Purple Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
These purple cinnamon rolls are super fun and delicious thanks to the vibrant Okinawan sweet potato! Make sure to make my Okinawan sweet potato jam ahead of time to use in this recipe. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Is there anything more fun than turning your favorite foods purple? Of course not. Well, unless it’s turning your favorite foods rainbow colored. In any case, these purple cinnamon rolls are so fun! They’re based off my grandma’s cinnamon roll recipe, which I blogged about before, but with the addition of my homemade Okinawan sweet potato jam.
If you really don’t want to make a batch of jam for this recipe, I totally understand. I’ll give options for substitutions down below. But I promise it’s really, really good and used in a bunch of my other purple sweet potato recipes, so it’s definitely worth trying.
What are Purple Sweet Potatoes?
You might have seen purple sweet potatoes trending on social media or from the Netflix Blue Zones documentary. They are sweet potatoes that have a naturally vibrant purple color and lots of antioxidants.
That’s not why you should eat them, though. You should eat them because they taste good and look really cool! In fact, you should take this very healthy food and annihilate it with sugar, butter, and all the other rather unhealthy foods that make life great by using this recipe.
Now that I’ve definitely sold you on cooking “health foods” the way I do, let’s talk about what to look for at the grocery store. One very popular species of purple sweet potato is the Okinawan sweet potato, which has a light brown skin and light purple flesh that turns dark when cooked. These are popular in Japan, Korea, and Hawai’i, and it’s what I use for many of my recipes.
Okinawan sweet potatoes can be difficult or expensive to find on the mainland US, however, so there are some options for substitutes. One is the Stokes purple sweet potato, which was cultivated in North Carolina and is now grown in several states, including California. For me, on the west coast, I can typically find these pretty cheap. They have a purple skin and more of a reddish purple flesh. Their flavor is slightly different than Okinawan sweet potatoes, but they are similar enough that they can be used as a substitute.
If you don’t have Stokes, you might be able to find a similar sweet potato called the Molokai sweet potato. As the name implies, it’s also grown in Hawai’i, so it may not be more cost effective or convenient to find than the Okinawan sweet potato.
And if you can’t find any of the above, you may be able to use some ube products as a substitute.
Ube vs. Okinawan Sweet Potato
Purple sweet potatoes are commonly confused with ube, which is a purple yam from the Philippines. Given that ube is a yam and not a sweet potato, they are different species. However, both are purple, have a slightly floral flavor, and come from root vegetables, so I can see why they get confused.
Fresh ube is pretty much impossible to find in the US, so I recommend using sweet potatoes for this recipe. However, if you are really against making homemade sweet potato jam, you can use a store-bought ube jam, called ube halaya, to substitute.
I DO use ube extract for the frosting in this recipe, however, as it was the best way I could find of incorporating the sweet potato color and flavor into a cream cheese frosting. More on that down below!
Types of Yeast for Cinnamon Rolls
My recipe calls for active dry yeast, which is what I typically keep in my fridge (yes, keep your yeast in your fridge to make it last longer!). For this kind of yeast, you need to activate it by letting it sit in warm water or milk with a bit of sugar for about five minutes before using. If the liquid gets foamy, that’s how you know your yeast is alive and working.
Alternatively, you can use instant yeast, which you just dump in with the dry ingredients.
Purple Cream Cheese Frosting vs. Glaze
I am solidly on team cream cheese frosting when it comes to cinnamon rolls. However, I found that it was really hard to get a purple color and sweet potato flavor naturally. The cream cheese flavor is just too strong!
I ended up adding ube extract, which has artificial coloring and flavoring, to get the purple cream cheese frosting. You could omit the ube extract completely for just regular cream cheese frosting.
If you really want a purple sweet potato topping that is all natural, another alternative is to make a sweet potato glaze, like I did with my purple sweet potato Pop Tarts. Simply mix one fourth cup of the homemade purple sweet potato jam with one cup of powdered sugar. You’ll get a naturally purple glaze to top your cinnamon rolls.
More Purple Dessert Recipes:
Looking for more purple sweets? Check these out:
- Okinawan Sweet Potato Haupia Pie Bars
- Ube Matcha Latte
- Ube Butter Mochi
- Purple Sweet Potato Pop Tarts
- Purple Sweet Potato Latte
Purple Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Rolls
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk, warmed
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 4 cups flour
- 2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast, (or one packet)
- 1/2 cup Okinawan sweet potato jam for the dough
- 2 cups Okinawan sweet potato jam for the filling
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
For Cream Cheese Frosting*
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 tsp ube extract
Instructions
- Mix yeast and cup of milk. Milk should be warm to the touch but not steaming. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk salt, sugar, and flour.
- Check your wet ingredients to make sure your yeast has become slightly frothy at the top. That means your yeast is working. If your yeast has not frothed or foamed at all, you may need to try a new pack. Assuming your yeast is fine, add wet and dry ingredients together with melted butter, 1/2 cup jam, and eggs. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated, but do not knead the dough.
- Place dough in a greased, sealed container and place in warm spot to rise for about two hours or until doubled in size. At this point, you can either continue making the recipe or place your sealed container in the fridge to use at a later time.
- Roll dough out into a rectangle roughly 16×20 inches.
- Spread sweet potato jam on top of the dough. If your jam is too thick to spread, microwave it for a few seconds until it gets warm and loosens up.
- Mix ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom (note: you can use just cinnamon if you're not a fan of the other spices). Sprinkle over the jam.
- Roll the rectangle of dough lengthwise so you get a long log. Slice log into 12 equal rounds.
- Lay the cinnamon roll pieces flat in a greased 9×13" baking dish, leaving space between each piece for the next rise.
- Cover the dish and let rise for another half hour. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- After 30 minutes, your cinnamon rolls should look puffy and be almost touching. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until rolls are cooked through.
- When rolls are done, let them cool almost completely to room temperature. Meanwhile, make the frosting by beating all ingredients together either in a stand mixer or with an electric beater.
- When cinnamon rolls have cooled, smother with frosting and enjoy!
Notes
- If you don’t want to make my Okinawan sweet potato jam, you can substitute store bought ube halaya to make ube cinnamon rolls.
- If you’d like super purple rolls, you can add ube extract to the wet ingredients prior to mixing the dough.
- You can also add 1/4 cup jam to the cream cheese frosting, although it won’t be purple enough to dye the frosting, and, to be honest, the cream cheese flavor kind of overpowers the sweet potato flavor.
