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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the rolls registers 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove from the oven and prepare the glaze as you let the rolls cool slightly.
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.
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!
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.