Caramel apple cinnamon rolls take 90 minutes to make and are filled with bits of apple, fall spices, and smothered in caramel frosting!
This is a variation of our popular 90 minute cinnamon roll recipe which I've used to create pumpkin cinnamon rolls, lemon sweet rolls, orange rolls and now caramel apple cinnamon rolls. I even use the dough for our braided candy cane cherry bread during the holidays! The best part is that the rolls only rise 30 minutes!
Watch our step by step video!
Cinnamon rolls are delicious all year long, but there's just something so cozy about making them in the fall. Warm, gooey, and packed with cinnamon flavor. These ones also include nutmeg, one of my favorite spices! And let's not forget the apples. Apple picking is in full swing as the summer months close so it's a great time to use up those delicious apples in baking. Our apple cinnamon pull apart bread is a nod to my Grandpa and the loaves he'd bring to us on the weekends!
Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls
If you haven't made caramel frosting before your mind is about to be blown. I've made it for cinnamon rolls in varying consistencies. Sometimes I make it the thickness of buttercream and other times it's more of a caramel sauce. That's what we're doing today. A caramel sauce that glazes over the rolls. Perfection!
Quick Cinnamon Roll Dough
This dough comes together with basic ingredients.
- You’ll combine the milk and butter and heat until the butter has melted. Then cool to lukewarm. You can do this over the stove or in the microwave.
- While that mixture cools, mix your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Then add the milk/butter mixture, along with the egg, and water to the dry ingredients. Mix well. You can use a Kitchenaid or (my favorite tool) a Danish dough hook until a soft dough forms.
- After kneading the dough, cover and let it rest for 10 minutes. I LOVE that it doesn’t need to rise for an hour!
Caramel Apple CINNAMON ROLL FILLING
- While the dough rests, make the filling. The filling will be about the consistency of frosting.
- Combined softened butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and nutmeg.
You'll roll the dough out into a rectangle (about 9x12") then spread with the filling and sprinkle with diced apples. The type of apple that you use is completely up to you! I used Granny Smith apples this time, but any apple is delicious. Just make sure to peel then chop the apples into tiny pieces. The smaller the apple pieces, the better they will cook in the baking process.
Roll up and slice the dough into 12 sections (I like using unflavored dental floss to slice my rolls) and place in a greased baking pan (9×13″). You may have apple chunks try to escape while rolling up the dough and slicing it. Thats fine. Just tuck them back in the best that you can.
Cover and let rolls rise for 30 minutes then bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes (until tops are golden brown).
Caramel Frosting (Glaze)
While the cinnamon rolls rise and bake, make the caramel frosting.
You'll then heat the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan and boil for a couple of minutes before reducing the heat and stirring in milk. Bring to a boil once more then remove from heat. Then you'll want to cool the sauce to room temperature before whisking powdered sugar into it. If you start the frosting as soon as the rolls start to rise, it should cool down to about lukewarm by the time they are finished baking. You can speed up this process by refrigerating the mixture.
Once it's room temperature, whisk in the powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time. Pour and spread frosting over warm cinnamon rolls.
This recipe makes 12 cinnamon rolls and they reheat beautifully in the microwave.
Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls Printable Recipe
Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Rolls
- ¾ cup milk
- ¼ cup butter softened
- 3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. instant yeast
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ cup water
- 1 egg
Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup butter softened
- 2 apples peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
Frosting
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Rolls
- Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in butter; stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm.Note: you can also microwave milk and butter in a microwave safe bowl for 60-90 seconds.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 ¼ cup flour, yeast, sugar, nutmeg and salt; mix well. Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well.
- Add the remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, 2-3 minutes.
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and softened butter. It should be the consistency of frosting.
- Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle.
- Spread dough with butter/sugar mixture. Sprinkle with diced apples.Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place in lightly greased baking sheet.
- Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes, or until browned.
Frosting
- While rolls rise and bake, make the frosting. In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; simmer and stir 2 minutes. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling the remove from heat.Cool to room temperature, about 30-45 minutes. (Can speed up the process by refrigerating the mixture until room temp/lukewarm).
- Gradually stir powdered sugar (½ cup at a time) into brown sugar mixture. Spread/pour over warm rolls.
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