cream cheese
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
For the Dough:
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, kosher salt, and baking soda and set aside. In a small saucepan, warm the milk until it reaches 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour the milk into a measuring cup and stir in the reserved teaspoon of sugar and sprinkle the yeast over the milk. Allow the mixture to sit for about five minutes, until the yeast is bubbly and active.
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Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the milk/yeast mixture, the butter and the eggs. Using a wooden spoon, stir together the ingredients until most of the dry bits are hydrated and a dough begins to form. Begin to press the dough together in the bowl, about 4 or 5 kneads until all the little shaggy bits are coming together.
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Tip the dough out onto a clean surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 7-10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Wipe out the large mixing bowl you were using before and lightly oil it. Place your dough in the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap & place it in a draft-free, warm place until doubled in size. About 1-1 1/2 hours depending on the temperature of your room.
Fill & Shape the Rolls:
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly oil a 9"x13" baking dish and set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon and kosher salt. Roll out your dough to roughly a 13"x13" square. Spread the softened butter over the dough evenly. Spread the pumpkin butter evenly over the butter layer. Sprinkle the the sugar mixture over the pumpkin butter. Finally, sprinkle the toasted pecans over the cinnamon sugar mixture.
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Roll the dough in a log, pinching together the long seam so that the spiral doesn't unravel itself. Using a serrated knife, slice the dough into 12 equal pieces. Place the rolls in the prepared baking dish, leaving a little bit of room between them.** Cover the dish with a kitchen towel, or loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a draft-free warm place until they are slightly bigger and puffy, about an hour.
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Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the rolls registers 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Remove from the oven and prepare the glaze as you let the rolls cool slightly.
For the Glaze:
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A few minutes before the rolls come out of the oven, brown the butter for the glaze. Put the butter in a small, light colored pot (so that you can more easily see the butter brown!) over medium heat. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula, until the butter begins to brown, the milk solids in the butter turn dark brown, and it smells rich and nutty. This will take a couple of minutes. As soon as it's nice and brown remove the butter from the heat. Immediately pour it into a small mixing bowl. Let it cool for a few minutes before continuing to make the glaze.
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In the bowl with the brown butter, add in the cream cheese and mix with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add in the sifted powdered sugar and mix on low until combined. Add in one tablespoon of the milk and mix to combine. If you'd like a thinner glaze, add more of the milk until you've reached a consistency you like. Drizzle the glaze over the pumpkin butter cinnamon rolls and enjoy warm!
Recipe Notes
NOTES
*Get the recipe for my Spiced Pumpkin Butter here!
**If you want to make your cinnamon rolls the night before to bake off in the morning, all you have to do is prepare them up to this point. Once they're all tucked away in the baking dish, cover them tightly with plastic wrap and stash them in the refrigerator. In the morning, take them out of the fridge about an hour before you want to bake them. Take the plastic wrap off, cover them with a clean kitchen towel, and let them come to room temperature in a warm place for an hour.
These pumpkin rolls look perfect for brunch! YUM!
Oh they are perfect for brunch Natalie! 🙂