Southern-Style Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls [Soft + Gooey]

Closeup of Southern-Style Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls

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5 from 6 votes

Southern-Style Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls [Soft + Gooey]

These Southern-Style Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls are fluffy as a cloud and melt in your mouth with every bite.

Prep Time20

Cook Time40

Rise Time:1 20

Total Time1

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Keyword: baked, brioche, carrot cake, carrots, cinnamon rolls, citrus, classic, cream cheese, dairy-free, dessert, easy, fall recipe, fluffy, homemade, plant-based, recipe, southern, spices, spring, sweet, vegan, vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 438kcal

Author: Shanika

Ingredients

DOUGH:

2 cups freshly-grated organic carrots
3 ¼ cups organic All-purpose flour (See Notes!)
2 cups Artisan Bread flour
⅓ cup organic brown sugar + 1 Tbsp
1 packet Rapid Rise Yeast (That's 2 ¼ tsps!)
¼ cup WARM water (See Notes!)
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs, room temp.
1 cup Almond milk, room temp. (You can also use regular dairy milk or your fave plant-based milk, if preferred!)
¼ cup pure maple syrup
¼ cup organic pineapple juice (I like to use the juice from canned pineapple)
6 Tbsps unsalted butter, melted + cooled until warm (Make sure that it's WARM, not hot!)
2 tsps vanilla extract

FILLING:

½ cup organic brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

CITRUS CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:

4 oz. organic cream cheese, softened at room temp. (That's ½ a pack!)
4-5 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsps organic heavy cream or milk (You can also use regular dairy milk or your fave plant-based milk, if preferred!)
½ orange, freshly-squeezed

GARNISH (OPTIONAL):

Your fave nuts, toasted (I like to use a mix of pecans + walnuts)
Coconut flakes
Grated carrots

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

TO MAKE THE DOUGH:

Combine yeast and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and slowly pour in warm water while stirring frequently. Allow 5-10 minutes for the mixture to sit and for the yeast to activate and become "foamy".
Add in the room temperature milk and warm melted butter to the yeast mixture and whisk until well combined. Add in the eggs (one at a time), maple syrup, grated carrots, pineapple juice, and vanilla, whisking to incorporate.
In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves, orange zest, and sea salt and add them to the wet ingredients and mix on low-speed until well combined and everything begins to form into a dough-like consistency, about 2-3 minutes.
Change “Mixer head” to kneading accessory and knead dough for 5-10 minutes on high speed until dough ball becomes smooth and elastic and dough springs back when lightly pressed together with 2 fingers. NOTE: If dough is still too sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until texture is achieved!
Lightly grease a large bowl with a small amount of olive oil and place the dough ball in the bowl, tossing it around until coated. Cover with plastic wrap (or a towel) and let sit for 1 hour, allowing the dough to rise and double in size.
In the meantime, you can work on the filling!

FOR THE FILLING:

Add the softened the butter (best if done at room temp. so that it's more "paste-like" in texture once smeared) in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar, mixing them together. Set aside.

ASSEMBLY + BAKE:

Once the dough has risen fully, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper, allowing excess to hang from the sides.
Add a bit of flour to a surface and place the dough onto it, lightly adding a bit of flour to the top. Using a rolling-pin, roll out the dough into a rectangular shape (approximately 9″x14 and ½-inch thick), trimming the edges if needed. NOTE: Try not to make the dough too thin or else rolling it up will be hard to do!
Then, generously add ¾ of the softened butter atop dough (spreading it out evenly with a spoon or knife), followed by the brown sugar-spice mixture, ensuring that the top is coated evenly. NOTE: I also use a 'pastry brush' to sweep sugar mixture evenly across the dough to ensure that every bite is sweet!
Tightly roll dough (long-ways) and using a pastry cutter, cut dough into 1.5" rolls, placing each roll (cut side down) into a large baking dish (lined with parchment paper!).
Then place plastic wrap over the baking dish with rolls, smear the tops with remaining softened butter and let them rise again (for another 20 minutes).
Once the rolls have doubled in size (once again!) or have gotten significantly larger, bake them for approximately 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven.
While all the baking magic is happening, make the Cream Cheese Glaze.

FOR THE CITRUS CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:

In a large bowl, beat (using a hand-mixer) the softened cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, orange juice, cinnamon, orange juice, and heavy cream/milk, beating everything together until the glaze becomes smooth and velvety. NOTE: Add additional heavy cream (1 tablespoon at a time) if the glaze is too thick or powdered sugar (1 tablespoon at a time) if too thin.
Remove the rolls from oven and wait 10 minutes before spreading HALF of the glaze atop the rolls using a rubber spatula. This adds moisture to your rolls. Then after another 5 minutes, add the REMAINING glaze atop the rolls as a "final layer", evenly spreading it until fully covered. Top with toasted pecans, coconut flakes, and/or grated carrots, if desired.
To serve, cut out each roll desired and enjoy.
Bon Appetit!

Notes

TO STORE: Cinnamon Rolls can be kept fresh at room temperature when tightly wrapped or sealed for up to 3 days. Fresh for up to 1 week in the Refrigerator. Baked rolls can be frozen up to 2 months.
RAPID (INSTANT) RISE YEAST VS. ACTIVE DRY YEAST: If you’re not using the Rapid Rise Yeast for this recipe, please know that the rise time will be twice as long (about 3 hours) since regular Active Yeast doesn’t work as quickly.
FLOUR: If you don’t have bread flour, you can always just use all-purpose flour entirely instead.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: If you're looking to make these GF, I recommend substituting both flours with Bob's 1:1 Baking flour and slightly reducing the amount by 1 cup, slowing adding more if the dough is too sticky.
OVERNIGHT OPTION: If you don’t want to make your Cinnamon Rolls on the same day, you can simply follow all steps (including the initial 1+ hour rise) and after cutting rolls and placing them into your baking pan, just cover them tightly (using foil paper of plastic wrap) and refrigerate them overnight or for 8-12 hours instead. The following day, remove from refrigerator and keeping them covered, let cinnamon rolls rise at room temp 1 to 1 ½ hours.
VEGAN OPTION: To make these carrot cake cinnamon rolls vegan, simply omit the eggs and substitute with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar. Also, substitute the butter with vegan butter and omit the cream cheese and add ¼ cup of softened vegan butter instead.

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