Cinnamon-Swirl Pumpkin Rolls
These cinnamon-roll lookalikes are made with a golden, pumpkin-scented dough and lots of spice.
Read our blog about these rolls, with additional photos, at Bakers' Banter.
Dough
- 1 cup canned pumpkin or squash
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lukewarm water*
- 1/4 cup soft butter
- 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 3/4 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/4 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, optional
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- *Adjust the amount of water by the time of year or your climate. For summer, or in a humid enivronment, use the lesser amount of water. In winter, or in a dry climate, use the greater amount. It's always best to start with the lesser amount; you can
Filling
- 3/4 cup Baker's Cinnamon Filling*
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup minced crystallized ginger, raisins, or dried cranberries, optional
- *Substitute 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon for the Baker's Cinnamon Filling and water, if desired. If you use sugar and cinnamon, DO NOT ADD THE WATER.
Glaze
- 1 cup glazing or confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons milk, or enough to make a "drizzlable" glaze
Directions
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1) Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients together — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — until you've made a soft, fairly smooth dough. |
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2) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours, until it's almost doubled in bulk. |
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3) Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased surface. Roll it into a 14" x 22" rectangle; the dough will be thin. |
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4) Mix the cinnamon filling and water. Spread a thin layer over the dough, leaving one short edge free of filling. |
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5) Sprinkle with crystallized ginger or dried fruit (or both), if desired. |
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6) Starting with the short end that's covered with filling, roll the dough into a log. |
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7) Cut the log into nine 1 ½"-thick rolls. |
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8) Place the rolls into a lightly greased 9" x 9" pan that's at least 2" deep. Set aside, covered, to rise for 1 hour, or until the rolls look puffy. |
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9) Bake the rolls in a preheated 375°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until they're lightly browned and feel set. Remove them from the oven, and set them on a rack. Turn them out of the pan, and allow them to cool for about 15 minutes. Towards the end of the cooling time, make the glaze. |
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10) To make the glaze: Heat the butter and milk together till the butter melts. Whisk into the sugar. |
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11) Drizzle the warm rolls with the warm glaze. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired. |
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Yield: 9 rolls. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 20 mins. to 40 mins.
- Baking time:
- 25 mins. to 30 mins.
- Total time:
- 3 hrs 25 mins. to 5 hrs 10 mins.
- Yield:
- 9 rolls
- Recipe comments (30) »
Tips from our bakers
- For a glaze that stays white and remains on top of the rolls, rather than partially melting in, allow the rolls to cool completely before glazing.
Reviews
11/18/2009
Amazing. Easy. Everyone loved them. Omitted the ginger, doubled the icing though...they still turned out incredible.
11/14/2009
Very disapointing, heavy dough and they didn't really taste of pumpkin or the spices. I used KA flour & SAF yeast. I frequently make cinnamon rolls and these were the worst that I have made. However, this is the first KA recipe that I have made that was not excellent.
Sorry this recipe didn't meet your expectations. The pumpkin dough is more about the seasonal festivity as well as adding the nutrition of the pumpkin. Irene @ KAF
11/13/2009
Amazing! These turned out better than any other cinnamon roll recipe I've tried. I did let them go through their second rise overnight in the refrigerator, so I had these wonderful rolls all ready for my morning graduate seminar.
11/05/2009
Best cinnamon rolls I've ever baked! They were moist and flavorful. I made 8 rolls and used a 8x11 pan (baking for about 30 min). I used the simple filling of sugar and cinnamon but next time I might try brushing the dough with butter before sprinkling the filling on. I would highly recommend these to anyone! I can't wait to make more!
11/02/2009
I like the cinnamon rolls but I was a little disappointed that they didn't taste more like pumpkin. They tasted about like my normal cinnamon rolls with a golden color. I like the fact that it only makes 9 rolls. My recipe for cinnamon rolls make a couple dozen. It's nice to make a small batch for my little family just because.
11/01/2009
Although I am fairly new at baking, all the recipes from King Arthur I've tried thus far have been outstanding. However, this recipe didn;t work out very well for me. I've made the regular cinnamon rolls numerous times and they are always perfect and rise well. For these, the instant yeast did not do its job and they barely rose through either part of the process. Although the taste is great, they are flat in shape and of course, too dense. Perhaps it was the instant yeast. I purchased your brand, so I know the quality is high. I put all the ingredients in the bowl at one time in the order in which they were listed and mixed it up by hand. (Don't have a bread mixer.) Any suggestions? Next time, I'll just stick with regular yeast and see if that works better. I also worked with your flour products. Rise can be influenced by more than just the yeast. Please give our bakers a call: 800-827-6836. They will be able to help you figure this one out. Frank @ KAF.
10/30/2009
I made the dough in my bread machine and baked the rolls in the oven--wonderful! They are not as pumpkin-y as I thought they would be, but they are very soft and flavorful. Really delicious. When I saw how much flour the recipe called for, I decided to bake the rolls into 12 rolls in a 13x9, based on another recipe I often use. I'm glad i did. Even 1/12 of the recipe ends up being a very big roll.
10/29/2009
I made these rolls twice in one week, they were so amazing! I mixed and kneaded the dough in the bread machine. The dough rolled out perfectly both times. My husband and sons loved them and never knew there was whole wheat flour in them!
10/20/2009
Okay...I must have done something wrong. I made four batches of these and they all came out tasting day old the minute they were out of the oven. The flavor was excellent but I was disappointed in the consistency. I have a convection oven and I even adjusted the bake time but it just didn't give me the results that I expected. Should I have tented them in the oven to retain the moisture?
Lynda, The convection fan is the likely culprit here. Can you turn it off? Reducing the temperature, as a convection adjustment, it not enough. The air circulation is dehydrating the dough. If you can not turn the fan off, then tenting during the last half to three quarters of the baking time may be the best solution. Frank @ KAF.
10/19/2009
These really are great. The pumpkin makes the dough delicious. I used fresh pumpkin (roasted) and did not need to add much water. Like previous posters I put some melted/soft butter on the dough before sprinkling with cinnamon sugar. I also followed the lead of those commenting on the blog entry and let the shaped rolls rise overnight in the fridge. Yay, warm rolls for breakfast!
Is there a way to make the font on the printed recipe larger? It is teeny-tiny. I overlooked rolling on the short side but it turned out ok.
Try copying the recipe into a word document and enlarging the font. There's probably another way to do it but that's the easiest. Molly @ KAF
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