Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling

Cozy up with these cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling! These soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls are filled with an apple pie filling and covered in a maple syrup icing.

Ingredients Needed

• Flour: I'm using all-purpose flour for these cinnamon rolls.
• Unsalted Butter: I always use unsalted butter in my recipes, this helps control the level of salt!
• Spices: Adding a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg to the dough is going to make your dough lightly spiced.
• Heavy Cream: Pour some heavy cream over the cinnamon rolls just before baking to give you gooey cinnamon rolls.
• Apples: I'm using Granny Smith apples because I prefer my apple pie filling to be slightly sour and tart! You can also use Honeycrisp apples or Gala apples.
• Cornstarch: Add some cornstarch to the apple pie filling to thicken it up.

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Make your apple pie filling. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced apples, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cinnamon and cook for 5-8 minutes.

Step 2: Pour the apple pie filling into a large bowl and stir in the cornstarch. Let cool completely.

Step 3: Warm up your milk, if it's too hot it will kill the yeast so have it be lukewarm. Add the yeast and stir. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, until you see some bubbles and foam.

Step 4: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. On low speed, add the eggs, butter, and milk mixture. Beat on low speed for 2-3 minutes, then increase the speed to medium.

Take the dough out and lightly oil it. Place the dough back in and cover with clingfilm. Let sit until doubled in size, about an hour to an hour and a half.

Step 5: Take the dough out and roll it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out to be 18x12 inches. Use a pastry brush to brush the softened butter over the dough, leaving a ¼-inch border. Whisk together the light brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle that over.

Use a spoon to spoon out the apple pie filling over the cinnamon sugar. Roll the dough up from the long side.

Step 6: Butter a 9x13-inch pan. Use dental floss or a knife to cut the cinnamon log into 12 equal pieces and place it in the buttered dish.

Step 7: Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap for 1 hour so it can rise. After 45 minutes, preheat the oven to 350ºFahrenheit.

Step 8: Just before baking, warm up the heavy cream in the microwave. Pour over the cinnamon rolls and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Whisk together the maple icing ingredients and pour over the warm cinnamon rolls. Enjoy!

Expert Tips & Tricks

• I always recommend using a kitchen scale! It makes such a big difference to your baking, and it's so easy to add too much flour to your cinnamon rolls, giving you dry rolls.
• I recommend letting the apple pie filling chill completely before adding to the dough. When adding to the dough, leave any extra liquid in the bowl.
• This is going to be messy when you roll up the cinnamon roll dough, keep that in mind!
• If you're finding it hard to cut into slices, I recommend using dental floss to slice into rolls. Another option is to use a pizza cutter, like i I did with my small batch cinnamon rolls.
• I prefer brushing the dough with softened butter instead of melted butter. I've found the melted butter tends to leak out when I roll up the dough!
• If you prefer a cream cheese icing, check out this brioch cinnamon roll recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions

Storage

Wrap up these cinnamon rolls with apple pie fillings or place them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. Reheat in the microwave.

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