These soft, fluffy, and beautiful purple hue sweet potato cinnamon rolls are made with mashed purple sweet potatoes and iced with purple sweet potato frosting will have you asking for more!
Peel the purple sweet potato and cut into slices. Steam over medium heat for 15 minutes until they can be easily mashed with a fork. You can transfer to a food processor or a blender to blend until smooth
Combine all the wet ingredients in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook attachment and turn on to low speed (stir on Kitchen Aid). Add the dry ingredients and continue to mix until the flour is no longer flying around. Increase the speed to 2 and continue to knead until you can form a dough. If the dough seems really dry and won't come together, add a bit more milk, one teaspoon every 30 seconds or so. If the dough is a bit too wet, add one teaspoon of flour every 30 seconds until you get a rough dough. It all depends on how moist or dry the purple sweet potato is
Once you get a rough dough, increase the speed to 4 and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 to 8 minutes.
First proofing:
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a cling wrap. Let it ferment until it doubles in size. When you poke your finger into the dough, the indentation stays. This indicates a properly proof dough. This may take one to two hours depending on the temperature
Prepare the filling:
Combine all ingredients for the filling and set aside. Make sure the butter is softened so it's easier to mix
Assemble the rolls:
Grease a 9 x 9 inch pan with some butter. You can also line the pan with parchment paper like I did
Transfer the proofed dough to a work surface. Give it a knead a few times to degas the dough and then roll the dough out into a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches. Spread the filling on the dough surface, leaving about 1 inch space from the edge of one of the long sides
Start rolling from the long side near you into a tight log. When you reach the other long end, pinch the seam shut to seal. Use a bit of water to help if necessary
Use a serrated knife to cut the log into 9 equal pieces. Transfer each roll into the pan and arrange them into 3 x 3
2nd proofing:
Cover the pan with a damp kitchen towel and let the dough proof at a warm place until they almost double in size and the dough touches each other, this may take another hour or two hours, depending on the temperature where you are
About 10-15 minutes before end of proofing, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven, 330 F (165 C) for convection oven, with the rack positioned in the middle
Baking:
Put the pan on the baking rack and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotate the pan halfway so they bake evenly. If you have an instant-read thermometer, it should be around 190 F (88 C)
Prepare the frosting:
While the rolls are baking, prepare the frosting by whisking softened butter until they are smooth. Add the purple sweet potato puree, icing sugar, lemon extract, ube extract, and milk. Whisk until combine and it has thick but pourable consistency. A consistency you can easily spread. Add more milk as needed if it's too thick
When the roll is out of the oven, spread half of the frosting over the warm rolls and then let them cool down for 15 minutes and then spread the remaining frosting on top
If you don't plan to serve the rolls on the same day, don't prepare the frosting yet. Prepare the frosting on the day you plan to serve them
How to store:
The rolls can be covered and keep at room temperature for about two days since we don't use any cream cheese in the frosting
For longer storage, I recommend not frosting the rolls just yet. You can wrap the already cooled down rolls and wrap individually with a plastic wrap and put inside the freezer bag and freeze for up to one month. Simply reheat by covering them with a foil and reheat in the oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes. Frost them while they are still warm
Notes
The all-purpose flour I use has a protein content of about 10%. If you use flour such as King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour, which has a gluten content of 11.7%, you can use 360 grams of flour instead
If you don't have ube extract, you can use a bit of purple food coloring. Without the purple food coloring, the purple sweet potato will turn into green or blue