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Pumpkin pull-apart loaf is a flaky breakfast danish that you bake up easily, using refrigerated biscuit dough and pumpkin puree. It’s an easy brunch recipe, but it also makes the perfect snack or easy pumpkin dessert recipe!
Easy Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread
Every year this happens: August 1 hits and I start thinking about back-to-school which leads me to thinking about things happening in the fall…which leads me to thinking about pumpkin recipes. You see, pumpkin recipes for a food blogger are like the kids going back to school: the promise of something new and exciting. Pumpkin recipes are the beginning of something wonderful; the start of the fourth quarter, also known as the holiday season.
So, in the hopes that if you build it, he will come I’m posting a pumpkin recipe in August to bring on fall. And because I made this weeks ago and I just want to share it NOW! If you revolt, well then, oh well. Pin it for later and come back when you’re wearing a scarf and boots.
Pumpkin Pie for breakfast
A few years ago I made Pumpkin Danish (also posted in August, BTW) and everyone went nuts for it. I can see why, it’s a great recipe. When I was looking back at some old pumpkin posts, I remembered that one and decided to do another breakfast recipe using that pumpkin pie filling. Enter: Pumpkin Pull-Apart Loaf.
This is a simple recipe using biscuit dough and pumpkin puree – it’s like pumpkin bread meets pie!
Ingredients Needed
- Pumpkin Puree – not pumpkin pie mix
- Grands! Biscuits or similar product – not the flakey kind, they’ll fall apart
- Pumpkin Spice – to give that pumpkin spice flavor we all love so much.
This is an easy recipe, great for breakfast or dessert (or snack or lunch or ….). You start with a can of biscuits (I used Grands). The “pull-apart” is created when you slice each biscuit in half and stack them (with filling in the middle), then bake them in a loaf pan. You can pull apart the layers, hence the name.
I’ve also made pull-apart loaves with bacon, with cinnamon rolls, and from scratch. I love them – they’re so much fun (and, in the case of this one, so easy!)
Half the work is done for you when you make this pumpkin pull-apart loaf, since you’re starting with biscuits.
How to make Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread
- The pumpkin mixture is just some canned pumpkin puree mixed with an egg for binding, sugar for sweetness, and spices. I used pumpkin pie spice because it’s just easier than pulling out all the other spices (I’m so lazy).
- Slice the biscuits in half horizontally. I also dipped each slice of biscuit in cinnamon sugar.
- Sandwich the biscuit halves with the pumpkin mixture.
- Place stacked biscuit and pumpkin halves into a loaf pan and bake until golden and baked through.
- Make a simple cinnamon glaze for the top of the pull apart.
Easy Pumpkin Pull-Apart Loaf
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (183g) pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie mix
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 large egg
- 1 can 8 count Pillsbury Grands Biscuits (homestyle or buttermilk, not flaky)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Glaze:
- ½ cup (57g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) heavy whipping cream or milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8×4 or 9×5 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray (use the kind with flour for best results).
- Stir together the pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and egg. Set aside.
- Open the can of biscuits and slice each in half horizontally. Stir together remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Coat each slice of raw biscuit dough with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Lay one slice of dough flat. Spread some pumpkin mixture on top, then place another biscuit piece on top. Add more pumpkin mixture and continue stacking, spreading, and layering until you’re out of biscuits and pumpkin. Place carefully into the pan.
- Bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden and the center is cooked through. Cool before glazing. Note: the center shouldn't be raw, but will be moist and gooey. If the top starts to brown too fast, cover with foil and reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
- To make the glaze: whisk the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and heavy whipping cream until a smooth sauce forms. Drizzle over loaf, pull apart, and serve.
- Store loosely covered for up to 2 days.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- You can skip the glaze but it’s so good!
- Bread can be frozen without frosting.
Recipe Nutrition
Favorite Biscuit Recipes
Last Updated on August 26, 2023
Thanks for answering my question. I was thinking that type of dough would work. I have not made gf cinnamon rolls yet but want to. If I try your recipe I’ll let you know.
I’m gluten and dairy free. I know how to replace the dairy but the gluten? I’ve tried several recipes for biscuits but they are not very good. Do you think this would work with a gf style of yeast dough? I understand if you have no idea. It’s just really hard sometimes seeing all these yummy looking recipes and trying to adapt them. Pumpkin is one of my favorite ingredients. Thank you!
GF dough is on my list of things to try. I’ve made pull apart loaves using homemade cinnamon roll dough (https://www.crazyforcrust.com/2014/08/cinnamon-roll-pull-apart-bread/) but I haven’t tried that dough with GF flour. When I try it I’ll try with Bob’s Red Mill GF 1:1 (the teal bag, a 1 to 1 sub for all-purpose). If you try it let me know how it works! You could use that same dough recipe with the pumpkin from this one.
It is starting to look like fall around here! 🙂
I cut the biscuits so that each one makes two biscuits, each 1/2 the thickness of normal (put each biscuit on its edge and slice it in half…hope that makes sense.) And I propped my loaf pan up on its short edge and stacked them in the pan as I went.
Yes that’s it exactly! I just made a video for the recipe, I’ll be adding it to the post this week some time.
Since the biscuits are presumably round, how are they sliced horizontally? And I don’t get stacking them on top of each other either…do you just grab the stack with both hands and then put it (horizontally) in the pan?
I feel the same way about summer right now. I am tired of triple digits and getting into a boiling car. We have a Shih-Tzu puppy who weighs all of 3 pounds, and he isn’t old enough to take to the groomers yet, and he just cooks when he goes out with all his fluff, but he loves butterflies and smelling the roses, so that is my positive for the day and my boy who loves that little dog.
It is never,NEVER, to early to post pumpkin recipes. I made pumpkin chocolate cookies this weekend because I wanted something fall-ish. Yumm! Love the sound of this bread, and it will be making an appearance soon at my house! Thank you for another great recipe!
I hope you enjoy!! My dog is a golden, she’s got so much fur we have to shave her in summer because she’s so uncomfortable during the night!
I’m with you on the heat and wanting all things fall ! This recipes is making me salivate … For realsÂ
Good for you, posting pumpkin now.  Fall is my favorite season!  And I’m tired of struggling to keep the pool chemistry right (I know, first world problems) and always lathering on the sunscreen. Your photo of the pumpkin purée made me salivate!
Wow! looks yummy. I’d like some now. 🙂
Thanks for the tip J. S.! I really appreciate it!