If you make just one thing this whole pumpkin season I would recommend that it be these Pumpkin Croissant Rolls. They taste like a little chunk of heaven rolled into buttery, flaky layers. Oh man, seriously so delicious!
I am going to warn you now that they are so insanely delicious that you might find yourself hiding them from yourself so you don’t eat the whole pan in one sitting. I mean, you can eat the whole pan if that is your thing. Who am I to tell you what to do?!?!
They melt in your mouth and have the most beautiful subtle pumpkin flavor. They do take time to make but most of that time is resting time. So I could consider these to be a moderate recipe that is technical but not too hard. Also, They can be made ahead of time then frozen before they rise and bake!
I am here to guide you through the process so you will not be intimidated!
What you will need to make these pumpkin croissant rolls:
Makes 10 large croissant rolls
Butter square:
- 1 cup salted butter – semi soft
Pumpkin croissant dough:
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon instant active yeast
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons softened salted butter
Egg Wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Equipment:
- Mixing bowl
- 2 small mixing bowls
- Rolling pin
- Parchment paper
- Plastic wrap
- Clean surface to roll dough on
- Cookie sheet
Instructions for pumpkin croissant rolls:
1 – First, you are going to make a butter square with 1 cup of semi-softened butter. On a piece of parchment paper, form the butter into about a 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch square that should be about 1/2 inch thick. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the square and pat down with a rolling pin to level and smooth the butter. Place the butter piece in the fridge to chill and firm up.
2 – Next, we are going to make the dough! In a small bowl combine warm water with instant active yeast. Stir the yeast into the water and let it sit for about 3 minutes. It will get little foaming bubbles and that means It is activated. You technically can skip this step when using instant active dry yeast but I do it anyways.
3 – Now, In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and stir those dry ingredients together. Now, add the yeast and water mixture, milk, pumpkin puree and softened butter.
4 – Mix until the dough is all incorporated, you don’t need to over mix or knead because we don’t want a huge gluten response here. (gluten response is when the gluten gets activated by kneading or mixing and gets a chewed bubblegum texture, you do that with breads and other recipes but not this recipe)
5 – Once dough can be formed into a ball form a disc shape and wrap it in plastic wrap. (see picture below). Place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
6 – After 20 minutes, take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured or non stick surface. Roll dough into about a 10 inch by 10 in square. (again you can see mine is not a perfect square and that’s OK) Grab your butter square from the refrigerator and place it diagonally on your rolled out dough. (see the picture below).
7 – Now fold the corner sides towards the middle of your square to form a little package. Press the seams slightly together.
8 – Roll the dough into a 12 inch by 12 inch square. (I somehow missed a picture of this step)
9 – Next do a try fold on the 12 x 12 inch square by folding in one side then the other side on top.
The side view should like this picture below.
10 – Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place back into the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
11 – Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll into about an 18 X 6 inch rectangle.(picture below) If it’s a little wider than 6 inches that is OK too.
12 – Tri-fold the dough again.
13 – Wrap in plastic wrap again and place dough in refrigerator for 20 minutes more.
14 – Roll dough into about an 18 inch by 8 inch rectangle or as long as you can roll it without breaking the dough or having too much butter come through the top of the dough.
15 – Slice dough into 10 long triangles. (see the picture below)
16 – Make a small slice at the center of the wider part of the triangle. This is going to help you roll the Croissants and have the sides come out and give you that classic croissant shape. You can curve the sides to make a crescent shape when rolling to give them a traditional butter croissant shape.
17 – Roll the dough from the wide side of the triangle to the narrow side with the point on the top middle of the croissant.
18 – Place the Croissants on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and allow enough room for the croissants to rise. Side note: You could freeze these rolls at this point before they have a chance to rise. just freeze them not touching on a cookie sheet. Once frozen place them in a sealed freezer bag. When you pull them out later you will just let them rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours before baking.
19 – Lightly cover the rolls with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Allow them to rise for roughly 40 minutes.
20 – In a small bowl, mix together egg wash ingredients and brush over the tops of the pumpkin croissant rolls.
21 – Preheat oven to 425 and bake for 12-15 minutes. If the tops start to over brown and you don’t think the rolls are done then cover tops of the rolls with a sheet of aluminum fold while the rolls continue to bake. Enjoy!
These pumpkin croissant rolls slightly denser than a traditional croissant but oh so delicious!
Here are a few other pumpkin recipes you may love:
Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake
Pumpkin Cornbread
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Pumpkin Croissant Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter semi-softened
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon instant active yeast
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoon salted butter softened
- Egg Wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- First, you are going to make a butter square with 1 cup of semi-softened butter. On a piece of parchment paper, form the butter into about a 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch square that should be about 1/2 inch thick. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the square and pat down with a rolling pin to level and smooth the butter. Place the butter piece in the fridge to chill and firm up.
- Next, we are going to make the dough! In a small bowl combine warm water with instant active yeast. Stir the yeast into the water and let it sit for about 3 minutes. Now, In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and stir dry ingredients together. Now, add the yeast and water mixture, milk, pumpkin puree and softened butter. Mix until the dough is all incorporated, you don't need to over mix or knead because we don't want a huge gluten response here. Once dough can be formed into a ball, form a disc shape and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured or non stick surface. Roll dough into about a 10 inch by 10 in square. Grab the cold butter square from the refrigerator and place it diagonally on your rolled out dough.
- Now fold the corner sides towards the middle of your square to form a little package. Press the seams slightly together.
- Roll the dough into a 12 inch by 12 inch square.
- Next do a tri-fold on the 12 x 12 inch square by folding in one side then the other side on top.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place back into the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll into about an 18 X 6 inch rectangle. If it’s a little wider than 6 inches that is fine too.
- Tri-fold the dough again.
- Wrap in plastic wrap again and place dough in refrigerator for 20 minutes more.
- Roll dough into about an 18 inch by 8 inch rectangle or as long as you can roll it without breaking the dough or having too much butter come through the top of the dough.
- Slice dough into 10 long triangles.
- Make a small slice at the center of the wider part of the triangle. This is going to help you roll the Croissants and have the sides come out and give you that classic croissant shape. You can curve the sides to make a crescent shape when rolling to give them a traditional butter croissant shape.
- Roll the dough from the wide side of the triangle to the narrow side with the point on the top middle of the croissant.
- Place the Croissants on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and allow enough room for the croissants to rise.
- Lightly cover the rolls with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Allow them to rise for roughly 40 minutes.
- In a small bowl, mix together egg wash ingredients and brush over the tops of the croissants. Preheat oven to 425 F. and bake for 12-15 minutes. If the tops start to over brown and you don't think the rolls are done then cover tops of the rolls with a sheet of aluminum fold while the rolls continue to bake. Enjoy!