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Carrot Cake Sweet Rolls

Perfect for spring and warmer days, these carrot cake sweet rolls taste like a cross between a cinnamon roll, carrot cake, and hot cross buns. The dough is a soft and subtly spiced brioche, swirled with carrot cake filling and crystalized ginger, and topped with a delicious brown butter cream cheese frosting. It's the perfect balance of flavors, and makes for a great breakfast treat!
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Prep Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Rising Time 3 hours
Total Time 5 hours
Servings: 12 rolls
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Dough
  • 1 cup whole milk warmed to about 110℉
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
  • 6 Tablespoons salted butter melted and slightly cooled
  • 3 large eggs lightly beaten
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups all purpose flour
Carrot Cake Filling
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • ¼ cup salted butter softened
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon clove
  • ½ cup raisins
  • ¼ cup crystalized ginger finely chopped
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 4 Tablespoons salted butter
  • 6 ounces full fat cream cheese at room temperature
  • 1 ½ cups confectioners sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • a pinch of salt

Method
 

Start by making the dough
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the warm milk, yeast, and brown sugar. Cover with a paper towel and let rest for 5 minutes. The yeast should foam up during this time, and if it doesn't your yeast is dead and you should start over with new yeast.
  2. Add in the butter, eggs, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and 1 cup of the flour and whisk until smooth. Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and use a large rubber spatula to fold together until you have a sticky dough.
  3. Turn the dough out on a heavily floured work surface and knead it gently for roughly 2 minutes, until you have a sturdy ball of dough. It should be sticky, but if it's so sticky to the point that it is difficult to handle, add more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time. Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
Make the filling
  1. In the last 10 minutes or so of rising time, make the filling. Line a bowl with a paper towel and place the shredded carrots on top. Place another paper towel on top and press to remove some of the moisture from the carrots. You should have about ½ cup of packed shredded carrots.
  2. In a medium sized bowl using a rubber spatula, spread mix together the carrots, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. Stir in the raisins and crystalized ginger. The mixture might look a little split, that's ok.
Shape the rolls
  1. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with butter and set aside
  2. On a floured work surface, roll the dough into a 12×16 inch rectangle. Spread the filling in an even layer on top. Slowly and carefully, roll the dough into a 16 inch log. Slice the log into 12 rolls. Arrange the rolls in the previously prepared baking pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or cling wrap and let the rolls rise for 1 hour.
Bake
  1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Bake the rolls uncovered for 20-22 minutes or until lightly browned and hollow sounding when you tap on them. While the rolls cool a little, make the frosting.
Make the frosting
  1. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, keep cooking, stirring frequently until the butter begins to sizzle and foam, and it will then start to brown. Once the butter has turned a dark amber color, remove from the heat and let it cool for 2 minutes or so.
  2. Using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, in a medium sized mixing bowl whip the cream cheese on medium high speed until smooth and cream. Add the confectioners sugar, vanilla, salt, and brown butter. Mix on low speed until mostly combined before turning the speed up to high to whip the frosting for one minute. The frosting should be creamy and slightly runny.
  3. Serve rolls warm with a generous dollop of cream cheese frosting!
  4. Rolls will stay fresh sealed in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Store frosting and rolls separately so they will last longer.