Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Buns

Jump to Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.

Pumpkin spice cinnamon buns are so pillowy soft and pair perfectly with the gooey spiced dark brown sugar filling. Drizzled with maple butter cream cheese frosting.

Fall is my absolute favourite time of year for so many reasons. Maple trees turn beautiful vibrant shades of burnt orange, amber reds and dusty yellows. The air has an undeniable crisp freshness.

There are trips to the pumpkin patch and apple orchards in order to make apple pie and pumpkin pie, and cozy evenings spent cuddled up on the couch with warm hot cocoa.

overhead view of pumpkin cinnamon rolls

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Buns

I could go on for days about all the things I love about this glorious season, but the thing I love the most is baking with fall flavours.

Today I’m showing you how to make Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Buns with Maple Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.  Yes – this is happening, cause Pumpkin Spice and Cinnamon BunsThat is all

The pumpkin buns are so pillowy soft and pair perfectly with the gooey spiced dark brown sugar filling.

What seasonings are in pumpkin spice?

Have you ever wondered what seasonings make up that delicious pumpkin spice flavor we all love? Here they are:

  • cinnamon
  • ginger
  • allspice
  • cloves
  • nutmeg

cinnamon roll on a spatula

Is allspice the same as pumpkin spice?

No. Pumpkin spice generally has allspice in it, but that is not all. Allspice isn’t a spice blend. It is made from dried berries of one plant. Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of several spices.

What are these cinnamon buns like?

  • These pumpkin spice cinnamon buns are yeast based which means you’ll have to knead them, but they’ll bake up fluffy and soft. There are two packets of yeast in this recipe. Use them both for optimum fluffiness!
  • There is real pumpkin in the dough itself. That means you’re getting authentic pumpkin flavor.
  • The filling is full of brown sugar and pumpkin spice. It uses dark brown sugar which really deepens the flavor.
  • This makes 16 large rolls. And I’m talking really large. If you want smaller rolls, cut them smaller and you could easily end up with 24 rolls. Perfect for the holidays!

closeup of cinnamon roll and a fork with a bite

How to Make Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Buns

Make the Dough

We like to use our stand mixer to mix and knead the dough. If you don’t have a stand mixer, simply mix the ingredients in a large bowl and knead with your hands.

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add your yeast and a couple teaspoons of the sugar. Pour the warmed milk over the yeast and sugar and lightly whisk to combine. Allow your yeast to sit in the warm milk like this for 5-10 minutes to proof.
  • When you come back to your yeast after 5-10 minutes it should be frothy – this indicates that your yeast is active and good to go. If you come back and your yeast hasn’t gotten frothy or foamed up, discard the contents in your bowl and start over with new fresh packages of yeast and proof again using the same technique.
  • Once you have proofed your yeast, add the remaining sugar to the mixture as well as the softened butter and turn your mixer to low to begin combining the ingredients. Mix for a minute or so until the softened butter is broken up into chunks.
  • Add the eggs & pumpkin to the bowl and allow to mix on low until combined with other ingredients.
  • Whisk together 4 ½ cups flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Slowly begin to add your flour ½ cup at a time allow the flour to incorporate slightly before each addition.
  • Once you have added all of your flour, turn your mixer to medium speed and allow it to mix the dough until a large smooth mass forms. The dough should be soft and a bit sticky, but not so wet that it is sticking to the sides of the bowl. If you find that your dough is sticking to the sides of your bowl, add a bit more flour 1 tbsp at a time until it comes away from the sides of the bowl. Allow to turn on medium speed for 7 minutes.

cinnamon roll dough in a bowl

  • Remove dough from bowl – it should be smooth and elastic. Knead with your hands for an additional 2 minutes on a lightly floured surface.
  • Next, place your dough into a large greased bowl, lightly grease the top of your dough and cover with a dry tea towel. Set your dough aside to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes to one hour or until doubled.

Make the Filling

  • Next, make the filling. In a small mixing bowl beat together butter, brown sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour and beat until combined.

cinnamon roll filling

Shape the Cinnamon Buns

  • Once your cinnamon bun dough has risen, punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a rectangle that is ¼ inch thick. This will be a large rectangle about 24″ long and 15″ wide. Sizes may vary and that’s ok!
  • Spread brown sugar filling out across the dough, leaving a 1 inch border at the bottom. If you’d like to add pecans, sprinkle them across the surface of the dough evenly and gently press down into the sugar filling. The nuts are optional.

dough with cinnamon roll filling spread on it

  • Roll dough up jelly-roll style and pinch the end together to seal. Cut into 16 even rolls.

sliced unbaked cinnamon rolls

  • Spray a large 10×15″ baking pan with cooking spray. Place the cinnamon rolls cut side up in 4×4 pattern. Cover and set aside to rise again in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
  • While your rolls are rising, preheat your oven to 350º Fahrenheit. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before frosting with cream cheese icing. (The frosting will melt in. If you want the frosting to sit on top, wait until the rolls are cooled.)

spreading frosting on cinnamon rolls

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Let’s just say this Maple Cream Cheese Frosting might just be the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s very similar to our favorite cinnamon roll frosting, but with maple flavoring. It pairs so well with pumpkin spice!

It’s easy to mix up with  your hand mixer if the butter and cream cheese is softened. Add the powdered sugar slowly so that you get the frosting consistency that you’d like. You can drizzle it as shown below or swipe it on with a spatula.

Cinnamon Buns in a Muffin Pan

We bake the cinnamon rolls in large baking pan. We do this because they bake up beautifully soft this way.

If you want the recipe to serve more and have individual style rolls, bake them in a muffin pan. This will make at least 24 rolls if you make them this way. 

Be sure to roll the dough as evenly as you can. If the dough isn’t evenly rolled they may puff up when baking in uneven ways. They’ll still be delicious, just a little funny looking!

This is what they should look like:

pumpkin-spice-cinnamon-buns

Favorite Cinnamon Bun Recipes

What You Need to Make Cinnamon Buns

  • Stand Mixer: Ok, you don’t 100% need this, but it does make life easier.
  • Red Star Yeast: My favorite yeast! It’s so forgiving and I have perfect baked goods, every time.
  • Saigon Cinnamon: The best flavored cinnamon.
  • Pastry Mat: This makes clean-up a breeze.
  • Dough Cutter: I JUST got one of these. What have I done without it all these years? Works as a scraper too, to get stuck-on dough off surfaces.
  • Baking Pan 9×13 or 10×15, depending on what you need.
gooey pumpkin cinnamon rolls
gooey pumpkin cinnamon rolls

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Buns

4.75 from 4 votes
Pumpkin spice cinnamon buns are so pillowy soft and pair perfectly with the spiced dark brown sugar filling. Drizzled with maple butter cream cheese frosting.
Servings 16
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Rise Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 55 minutes

Email Me This Recipe!
Enter your email and get the recipe sent to your inbox! Plus you’ll get new recipes from us every week.

Ingredients
 

For the Rolls

  • 2 packages dry instant yeast
  • 1/2 cup whole milk (warmed -110º Fahrenheit)
  • ¾ cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
  • 4 ½- 4 ¾ cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon cloves

Brown Sugar -Pecan Filling

  • 1 cup butter (softened)
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ginger
  • Pinch cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup toasted pecans chopped {optional}

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 2 tablespoon butter
  • 4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions
 

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add your yeast and a couple teaspoons of the sugar. Pour the warmed milk over the yeast and sugar and lightly whisk to combine. Allow your yeast to sit in the warm milk like this for 5-10 minutes to proof.
  • When you come back to your yeast after 5-10 minutes it should be frothy – this indicates that your yeast is active and good to go. If you come back and your yeast hasn’t gotten frothy or foamed up, discard the contents in your bowl and start over with new fresh packages of yeast and proof again using the same technique.
  • Once you have proofed your yeast, add the remaining sugar to the mixture as well as the softened butter and turn your mixer to low to begin combining the ingredients. Mix for a minute or so until the softened butter is broken up into chunks.
  • Add the eggs & pumpkin to the bowl and allow to mix on low until combined with other ingredients.
  • Whisk together 4 ½ cups flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Slowly begin to add your flour ½ cup at a time allow the flour to incorporate slightly before each addition.
  • Once you have added all of your flour, turn your mixer to medium speed and allow it to mix the dough until a large smooth mass forms. The dough should be soft and a bit sticky, but not so wet that it is sticking to the sides of the bowl. If you find that your dough is sticking to the sides of your bowl, add a bit more flour 1 tbsp at a time until it comes away from the sides of the bowl. Allow to turn on medium speed for 7 minutes.
  • Remove dough from bowl – it should be smooth and elastic. Knead with your hands for an additional 2 minutes on a lightly floured surface.
  • Next, place your dough into a large greased bowl, lightly grease the top of your dough and cover with a dry tea towel. Set your dough aside to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes to one hour or until doubled.
  • ** My oven has a warming function, so I usually set the warming function to low and let my dough sit in here to rise. If your oven has this feature, this is a great way to let your dough rise. If not, simply preheat your oven to about 200 degrees, shut it off and place the dough in there to rise as there will be enough residual heat in your oven to keep it nice a warm.
  • Next, make the filling. In a small mixing bowl beat together butter, brown sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour and beat until combined.
  • Once your cinnamon bun dough has risen, punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a rectangle that is ¼ inch thick. This will be a large rectangle about 24" long and 15" wide. Sizes may vary and that's ok!
  • Spread brown sugar filling out across the dough, leaving a 1 inch border at the bottom. If you'd like to add pecans, sprinkle them across the surface of the dough evenly and gently press down into the sugar filling. The nuts are optional.
  • Roll dough up jelly-roll style and pinch the end together to seal. Cut into 16 even rolls.
  • Spray a large 10x15" baking pan with cooking spray. Place the cinnamon rolls cut side up in 4x4 pattern. Cover and set aside to rise again in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
  • While your rolls are rising, preheat your oven to 350º Fahrenheit. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before frosting with cream cheese icing. (The frosting will melt in. If you want the frosting to sit on top, wait until the rolls are cooled.)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • While your cinnamon buns are baking, whip up your cream cheese frosting.
  • In a medium bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese using an electric mixer until completely smooth and there are no lumps. Add maple syrup and beat to combine.
  • Add in icing sugar ½ cup at a time, beating until combined before each addition.
  • Once all of your icing sugar is mixed in, add in vanilla and turn the mixer onto high and beat for 3-4 minutes until pale and fluffy. If you want your frosting a bit more fluid, just add a touch more maple syrup.
  • Set aside until your cinnamon buns are ready to be frosted.
  • Spread a generous helping on top of each cinnamon bun, serve warm, and enjoy!

Notes

The calories shown are based on the recipe making 16 rolls, with 1 serving being 1 cinnamon bun with frosting. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**

Nutrition

Calories: 667kcal | Carbohydrates: 108g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 84mg | Sodium: 247mg | Potassium: 170mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 53g | Vitamin A: 2509IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 4mg
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Calories 667
Keyword breakfast recipe, cinnamon rolls, pumpkin spice
Cinnamon roll and Cream cheese frosting
About JulieJulie Clark

About Julie Clark

I'm Julie Clark, CEO and recipe developer of Tastes of Lizzy T. With my B.A. in Education and over 30 years of cooking and baking, I want to teach YOU the best of our family recipes.

Get 5 Classic Recipes with a Deliciously Secret Twist

You might also like

Join the Discussion

Subscribe
Notify of

10 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Kendra
1 year ago

Hi Julie! I keep going back and forth between this cinnamon roll recipie and your other regular pumpkin cinnamon rolls. I thought I would make some for our church picnic tomorrow, they both look amazing! Do you have a favorite between the two? Is one more profound in the pumpkin than the other? Also I didn’t see heavy cream listed in this recipe like some of the other cinnamon rolls, I was just wondering why it’s not added to these. Thanks for your help and input!

Jill
7 years ago

did you use a muffin/ cupcake tin to bake them? this looks ethereal 🙂

alexa.al
7 years ago

I’m saving this one to make later. 🙂

Karly
7 years ago

Gorgeous AND delicious! These are so darn perfect for a sweet, warm treat that can be taken on the go! Love everything about them!

Oriana | OfRecipes
7 years ago

YUM!!! These look incredible!

Miranda
7 years ago

I’m drooling over these! I love cinnamon rolls for breakfast and adding pumpkin spice to them sounds incredible!

Julie Evink
7 years ago

Wow these look amazing Kristie! The perfect fall treat!