The basis for these Pumpkin Pull-Apart Cinnamon Buns comes from a recipe I did during an earlier Pumpkin recipe marathon, when I featured Pumpkin Yeast Rolls. For this recipe, you start by making the dough for the Pumpkin Yeast Rolls and then form smaller balls to dip in melted butter and a sugary cinnamon mixture. Then you mush them into a bundt cake pan for baking. It’s a day’s project, but no one part of the recipe is that difficult, particularly if you have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, which does most of the work. These are truly to-die-for. I took them into work and everyone went crazy for them! The pumpkin flavor in the rolls is subtle, so you could make them this way all year long.
Pumpkin Pull-Apart Cinnamon Buns
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Amy Wilson
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 20
Ingredients
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- ¾ cup warm milk
- 6+ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup unsalted cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg
- 1 (15 oz) can of puréed pumpkin
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- Another Tbsp of melted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1½ Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a coffee cup, mix the brown sugar, yeast and warm milk. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes white becomes foamy and you prepare the flour.
- In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer with the wire whip attached, add 5 cups of the flour and the salt. Set the mixer on Level 2 and add the pieces of butter, one at a time, mixing all the time. Mix until the flour becomes course.
- Add the egg and continue mixing until well blended.
- Change the attachment to the flat beater and add the pumpkin and spices, mixing gently until incorporated.
- Change the attachment again, now to the dough hook. Dump in the cup full of yeast, milk, and brown sugar. Kneading on Level 2 for about 8 minutes, watch as a ball of dough forms. Have a cup of flour at the ready to add 1-2 Tbsp at a time until dough takes on a smooth, springy form that's not sticky. After you've added enough of the flour, let the dough hook continue kneading until the 8 minutes is done.
- Spray a large bowl with nonstick cooking spray. From the dough into a big ball and place in the bowl. Brush melted butter over the ball of the dough. Cover with a dish towel and let rise for about an hour. The dough should double in size.
- In the meantime, make your cinnamon-sugar dip by mixing together in a medium bowl, the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F and spray a Bundt cake pan with cooking spray.
- Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and set aside.
- Turn the dough out onto a large cutting board and cut the big ball in half. Continue cutting the balls in half until you get down to a size that is about the size of a golf ball. Roll the dough between your fingers so that it forms a little perfect ball. Dip into the melted butter, then roll in the sugar mixture and place in the bottom of a bundt cake pan. Continue rolling, dipping and dredging until all of the little sugar-coated balls of dough are pressed into the bundt cake pan.
- Bake at 350˚F for about 35 minutes.
- Allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes before turning the bundt cake out onto your serving plate.
- With a fork, mix together the confectioner's sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Keep adding sugar until mixture coats the back of a spoon and just drips down slowly. Drizzle over the top of the sticky buns and allows to drip down the sides.
- Serve warm.
