Spiced Pumpkin Crunch Knots with Pumpkin Butter Filling

overhead image of piled pumpkin crunch knots wit white flowers and cup of coffee on parchment paper.

Spiced Pumpkin Crunch Knots with Pumpkin Butter Filling

Tender, sweet, and perfectly spiced! These Spiced Pumpkin Crunch Knots with Pumpkin Butter Filling are the perfect breakfast treat to bake this Fall.

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 45

Cook Time: 30

Proofing Time: 1 30

Total Time: 2 45

Servings:

Calories: 273kcal

Ingredients

Pumpkin Butter

1⅓ cups pumpkin purée
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar firmly packed
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
⅓ cup apple cider

Dough

4 cups all purpose flour*
½ cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon instant yeast
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup salted butter
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup pumpkin purée
1 large egg room temperature

Topping

¼ cups granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Crunch

½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon all purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 Tablespoons butter melted

Instructions

Pumpkin Butter

Combine pumpkin, sugars, spice, and cider in a medium saucepan.
Cook and stir over medium heat for 15 minutes. Set aside.

Dough

Spray a lidded plastic container or glass bowl with cooking spray. Set aside.
Combine flour, sugar, yeast, spice, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook.
In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter until butter melts.
Remove from heat.
Cool to between 120℉ and 130℉.
With mixer on low, pour milk mixture over dry ingredients.
Add pumpkin and egg.
Mix to a rough dough, about 1-2 minutes.
Increase speed to medium high.
Knead until dough is smooth and cleans the bowl, about 8-10 minutes.
Turn dough into prepared container.
Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes. (If using a proofing box with a water tray, do not cover. Temperature should be set as 78℉.)

Topping

In a small bowl, stir together sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

Crunch

In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour, spice, and butter.
Mix well. Set aside.

Assembly

Heat oven to 350℉.
Line 3 sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface.
Sprinkle top with flour.
Roll into an 18 inch square.
Spread pumpkin butter over top of dough.
Fold dough in half.
Using a pizza cutter, or a sharp knife, cut dough into 18 one inch strips.
Brush off excess flour.
Working with 1 strip at a time, turn seam side up.
Tie in a loose knot.
Tuck ends under.
Place on prepared pan.
Repeat with remaining dough strips.
Sprinkle each knot with ½ teaspoon topping.
Top each knot with 1½ teaspoons crunch.
Bake for 17 minutes, until starting to brown.

Notes

*This recipe was written using an average of the dip and sweep method for measuring flour and the spoon and level method. If you are using a scale, you will need to add 3/4 oz or 22 g to the measurement for each cup of flour.

Substitutions:

Store-bought pumpkin butter can be used for the filling.
Cinnamon makes a great substitute for pumpkin pie spice!

Expert Tips:

Be sure to stir the pumpkin butter constantly! You don’t want it to burn.
The pumpkin butter mixture will be thick when you first stir it together. Cooking it really doesn’t change the consistency that much, but it really helps meld all the flavors together.
Check your yeast and make sure it’s in-date and active.
Do not use pumpkin pie filling for this recipe. You need pumpkin purée.
If milk mixture does accidentally boil, don’t worry! You haven’t hurt it. It just takes longer to cool down this way. Just give it time to cool to 120-130 degrees before pouring it into the dry ingredients.
Don’t have a big enough lidded container to allow the dough to rise? You can put the dough in a glass bowl sprayed with cooking spray and cover it with plastic wrap!
It's best to use an offset spatula to spread the filling across the dough.
When shaping the knots, use the images above to help! It's best to think of shaping them as tying them like a pretzel.

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