Description
Soft, yeasted cinnamon rolls filled with spiced apple pie filling and topped with rich cream cheese frosting. Perfect for weekend mornings, holidays, or any time you want to fill your home with the cozy scents of cinnamon and apples.
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 1 cup whole milk, warmed to about 110°F
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (or instant yeast)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Apple Pie Filling:
- 3 medium apples (Granny Smith or Honeycrisp), peeled and chopped
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
For the Cinnamon Butter:
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Start with your apple filling because it needs to cool down completely – this is where most people mess up. Throw your chopped apples in a saucepan with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and just a splash of water. Cook them for maybe 8-10 minutes until they’re soft but still have some bite. Mix that cornstarch with water to make a slurry, stir it in, and cook another 2 minutes until everything thickens up. Set it aside and forget about it.
For the dough, if you’re using active dry yeast, you gotta proof it first – warm milk, yeast, and a pinch of sugar in a bowl for 5-10 minutes until it gets all foamy and excited. Skip this if you’ve got instant yeast.
Dump your flour, sugar, and salt in the mixer bowl. Add your yeast mixture (or just milk if using instant), melted butter, and egg. Start slow so you don’t get flour everywhere, then crank it up to medium and let that dough hook work for 8-10 minutes. You want smooth, stretchy dough that bounces back when you poke it.
Grease a bowl, plop your dough in there, cover with a damp towel, and let it double in size – about 2 hours. I heat my oven to the lowest setting for exactly one minute, turn it off, and stick the bowl in there. Perfect little greenhouse situation.
Roll that risen dough into a big rectangle, maybe 15×10 inches – doesn’t have to be perfect. Mix your butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together and spread it all over, leaving a little border. Then scatter your cooled apple filling on top. Don’t go crazy with it or you’ll have filling squeezing out everywhere when you roll.
Roll it up tight from the long side – like you’re making a sleeping bag. Here’s my weird trick that actually works: use dental floss to cut the rolls. Slide it under the log, cross it over the top, and pull. Perfect cuts every time without squishing everything. Cut 12 pieces and arrange them in your greased 9×13 pan.
Cover them up again and let them puff up for another hour until they’re touching each other and look all pillowy.
Crank your oven to 350°F and bake these babies for 22-25 minutes until the tops are golden and they sound hollow when you tap them. Don’t overbake – they’ll keep cooking in the hot pan after you take them out.
While they’re baking, beat together your cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until it’s smooth and fluffy. Slather this all over the warm rolls and watch it melt into every single crevice. Pure magic.
Notes
Get everything to room temp first – cold butter and eggs will slow everything down and you’ll be waiting forever. I take my eggs out when I start my coffee in the morning.
That dental floss thing sounds ridiculous but it works better than any knife. My neighbor taught me this after watching me hack away at rolls with a butter knife like some kind of caveman.
Don’t panic if they look a little pale when you first take them out – they keep cooking in that hot pan. I’ve ruined more batches by leaving them in too long than taking them out too early.
Check your yeast before you start – if it’s been sitting around for months, test a little bit first. Dead yeast equals flat, sad rolls.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American