Pumpkin spice cinnamon buns

Meet the queen of cinnamon buns! These fluffy treats have spirals of cinnamon sugar swirling through a pumpkin sweet dough spiced with ginger and nutmeg. To make it extra special, these lovelies are crowned with a little cream cheese icing. Hello, your royal pumpkin spiceness!

Here's how I made them:

DOUGH

1 cup pure pumpkin puree

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, melted

FILLING

1/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

ICING

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup icing sugar

To make the dough, I beat the pumpkin, brown sugar, and eggs in my stand mixer using the paddle attachment. In a separate mixing bowl, I whisked together the flour, yeast, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. Half of the dry ingredients were added gradually to the wet ingredients. I switched to the dough hook attachment and added the melted butter, followed gradually by the rest of the dry ingredients. I let the hook knead the dough for five minutes. Then I formed the dough into a ball and put it in a large mixing bowl, covered by a tea towel, to rise for one hour.

Once risen, I rolled out my dough on a floured surface into a large rectangle about 12-inches by 18-inches in size.

To prepare my filling, the cinnamon and brown sugar were combined in a small bowl. I brushed the melted butter onto my dough, almost to the edges, then sprinkled the dough with the cinnamon sugar.

Starting on a long edge, I rolled my dough tightly into a log. I cut the log in half, then the halves in half and so on until I had eight pieces. They were placed into two 8X8 baking pans (but they could fit into one large pan), about two inches apart. They rested for another hour, covered with a tea towel, until they doubled in size and squished into each other.

With my oven at 350 degrees (F), I baked these for 35 minutes until the edges were golden brown. The house smelled amazing!

To make the icing, I beat together the butter, cream cheese, and icing sugar and spread it over the buns while they were still a little warm.

I brought a pan of these to my neighbours for a taste test. Fortunately they had a few extra little snackers around for my market research and the consensus was that, yes, these were darn yummy. 

Even my preschooler, who considers cinnamon buns one of life's greatest eats, crowned these "the best cinnamon buns ever." I like that kid.

Are cinnamon buns a favourite treat in your house? What are you making with pumpkin lately? How else do you like to enjoy pumpkin spice flavours?