11/13/202103/12/2025 Bettina Zabel

Pumpkin Bourbon Cinnamon Rolls

Breakfast, Fall Season, Recipe, Sweets, Thanksgiving

Updated 3/2025 – See below

Gooey and Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

You will want to run, not walk, and make these delicious Pumpkin Bourbon Cinnamon Rolls. These are a delicious addition to the fall season…. or really any time you want to have a little extra in your life. 

There’s a local Amish bakery that has good cinnamon rolls and sometimes we stop to grab a half dozen. Every time we do, I say to my hubby, “One day I am going to make these”, but this ends up being in one thought and out the next, but one chill weekend, I decided to give cinnamon rolls a try. The Amish usually use mashed potatoes in theirs and being fall, and at the time, having lots of pie pumpkins… I decided to use pumpkin instead.

Making these takes a little bit of time because the dough rises twice. Mine took a bit longer because I used actual pumpkin vs canned, but using canned pumpkin would be fine. Overall, I loved making them, again, this isn’t a last-minute breakfast, but if you have company or want a special Thanksgiving breakfast… these are perfect, in fact, my kids loved them!

Did Someone Say Bourbon

The roll dough doesn’t have bourbon but the filling and glaze do. The glaze for these is a runny glaze vs a frosting, that you might find on some cinnamon rolls. You could omit the bourbon if you don’t like it or don’t have any… the recipe only calls for a little over a tablespoon, so either way… the rolls will be delicious. I say this because the bourbon in the glaze is not actually cooked off, so use as you see fit. You could add it to the filling and not the glaze, omit both, or go for it!

Time to Bake

What You’ll Need

• water
• sugar
• brown sugar
• yeast
• flour
• pumpkin pie spice
• cinnamon
• salt
• pumpkin 
• butter
• bourbon
• milk
• powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar
• cast iron skillet

Making the Cinnamon Rolls

• Proof the yeast, this just means prepare the yeast by mixing it, the water, and the sugar together (see the printable below)
• Mix flour, salt, and pumpkin pie spice, preferably with a paddle attachment and a stand mixer. Slowly add yeast mixture, pumpkin, and melted butter. Mix with the paddle attachment until it is just coming together
• Let the dough rise
• Make the filling while dough is rising and prepare the skillet
• Roll out the dough to a 16×12 rectangle
• Spread the mixture on the dough, roll up, and pinch closed
• Cut 2 inch sections to make the rolls
• Put them into the skillet to rise again
• Bake for about 30-35 minutes, make glaze
• Allow rolls to sit for about 10 minutes before glazing
• Serve

Notes:

• I baked these in my cast iron skillet but if you don’t have one, a cookie sheet would work. I use cast iron because you can take it from the stove to the oven with ease. It also doesn’t have any non-stick coating. Cast iron skillets actually add iron to food, they cook evenly, and they often become heirlooms. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet I recommend one, but they aren’t all the same.
  • Lodge is a familiar company and I have 3 Lodge skillets, however, the quality has begun to decline and they are NOT all made in the U.S. anymore, though mine were. Two were wedding gifts and one was bought about 7 years ago, when all of their products were American made. They are moderately priced than other brands but that could be because as I said, many aren’t made in America. They are also rougher, which means they take a bit longer to “break in”. Having said that, the ones I have are cherished, but I would check before I bought Lodge again, and I will pay more to a 100% American made company. Check out Lodge’s pans here!
  • Stargazer is a newer brand and they are American made. I like these skillets because they are smoother to begin with which means there is less time breaking them in. The downside at this time is they don’t have the range of sizes as Lodge. For instance, I LOVE my 15 inch skillet for baking, however, Stargazer’s largest is 13.5 inch, but they are newer, so I am assuming they will have more sizes. These pans are a little more expensive, but again they are 100% American made. Check out Stargazer’s pans here!
  • Smithey is another made in the U.S. company and features what I would call artisan cast iron. They have more options in relation to sizes than Stargazer and like them, are smooth, making them both easier to “break in” than Lodge. Smithey, however, is the more expensive brand of the three, though they do offer very unique looking pans which sets them apart. Check out Smithey’s pans here!
• As I said, you can omit the bourbon or modify it. In that step you could change the flavor by adding an extract like vanilla or anything you think would go with pumpkin!
• You can make these the night before and cook the next morning, but I have done this twice and found they just weren’t quite as good. I would recommend doing this on the day of… if possible. 

Thoughts…

Having never made cinnamon rolls before, I was a bit nervous because rolling the dough to a 16×12 rectangle seemed daunting, but it got there fairly easily. After putting in the filling and rolling the dough up, I used unflavored dental floss to cut the rolls. After the last rise, I popped them in the oven for about 30 minutes, glazed them, let them rest, and then… served them. 

All in all… these were amazing, actually they were better than the Amish rolls! It is always awesome to try and make new things and I was happy that I tried them. I plan on making them at some point over Thanksgiving weekend.

What is your go to breakfast during Thanksgiving? Did you give these Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls a try? I’d love to hear from you… comment below or head over to Facebook or Instagram and join the community!

Don’t forget to pin this for later and if you like Pinterest, I am there too!

Happy Baking!

BEM and Fam 🙂

PS. This post has some affiliate links, read more about those here.

Update 3/2025

I am updating several posts on the blog and for this one, I wanted to share that we have made these cinnamon rolls a few times. If you noticed above I mentioned that we made these ahead, but felt they were better when made the day of. So, maybe that’s just us, if you find differently let me know!

The whole notes section is updated, including the information about the cast iron skillets. One of the companies is really new to me and I might actually do a post comparing the different skillets.

Another thing I wanted to update this post about is that we used these in our Harry Potter Weekend plans!

Our family does a Harry Potter Weekend, well it has morphed into more than the weekend over the years, where we watch the movies and make what we feel is “Harry Potter infused” food. This means it is something we feel could have been part of their world or is actually mentioned. These Bourbon Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls were just that… we felt it oozed Harry Potter world, so we made them over Thanksgiving weekend 2020, which is when we did our Harry Potter Weekend.

I will be posting more about our years doing this… so stay tuned, but for more food we’ve used for our Harry Potter Weekends, click here!

BEM 🙂