Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Roll with a bite taken out of it.

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Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls are the best way to start any morning! These sweet, gooey, soft rolls filled with apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, and caramel are so craveable, but surprisingly simple to make. Whip up a batch and enjoy for breakfast, brunch, dessert, or a snack with an afternoon cup of tea.

Prep Time30

Cook Time35

Rise Time1 30

Total Time2 35

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apple cinnamon buns, apple cinnamon rolls, caramel apple cinnamon buns, fall breakfast recipes

Servings:

Calories: 388kcal

Author: Jill

Equipment

Stand Mixer

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter melted
1 3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
4 1/2 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons powdered milk
1 envelope dry active yeast (very fresh)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Filling

5 tablespoons butter very soft, but not melted
2/3 cup light brown sugar packed
1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
2 Granny Smith apples cored and finely chopped
1/4 cup caramel sauce homemade or store-bought

Topping

3/4 cup caramel sauce

Instructions

Make the dough: Fit a stand mixer with the dough hook and large mixing bowl. Add the warm milk, yeast, egg, sugar, salt and melted butter to the bowl. Whisk thoroughly by hand.
Tip in the ﬂour. Turn the stand mixer on at its lowest speed and mix for 6 minutes. You may need to scrape the bowl down once or twice.
After 6 minutes test the dough by touching it with a clean and dry ﬁnger. If the dough sticks to your ﬁnger add extra ﬂour a tablespoon at a time until the dough no longer sticks to your ﬁnger. It should feel slightly tacky but shouldn’t stick.
When the dough is ready, add a small drizzle of olive oil to a bowl and turn the dough into the bowl. Flip the dough over a few times so that it’s coated in oil. Cover the bowl with clingﬁlm and leave to rise in a warm place. This will take approx 1 hour but might take longer depending how warm your kitchen is. You are looking for the dough to double in size.
Make the ﬁlling: Add the brown sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl and mix together. Chop the apples into small bite-sized pieces.
Assemble the rolls: When the dough has risen to twice its size remove it from the bowl and turn out onto a lightly ﬂoured surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle of roughly 8x15 inches.
Spread the 4 tbsp of very soft butter on to the surface of the dough then sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar and chopped apples. Drizzle over 1/4 cup of caramel sauce.
With the longest side facing you, roll the dough up into a tight sausage shape. Pinch the seam of the dough together with your ﬁngers.
Cut the dough sausage in half and then cut each half into 6 equal pieces. Ours were about 5cm each.
Grease a rectangular baking dish (ours was 12 inches) with 1 tbsp butter. Arrange the rolls in the dish leaving a bit of space in-between. Put the dish somewhere warm for 30 mins, during this time the rolls will puﬀ up and join together.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Bake the rolls in the center of the preheated oven for 35-40 mins or until the rolls are lightly brown. Check on them after 20 minutes or so and if they are browning too quickly, cover them with foil.
Once baked, remove from the oven and drizzle over 3/4 cup caramel sauce.
Serve while still warm. Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe uses warm milk and it’s important that it isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast. Heat the milk in 30 second intervals in the microwave. This usually only takes just over a minute. Check the milk by inserting your ﬁnger, if you can hold it in there and it’s not too hot the milk is at the correct temperature.
When you touch the dough with a clean and dry ﬁnger it will feel tacky but it should not stick to your ﬁnger. You may need to add up to 1/2 a cup of extra ﬂour a tablespoon if the dough is too sticky.
If you ﬁnd the rolls don’t rise to double in size it’s likely they weren’t warm enough. Wait longer than the time stated so that the yeast has a chance to get to work.
Another reason for dough not rising is inactive yeast so double check the expiry date. It could also be the milk was too hot so err on the side of caution before you add the yeast to the milk.
Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls have a slightly longer bake time than regular cinnamon rolls. This is because they have a wetter ﬁlling due to the apples and caramel sauce. You may need to bake them for longer than 40 minutes if you ﬁnd they are still doughy in the middle. In that case, cover the dish with foil to avoid the tops browning too much.

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