Overnight Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls

Get ready for what might be the coziest, most delicious breakfast you will make all year. These are not just any cinnamon rolls. These are Overnight Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls, made with a secret-weapon brown butter filling and a luscious maple-cream cheese glaze. They are the absolute pinnacle of fall and holiday baking.

The best part? You do almost all the work the night before! You’ll wake up to a pan of beautifully risen rolls, ready to pop in the oven. In under 30 minutes, your home will be filled with the most incredible aroma of warm spices, and you’ll have a pan of the softest, gooiest, most flavorful cinnamon rolls imaginable. The brown butter in the filling adds a nutty, toasty depth that is a complete game-changer, and the tangy cream cheese glaze is the perfect finishing touch.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Make-Ahead Magic: Assembling these the night before means you can have warm, gooey, homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast with almost no morning effort.
• The Brown Butter Filling: This is our “SUPER delicious” secret. It adds an incredible, nutty, caramel-like flavor that makes these rolls taste gourmet.
• The Ultimate Cozy Treat: The combination of soft, fluffy dough, warm pumpkin spice, and a tangy cream cheese glaze is pure comfort-food perfection.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Let’s bake the ultimate holiday breakfast. Here’s how.

First, let’s gather our beautiful, cozy ingredients for the dough and filling.

Next, make your dough. We’ll make a simple, enriched dough that includes real pumpkin puree for incredible softness, then let it rise until it’s doubled in size.

While the dough rises, make the secret-weapon filling. This is where the magic happens! We’ll gently cook butter until it becomes a fragrant, nutty brown butter, then mix it with brown sugar and spices to create the most incredible, aromatic paste.

Now for the fun part: rolling and filling! We’ll roll our soft, risen dough into a big rectangle, then spread that incredible brown butter and pumpkin spice filling all the way to the edges.

Then, we’ll slice and let them rest. Roll the dough into a tight log, slice it into beautiful, thick rolls, and arrange them in a pan. This is where the make-ahead magic happens—the whole pan goes into the fridge to rest overnight!

Finally, bake and glaze! In the morning, just pop the pan in the oven and bake until golden and bubbly. While they’re still warm, we’ll smother them in a luscious maple-cream cheese glaze that melts into every nook and cranny. Pure heaven.

Ava’s Notes

• Don’t Overheat Your Milk! When you’re activating the yeast, you want the milk to be warm to the touch, not hot. If it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast and your rolls won’t rise.
• Room Temp is Key: For the fluffiest rolls, make sure your egg and butter for the dough are at room temperature. For the glaze, your cream cheese and butter must be very soft to get a smooth, lump-free finish.
• Dental Floss Trick: The cleanest way to slice your log of dough into perfect rolls without squishing them is to use unflavored dental floss! Just slide it under the log, cross the ends over the top, and pull.

Overnight Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls

0.0 from 0 votes

Servings

9

servings

Prep time

40

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Total time

10

hours 

45

minutes

The ultimate holiday breakfast! Soft, fluffy pumpkin cinnamon rolls with a nutty brown butter-spice filling, prepped the night before and finished with a tangy maple-cream cheese glaze.

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Ingredients

• For the Dough:
  

• 1 c whole milk, warmed

• 2 1/4 tsp tsp instant yeast (1 packet)

• 1/4 c granulated sugar

• 1/2 c pumpkin puree

• 1 large egg, at room temperature

• 1/4 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• 4 c all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp salt

• For the Brown Butter Filling:

• 1/2 c unsalted butter

• 1 c packed brown sugar

• 2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tbsp cinnamon, 2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp cloves)

• For the Maple-Cream Cheese Glaze:

• 4 oz cream cheese, very soft

• 1/4 c unsalted butter, very soft

• 1 1/2 c powdered sugar

• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• A pinch of salt

Directions

• Make the Dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the warm milk, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, egg, and melted butter. Add the flour and salt and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Knead on a floured surface for 8-10 minutes (or in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5-7 minutes) until smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours, or until doubled in size.
• Make the Filling: While the dough rises, brown the butter. Melt the 1/2 cup of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook, swirling, until it foams and you see nutty brown specks. Immediately pour into a bowl to cool. Once cooled, stir in the brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice to form a thick paste.
• Assemble the Rolls: Punch down the risen dough and roll it out on a floured surface into a large rectangle (approx. 12×18 inches). Spread the brown butter filling evenly over the dough, leaving a small border on one long edge. Roll the dough up tightly into a log, starting from the long edge.
• Slice and Arrange: Slice the log into 9 equal rolls. Arrange them in a greased 9×9 inch baking pan.
• Overnight Rise: Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, or up to 18 hours.
• Bake: The next morning, remove the pan from the fridge. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Let the rolls sit at room temperature while the oven preheats. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the rolls are a deep golden brown and cooked through.
• Make the Glaze and Serve: While the rolls are baking, beat the very soft cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy. Let the rolls cool for 5-10 minutes, then spread the glaze generously over the warm rolls. Serve immediately.

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