Ingredients:

• For the pumpkin spice rolls:

Dough

• 2 c. whole milk
• ½ c. granulated sugar
• ½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 5 c. all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 t. baking powder
• 2 t. salt
• Plain dental floss (trust me on this, it’ll make your life so much easier!)

Filling

• ¾ c. brown sugar
• ¾ c. (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature (you really want this to be fully softened, but not melted)
• 2 T. pumpkin spice mix
• For the coffee bourbon cream cheese frosting:
  • 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 ½ c. powdered sugar
  • 2 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ½ t. vanilla extract
  • 1 T. Devils River Coffee Bourbon
  • Pinch of salt

Note: For the pumpkin spice, you can use ready-made pumpkin pie spice from the grocery store, but I prefer to mix my own!

• Pumpkin Spice Mix:
• 2 T. cinnamon
• 5 t. ground nutmeg
• 5 t. ground ginger
• 1 t. ground cloves
• 1 t. ground allspice

Directions:

To make the pumpkin spice rolls*:

• Warm your milk to around 110 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the warmed milk with the sugar and the melted butter. You want this mixture to be between 100-110 degrees (but no hotter!). Then sprinkle the yeast over the mixture and stir it in just enough to make sure the yeast has been activated. Then leave to bloom for about 10 minutes.
• Once the yeast has bloomed, add 4 cups of flour to the mixture and stir until just combined. (You’re probably going to want a good old-fashioned wooden spoon for this part.) It doesn’t need to be super smooth, but make sure to mix out any big pockets of flour. Then cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
• Butter a 9 x 13” baking pan, or two round cake pans, and set aside.
• While the dough is rising, prep the filling. Mix the softened butter, brown sugar, and pumpkin spice in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Once the dough has finished rising, add the remaining 1 cup of flour, as well as the baking powder and salt, and stir until incorporated. Then, turn the dough out onto a clean, very lightly floured surface.
• Knead the dough for around 10 minutes, adding flour sparingly as needed. You want the dough to be smooth and no longer sticking to your hands or to the counter (it should also bounce back when poked).
• Roll out the dough into a large rectangle that is about ½ inch thick. (Tip: Use a pastry scraper to get your edges and corners as sharp and even as possible. This will make rolling and cutting your dough log so much easier.)
• Spread the filling evenly over the entire surface of the dough, all the way to the edges.
• Starting from one of the short ends, roll the dough into a log as tightly as you can. Keeping the log seam-side down, trim off any uneven ends.
• Use a long piece of dental floss to cut the log into even, 1 ½-inch-thick pieces. (If you don’t have floss, you can use a serrated knife for this part, but the floss helps maintain the round shape of the rolls as you cut them off the log.)
• Place each roll in the prepared pan(s), then cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot to rise for another 40-45 minutes. You want them to expand by about 50% of their original size.
• While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Once the rolls have risen, bake them for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.
• While the rolls are in the oven, make the frosting.

To make the bourbon coffee cream cheese frosting:

• Using either a hand or stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and fully mixed. (Again, you really want your cream cheese and your butter to be fully softened to room temperature.) Then beat in the remaining ingredients until smooth.
• Once your pumpkin spice rolls are done, allow them to sit in the pan for 3-5 minutes, just to set and slightly cool. Then top with a generous dollop or three of frosting and enjoy!

*This recipe is adapted from Gwenaelle Le Cochennec’s cinnamon roll recipe for Tasty.

Created in partnership with The Whimsical Cook.