Pumpkin Cinnabons

My newest obsession, Pinterest, gave me the idea to try making pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  At first, I wasn’t sure if it sounded good.  Sounded Autumn-y for sure, and I love, love, love pumpkin… but I wasn’t sure about pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

Rather than use one of the recipes on Pinterest, I used my stand-by cinnamon roll recipe.  Clone of a Cinnabon.  It is tried and true and completely amazing.  All I did differently was swap out half a cup of the milk for half a cup of pumpkin, and added a little pumpkin pie spice.  The results were spectacular.  This would be an amazing thing to make for Christmas breakfast.

I suppose if you think about it, all wonderful pumpkin things involve cinnamon.  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies… so why not pumpkin cinnamon rolls?

Give these a try, you WON’T be disappointed!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

Frosting:
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Place flour, yeast, salt, pumpin pie spice, and white sugar into your mixer or bowl. Mix together. Add milk, eggs, pumpkin and butter to mixture and mix until combined. If you are using a kitchenaid mixer, you can knead the dough on the dough hook for 5 minutes. If you are using a regular bowl, remove the dough from the bowl and knead it on a floured surface for 5 minutes. Place dough under a large bowl and let it rise for about 20 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.

While dough is rising, in a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

On a floured surface, roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.