Pumpkin Crumb Buns are here to warm up your fall breakfast table!
Or for those on the go who don’t have time to sit down to tea, this is an easy grab and go breakfast option.
One of the best sellers when I owned my bakery, the crumb bun is a classic New Jersey staple and today I have pumpkin-ized it!
These light and airy pumpkin buns are not to be confused with crumb cake.
(Not that there’s anything wrong with crumb cake, but this is not a cake)
Pumpkin Crumb Buns are yeast buns similar to a cinnamon bun dough only it is baked in a pan, layered with pumpkin filling and piled high with crunchy, buttery, streusel topping!
Don’t be put off by the yeast dough portion of this recipe, I know making dough can be intimidating to some people.
It really is a simple recipe to make, it just takes a little extra time to wait for the dough to develop.
Otherwise it’s bing-bang-boom and you are eating Pumpkin Crumb Buns in no time!
Pumpkin Crumb Buns
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Serves: 12 Buns
Ingredients
- For the Bun Dough
- Almond Milk ¾ cup + 2 tbs (207ml)
- Oil or Vegan Butter melted ¼ cup (60ml)
- Granulated Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Dry Yeast 1 teaspoon
- Canned Pumpkin ½ cup (110g)
- All Purpose Flour 3 cups (375g)
- Pumpkin Pie Spice 2 teaspoons *Or a combination of cinnamon ½ tsp, nutmeg ¼ tsp, cloves ⅛tsp & ginger ¼ tsp
- Salt ½ teaspoon
- For the Streusel Topping
- Vegan Light Brown Sugar Packed ⅓ cup (70g)
- Vegan Granulated Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Salt ½ teaspoon (3g)
- Ground Cinnamon ½ teaspoon
- Vegan Butter 10 Tablespoons (140g)
- Cake Flour 1½ cups + 2 Tablespoons (195g)
- For the Pumpkin Layer
- Solid Pumpkin 1 cup (226g)
- Light or Dark Brown Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Cinnamon ½ teaspoon
- Nutmeg ¼ teaspoon
- Ginger ½ teaspoon
- Cloves ⅛ teaspoon
- Plant Based Egg egg replacer 2 teaspoons *or any egg replacer you prefer to equal 1 egg but without the liquid addition
Instructions
- First prepare the bun dough by combining the yeast and warm milk with a pinch of sugar
- After 5 minutes it should be frothy and that proves it is working, so you can proceed to mix the recipe
- Combine all of the ingredients including the yeast milk into the work bowl of your stand mixer with the dough hook attachment and mix for 2 minutes on low speed. Stop the mixer to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to help the dough incorporate evenly.
- If the dough looks particularly sticky (meaning it won't gather up from the bowl to form a dough) you can add another tablespoon or 2 of flour
- Mix for another 5 minutes then turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface and knead for 30-40 strokes until it forms a smooth ball of dough, adding flour if necessary but do not add too much or you will have a very stiff dough.
- Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl cover and allow to rest for about 1 hour at room temperature.
- Prepare the pumpkin layer by combining all the pumpkin filling ingredients together in a bowl, reserve.
- Next prepare the streusel topping by creaming the cold butter with both sugars - about 2 minutes.
- Add the cinnamon, salt and flour and mix just until combined and keep in the freezer until needed.
- After 1 hour of resting the dough, begin preheating your oven to 375° F. (I also like to use a pizza stone for baking crumb buns, if you have one, Great! Use it!)
- Remove the dough from the oiled bowl onto a lightly floured work surface and gently press the dough to release the gasses,, cut the dough into 2 equal pieces and and shape/roll each one into a rectangle shape the size of your GREASED but NO Parchment paper pan - I am using a 9" x 13" pan
- Dock the dough with a fork to allow stream to escape while baking
- Spread with the pumpkin filling, then the other half of the dough
- Cover the entire bun with streusel topping but do not use too much pressure to push the streusel into the pan, but rather use a fluffing motion and gently spread the streusel around the dough covering the entire dough
- Bake on the center rack in on the pizza stone in a preheated 375°F oven for 40 minutes, then turn the oven down to 325°F take it off the pizza stone (just by moving it to another rack) and bake for another 8 minutes or until the streusel is no longer doughy. (You can check this simply by moving a larger piece of streusel to the side with a fork or spatula to see if the center is still raw)
- Cool to warm before serving, cut into desired portions and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top of the buns.
Notes
Like any yeast pastry crumb buns are best served the day they are made, but you can wrap them tightly to keep them fresh for up to 4 days.
They will tend to dry out after a couple days, so I heat them wrapped in a damp paper towel in the microwave to make them slightly more moist to re-serve
They will tend to dry out after a couple days, so I heat them wrapped in a damp paper towel in the microwave to make them slightly more moist to re-serve
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