Secret Ingredient Pumpkin Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

With the debut of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, fall is just around the corner. This will be my first Central Florida fall and I am determined to continue to indulge in all of my fall favorites: pumpkin patches, hayrides, corn mazes, trick-or-treating and of course fall food. My FAVORITE recipe of all time for fall are the most delicious, gooey pumpkin sourdough cinnamon rolls. I have made variations of these rolls that include a peppermint and white chocolate, blueberry poppyseed, almond raspberry and a classic cinnamon roll. But the pumpkin are my favorite.

Pumpkin Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Inspired and adapted from Little Spoon Farm

Dough:

• 1 stick butter
• 400 grams All Purpose Flour
• 125 grams Active Sourdough Starter
• 125 grams Pumpkin Puree
• 160 grams Milk
• 20 grams Honey
• 1T Pumpkin Pie Spice

Filling:

• 165 grams Brown Sugar
• 2T Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 2T Butter, melted

Glaze:

• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
• 2T Coffee Mate Pumpkin Pie Coffee Creamer (the secret ingredient)
• 1T Butter, melted

Instructions for Night Before:

1. Let stick of butter come to room temperature. Add flour to the bowl and cut the flour into butter with a fork to incorporate evenly throughout.
2. Add the sourdough starter, honey (or agave, I’ve used both without noticing a difference), pumpkin, milk and pumpkin pie spice. Use a spatula to incorporate ingredients until all the flour is incorporated. Knead dough until soft and smooth.
3. Let sit overnight.

Instructions for the Morning of Baking:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter baking dish (I use an 8×8 glass Pyrex baking dish).
2. Mix brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl and set to the side.
3. Punch down dough from yesterday and knead again into a round ball. Flour a flat surface to use for rolling out dough. Use a rolling pin to roll dough into a rectangle roughly 18 inches x 12 inches.
4. Brush melted butter onto the rectangle of dough leaving approximately one inch around the edges. Sprinkle the sugar and pumpkin pie spice mixture on the butter and coat the dough evenly.
5. Tightly roll the dough from one of the short sides so that the dough forms a log. Cut the log into 9 even slices. Place the rolls into the buttered dish.
6. Cook rolls for about 40 minutes (or until the tops are golden brown).
7. While rolls are cooking, make the glaze by adding the powdered sugar to a bowl and adding the Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer and melted butter. Mix until the glaze is glossy and smooth.
8. Pour glaze over warm rolls and add festive sprinkles if desired.

I adapted this recipe from littlespoonfarm.com – I use active starter instead of discard because I could never get the baking soda, baking powder and salt incorporated enough to prevent someone from taking a bite of gooey cinnamon roll mixed with salty baking soda. With active starter, the dough will rise overnight as well as in the oven so the baking soda and baking powder become unnecessary. I also have found that I needed to add a lot of flour to get the dough to not be sticky and difficult to roll. But, the star of this recipe is truly the Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer in the glaze, it brings the whole dish to a new level and makes for the best balance of flavors between the pumpkin and buttery dough.

I hope you all enjoy these rolls as much as my family does!

First published 8/29/22, updated 8/7/25