No-Rise Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls combine everyone’s favorite fall flavors and are smothered in a sweet, cinnamon cream cheese frosting. There’s not yeast involved so these are perfect for weekend mornings and are ready in less than an hour.
I’ve had a craving for cinnamon rolls for about a week now. I’ve also had a half used can of pumpkin puree staring at me in the refrigerator for about the same amount of time. So, it must have been serendipity when on Saturday morning my two monster puppies woke me up before sunrise and it struck me as the perfect time to combine my cinnamon roll craving and leftover pumpkin puree into Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls.
These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls take about 30 minutes of prep time and only 20 to bake. There’s no need to worry about the yeast not rising and messing up these cinnamon rolls because there is no yeast!
The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls combine everyone’s favorite fall flavors then smother them in a sweet, cinnamon cream cheese frosting. They’re baked in a muffin tin so each roll stays perfectly round and perfectly portioned for sharing.
The cardinal rule of my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls — never eat them cold. Dig into these little jewels while they’re still hot from the oven or warm them up later in the day for an afternoon treat with a cup of coffee.
Rather than digging into details about how light, fluffy, decadent and gooey my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls are, I’ll leave you with my one cinnamon roll pro-tip and get straight the recipe.
How to Easily Cut Cinnamon Rolls
Have you ever tried to cut a log of cinnamon rolls using a knife or pizza cutter which resulted in squatty, deflated rolls where you can’t even see the beautiful cinnamon swirl you worked so hard to create?
Well, that’s because there’s a better way to cut these Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls — using string! After you lightly section off your cinnamon rolls with a knife (so they’re all of equal size) grab a long piece of sewing thread and snuggle it between the roll and the countertop.
Line the string up with the marking you made on the cinnamon roll log, cross the strings over one another (you’re not tying a knot here, just simply exchanging the string in your left hand for the one in your right and vice versa). Confidently cross the strings, pull them taught and watch as the string perfectly cuts your cinnamon roll. Gently transfer the cut roll to your baking pan and repeat the process until all rolls are cut.
Viola! You have cinnamon rolls with clean cuts and perfect swirls for everyone to see! Now getting to baking because no one’s going to be mad waking up to warm, fresh Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- ½ cup brown sugar, backed
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 3 ounces 2% or whole milk
- 1 egg, beaten
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree (like Libby's Pure Pumpkin)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ⅓ - ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- Preheat oven to 400*
- Lightly grease 12 cups of a muffin pan with the tablespoon of melted butter and set aside
- In a small bowl, prepare the filling by crumbling together the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter using a fork. Set aside
- Prepare the dough by whisking together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt
- Cut in the remaining 2 tablespoons of softened butter using a pastry cutter or fork until fully incorporated
- Using a wooden spoon, mix in the milk, egg and pumpkin puree until fully incorporated
- Turn the dough out until a lightly floured surface and knead a few times with your hands and some additional flour until the dough is no longer sticky
- Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 13x8 inch rectangle
- Pour the filling onto the rectangle, leaving about a ¼-1/2 inch clean around the edges
- Pat the filling into place with your fingertips or the back of a spoon
- Starting on the long end roll the dough and filling over top one another into a long log
- Using the string method, cut off a ½ inch from each end of the log and discard the dough so you can start with a clean cut. The log should now be about 12 inches long
- Using a ruler and a knife, lightly mark 1-inch sections along the log
- Using the string method, cut the log into 12 cinnamon rolls, transferring each roll onto the prepared muffin pan
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes before frosting
- While the rolls are baking, prepare the frosting by creaming together the cream cheese, cinnamon, powdered sugar, and milk. To make the frosting thicker, add additional powdered sugar.
- After the rolls have cooled, spread the frosting over the top of the cinnamon rolls and serve warm
It was a winter afternoon in Rochester when we decided to head to a coffeeshop for a mid-day treat. The two of us were placing our coffee requests when he mentioned that he wanted a bite and ordered a large, golden, croissant with a thin drizzle of melted chocolate on top.
