Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls - soft, fluffy pumpkin flavoured bread with a sticky pumpkin spice brown sugar filling and maple cream cheese glaze. These vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls are addictively good! Eggless and dairy free.

These vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls are soft and fluffy with a delicious pumpkin spice flavour, sticky brown sugar filling and a not-too-sweet maple cream cheese glaze.

They make an amazing indulgent breakfast or brunch, or are also great as an afternoon pick-me-up with a cup of coffee or tea.

They are good all year round but particularly so in the autumn and winter as they have a wonderful warming spiced flavour, and obviously pumpkin is very seasonal.

Also there is something very comforting and homely about baking bread. On cold, miserable days I find the whole process very calming; and you get something delicious to eat at the end of it!

What Do I Need To Make Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls?:

Bread flour: White bread flour helps to give these pumpkin cinnamon rolls their soft, fluffy, chewy texture. Plain (all-purpose) flour will also work though the texture isn't quite the same. I don't recommend using wholemeal flour as that will make the rolls too dense.

Instant/fast action yeast: I always prefer to use fast action yeast when making bread as it can just be added straight to the flour and doesn't need to be activated first. See below for instructions if you only have active dry yeast.

Salt: You simply cannot make good bread without salt. Don't omit it.

Spices: I use cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice. You could swap the individual spices for pumpkin spice blend if you want - 1 ¼ tsp in the dough and 4 ½ tsp in the filling.

Sugar: I use golden caster sugar in the dough and light brown soft sugar in the filling, but you could use either light or dark brown sugar for both.

Pumpkin puree: The pumpkin adds flavour and moisture, making the rolls lovely and soft. It also gives them a beautiful colour! I use tinned pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling), but see instructions below for how to make your own.

Vegan block butter: I always prefer to use a block butter/margarine when baking, rather than the spreadable kind in a tub which has a higher water content so may not give the best results. Naturli Vegan Block is my favourite. (Spreadable will work if that is all you have).

Non-dairy milk: Soy milk is always my favourite for baking as it has the highest protein content so most closely resembles dairy milk. Any variety of non-dairy milk will work however, but go for an unsweetened one if you can.

Vegan cream cheese: The maple cream cheese glaze is totally optional, the rolls are plenty delicious without it! If you do want to make it, pick a vegan cream cheese that you like the flavor of, they are not all created equal.

Maple syrup: Always check that you are buying pure maple syrup as some cheaper ones are cut with corn syrup.

How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls:

(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)

I like to split making these over two days – I make the dough and refrigerate it overnight for it’s first rise. The cold dough is easier to roll out and the slow rise results in a better flavour. You can do it all on the same day if you prefer though.

This is quite a soft, sticky dough so it is best made in a stand mixer if you have one. If you don’t then they can still be made by hand just be prepared to get a bit messy!

To make the dough, place the flour, sugar, salt, spices and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix to combine.

Add the pumpkin puree, melted vegan butter and most of the milk and mix to form a rough dough. Add the rest of the milk as needed to form a soft, slightly sticky dough.

Knead with the stand mixer on a high speed for about 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and stretchy.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place until it is doubled in size, about 1-2 hours. It can also be placed in the fridge to rise overnight instead.

For the filling, mix together the light brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice in a bowl and set aside.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and give it a brief thirty second knead to knock out any air bubbles.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to an approx 30 x 45 cm / 12 x 18 inch rectangle and spread the softened butter evenly over the surface, leaving about a 1cm border around the edge.

Scatter over the spiced sugar mixture and press it down gently.

Roll the dough up tightly from one of the long edges into a sausage and trim off and discard the ends. (You can keep and bake them if you want, they just tend to not have much filling in).

Use a sharp knife to slice the roll into nine even slices then arrange them cut side down in a 23cm/9inch square tin lined with baking parchment.

Cover loosely and set aside to rise for another 30-40 minutes until nice and puffy. If you press one gently the dough should spring back slowly. If it springs back quickly then they need a little bit longer. While they are rising preheat the oven.

Once the buns have risen, bake for 30-40 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 90C/194F on a probe thermometer; this is the best way to tell when they are ready, you don’t want to be eating raw bread dough! Cover them loosely with tin foil partway through baking if the tops start to colour too much.

Can I Make These Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls In Advance?:

These rolls really are best eaten on the day they are baked but they will be good for another couple of days, particularly if you warm them up for 10 seconds in the microwave before you eat them.

If you want to serve them for breakfast but you don’t want to have to wait hours and hours, you can follow the recipe as written until you have shaped the buns and placed them in the baking tin/skillet. Cover them loosely and immediately place in the fridge to rise overnight.

The following morning, remove them from the fridge and let them come up to room temperature for about 30 minutes until they are puffy while you preheat the oven, then bake them as per the recipe.

Can I Freeze Them?:

Yes, the baked pumpkin cinnamon rolls can be frozen. Allow to defrost at room temperature then refresh in the microwave for 10-20 seconds before serving.

What Kind Of Yeast?:

I always use fast action yeast which is also known as instant or easy yeast as it doesn’t need to be activated first, you just add it straight to the flour.

If you only have active dried yeast then you can still use it, but you will need to mix it with some of the lukewarm milk and a pinch of the sugar first. Let it sit for 10-20 minutes until it has become bubbly then proceed with the rest of the recipe as written.

How To Make Pumpkin Puree:

I used tinned pumpkin puree to make these vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls which I get from Sainsbury’s; it can also be found in some Tesco’s, Waitrose and on Ocado and Amazon. In the supermarkets it is often hidden away in a little ‘American section’ in the world foods aisles.

If you can’t find it however it is also really easy to make your own; you just need to halve, de-seed and roast an eating pumpkin (NOT a carving one) or a butternut squash until it is tender then scoop the flesh out of the skin and puree it until smooth.

Roast it at around 200C/400F/gas mark 6. The time it takes will very much depend on how large the pumpkin/squash is so just cook it until the flesh can easily be pierced with a fork.

I don’t recommend boiling the pumpkin to cook it as that will make the puree too wet.

Top Tips:

For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.

Make sure that your yeast hasn’t expired! Out of date yeast can lead to bread that doesn’t rise.

If you are using tinned/canned pumpkin puree, make sure that it is 100% pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling.

You can make these vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls all in one day or you can break the work up a bit by preparing the rolls in the evening and placing them in the fridge to rise overnight then baking them in the morning once they have come up to room temperature.

The rising time of the dough will vary depending on how warm it is; on hot days it will rise much faster than on cold ones.

The recipe will work using plain (all-purpose) flour, but bread flour gives the best texture.

You can add some chopped nuts, dried fruit or chocolate chips to the filling if you like.

The best way to tell if bread is baked properly is to check the internal temperature with a probe thermometer. It should reach at least 90°C/194°F.

The pumpkin cinnamon rolls are best eaten on the day they are baked but any leftovers will still be good the next day; especially if you warm them up a bit before serving.

More Sweet Vegan Bread Recipes:

Vegan chocolate babka

Banana bread cinnamon rolls

Maple pecan bread wreath

Vegan lemon blueberry rolls

Gingerbread cinnamon rolls

Vegan hot cross buns

Vegan wholemeal maple cinnamon rolls

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