Homemade apple cinnamon rolls have warm and gooey centers, golden brown edges, and a generous drizzle of sweet caramel icing on top. Start the day with a treat that’s half apple pie and half homemade cinnamon rolls in one!
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Greeting us all at the corner of comfort food and calorie-laden are APPLE CINNAMON ROLLS drowning in caramel icing. Each bite combines our favorite flavors of apple pie with the pure goodness of cinnamon rolls. Move over every other type of cinnamon roll out there… there’s a new boss in town. (We still love you, maple cinnamon rolls.)
There are 3 parts to love about today’s apple cinnamon rolls:
- Rich, homemade cinnamon roll dough
- Cinnamon-spiced brown sugar apple filling
- Sweet caramel icing (!!)
Let’s get down to basics, though. How many of you are nervous when it comes to yeast? Proofing it, working with it, kneading dough. Forget the haunted hay ride this year, yeast is terrifying enough, right?? Well, trust me, I used to fear working with yeast too. But once I started to use it, my fears quickly subsided.
Apple Cinnamon Rolls Ingredients
The dough we use to make apple cinnamon rolls is a rich dough, which means that it’s prepared with fat like milk, butter, and eggs. Rich doughs make soft breads such as Nutella babka, dinner rolls, and glazed doughnuts. It’s soft and supple, rises up beautifully, and has this crazy awesome buttery flavor. Lean doughs, on the other hand, are made without much fat and produce crusty bread such as focaccia, homemade bagels, and pizza dough.
You need 7 ingredients for apple cinnamon roll dough:
- Milk: Liquid activates the yeast. Nondairy or low fat milks are fine, but whole milk produces phenomenal flavor and texture.
- Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers.
- Sugar: Sugar feeds the yeast, increases its activity, and tenderizes the dough.
- Eggs: Eggs provide structure and flavor.
- Butter: Butter promises a flavorful dough.
- Salt: You canโt make flavorful cinnamon rolls without salt!
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the structure of the dough.
And just a few more ingredients for the filling + glaze:
- Filling: Butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and apples
- Glaze: Confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and salted caramel
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Nothing compares to the flavor of homemade and you’ll be surprised how quickly these cinnamon rolls come together. You can even get started on these rolls the night before!
- Prepare the dough: The dough comes together with a mixer. You can also make the dough by hand, but it requires a bit of arm muscle. After the dough comes together in the mixing bowl, itโs time to knead. You can simply continue beating the dough with the mixer for this step or you can knead the dough by hand. See my How to Knead Dough video tutorial if you need extra help with this step.
- Let the dough rise: The dough rises in about 1โ2 hours.
- Punch down the dough: Punch down the dough to release the air.
- Shape the cinnamon rolls: Roll the dough out into a 12ร18-inch rectangle. Spread the butter on top, then evenly sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture. Top with chopped apples. Tightly roll up the dough and cut into 12 equal rolls. Place in a greased 9×13-inch pan and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Let the rolls rise: Allow the rolls to rise in a warm environment for about 45-60 minutes or until puffy.
- Bake: Bake until the rolls are lightly browned. About halfway through the bake time, I like to cover the rolls loosely with aluminum foil so the tops donโt brown too much.
- Drizzle with caramel icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm rolls. Serve warm!
Here are a few step photos of the process:
The filling = brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and apples. Music to our ears. (By the way, you could also add apples to the filling in these no yeast cinnamon rolls!)
Let the rolls rise once again until they are puffy.
You have the option of making them in the morning OR you can get started the night before. You could also freeze them to prep ahead for a special breakfast or brunch. Whichever you choose, the rolls bake up into this gorgeous golden-brown color. And just WAIT until you smell them baking.
By the way, if you can’t get enough of apples and cinnamon for breakfast, try my apple cider French toast next!
IcingโYou Have Options!
You have a couple options for icingโI’ll let you be the judge. Some of my suggestions:
- Cream cheese icing from big giant cinnamon rolls
- Maple icing from maple cinnamon rolls
- Vanilla icing
- Caramel icing = which is my vanilla icing with 2 spoonfuls of salted caramel stirred in. I highly recommend this version, for obvious reasons. This would also be fantastic drizzled on apple turnovers.
In short, we’re combating fears of yeast, satisfying our weekend cinnamon roll cravings, and embracing fallโall at the same time! Go ahead… let’s indulge.
More Cinnamon Roll Varieties:
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Orange Sweet Rolls
- Blueberry Sweet Rolls with Lemon Glaze
- Raspberry Sweet Rolls
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- Maple Pecan Sticky Buns
- Lemon Sweet Rolls
- Birthday Cake Cinnamon Rolls
Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Prep Time: 4 hours (includes rises)
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 40 minutes (or overnight)
- Yield: 12 rolls
- Category: Cinnamon Rolls
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Warm and gooey apple cinnamon rolls with delicious caramel icing on top. Fall breakfast has never tasted so good!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, warmed to about 100ยฐF (38ยฐC)
- 2/3 cup (135g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons (14g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star (2 standard–size packets)*
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 and 1/2 cups (563g) all-purpose flour or bread flour (spoon & leveled), plus more as needed
Filling
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 cups (250g) peeled chopped apples (about 2 medium apples)
Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 Tablespoons warmedย salted caramel
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, 2 Tablespoons sugar, and the yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow mixture to sit for about 5 minutes or until foamy on top. *If you do not own a mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula is a better choice.*
- On medium speed, beat in the remaining sugar (which should be 1/2 cup/100g) and the softened butter until it is slightly broken up. Add the eggs and salt and beat on medium speed until combined. The butter won’t really be mixing into the mixture, so don’t be alarmed if it stays in pieces. Switch the mixer down to low speed and with it running, add 1 cup of flour at a time, making sure it’s fully incorporated before adding the next. After 4 cups have been added, add the last 1/2 cup and beat until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes. Dough will be soft.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If youโre new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your fingerโif it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a โwindowpane testโ to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until itโs thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or use nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter and it takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Grease the bottom and sides of a metal or glass 9×13-inch baking dish or line with parchment paper.
- Roll out the dough: Punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 12×18-inch rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick. If the dough keeps shrinking as you roll it out, stop what you’re doing, cover it lightly, and let it rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten. When you return to the dough, it should stretch out much easier.
- Fill the rolls: Spread the softened butter all over the dough. In a small bowl, toss the brown sugar and cinnamon together until combined and then sprinkle evenly over the dough. Top evenly with chopped apples. Tightly roll up the dough to form an 18-inch-long log. Cut into 12 equal rolls. Arrange them in the prepared baking pan. Cover the rolls very tightly with aluminum foil.
- 2nd rise: Cover the rolls tightly and allow to rise until puffy, about 45-60 minutes.(Or use the overnight option in the Notes below).
- Preheat the oven to 375ยฐF (191ยฐC).
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until they lightly browned on top. About halfway through baking time, tent a piece of aluminum foil over the pan to prevent the tops from browning too quickly. Remove pan from the oven and place pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes as you make the icing.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm rolls. Serve warm.
- Cover leftover frosted or unfrosted rolls tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions โ Overnight: To prepare the night before serving, prepare the rolls through step 7. Cover the rolls tightly and refrigerate for 8โ12 hours. (16 hours max. 8โ12 hours is best, but 16 hours is OK if absolutely needed. Do not exceed 16 hours.) The next morning, remove from the refrigerator and allow to rise on the counter for 1โ2 hours before continuing with step 9.
- Make Ahead Instructions โ Freezing: You can freeze cinnamon rolls for up to 3 months, and I recommend a few different methods for freezing cinnamon rolls. The first method is to freeze them after shaping, before theyโve had their 2nd rise (step 7). Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then let rise for 1.5โ2 hours at room temperature before baking. The second method is to par-bake the risen rolls for 10 minutes, let cool completely, then cover and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. Finish baking for 15โ20 minutes. You can also freeze fully baked cinnamon rolls. See How to Freeze Cinnamon Rolls for more details about all of these methods.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl and Silicone Spatula /ย Wooden Spoon | Rolling Pin | 9×13-inch Glass Baking Pan or Metal Baking Pan | Cooling Rack | Whisk
- Milk: I recommend using whole milk for the best, richest-tasting dough. You could also use buttermilk. Reduced-fat, low-fat, or nondairy milk works in a pinch. Do not use nonfat milk.
- Yeast: I always use Platinum Yeast from Red Star, an instant yeast. You can use an active dry yeast instead, if needed. The rise times could be slightly longer. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I have not made these rolls yet. Possible for me to mix the dough in my bread maker the finish the product by hand?
Hi Sharon, we haven’t tested it, but let us know if you do!
I love all of your recipes! I made the Apple Cinnamon Rolls yesterday! My neighbor gave me some heirloom hard crunchy PEARS from her old tree!! I chopped them up small before spreading them over the brown sugar layer. Then rolled and sliced them up into 12 equal slices and put into a buttered stoneware 13×9 pan for the 2nd rise. I had to bake them a little longer probably because of the stoneware, but I think it cooks more evenly. We had with icecream in a jar made with whipping cream, sw cond. milk, vanilla, allspice and ginger and some pear sauce I also made. SO YUMMY! Will make again.
Cinnamon rolls were on my baking bucket list, so I made these for a church function. I guided the lily by using maple icing and chopped, toasted pecans. I used my chopper to get the apples pretty fine, so I was afraid theyโd be too liquid; they were not. I used the overnight method, and they baked up beautifully.
I was intimidated by the dough, as Iโve never made an enriched yeast dough, but, as always, your instructions were so thorough that I had no trouble at all. They are a lot of effort, but well worth it.
Thank you!!
I’m so disappointed for you.
I find them absolutely amazing. Will never use another recipe or buy store bought again.
These were amazing! The dough was a dream to work with and I have a long history of fighting with doughs. I used Granny Smiths that I sautรฉed in a bit of butter and brown sugar before adding to the rolls because I was afraid they’d be too crunchy. I also upped the butter/brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. These may be our new holiday breakfast treats! Thank you!
I doubled the recipe. oh my god. So good. I also added your salted caramel recipe to the top of them once cooled. a wicked treat to be proud of after cooking them and are ready to devour.
I wanted the recipe for no yeast cinnamon rolls
How much of each ingredients. .?
Hi Rosie, here’s our recipe for no yeast cinnamon rolls. You can tap the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page to get to the full written recipe.
can you use this recipe and add apples to it?
I set Sunday aside to make this recipe. It took the better part of the day, but was so worth it. I do not have a mixer so I kneaded by hand; it was no problem.
They come out just the right size. The texture was nice a fluffy, but not too fluffy. The blended apples, spices, and caramel icing was delicious.
I purchased Coop’s Salted Caramel Sauce from Mom’s grocery. This is a labor intensive recipe, so this helped keep it simple and stress free.
I will definitely make again, but I might swap out the cinnamon for cardomom. yum!
Thank you for the recipe.
Hey, can you also use a ceramic pan?
Hi Ana, That should be fine. Enjoy!
Really good. I followed the easy caramel recipe and then used that on my rolls. Stainless steel pan is a must. I also ran my apples through the food processor to give them a more even spreadable texture. I cut my rolls wide and baked them in 2 metal 9″ pie pans. This allows them to spread and get texas-sized while still being the fluffy, soft texture you want. Saw some people complaining about kneading- I ran these in my mixer on 4 for about 7 minutes. Came out wonderful.
Hi! Big fan of your recipes! Question on these apple cinnamon rolls. What do you think of the new phase where everyone is pouring heavy cream on top before baking. Yay or nay?
Hi Sherry, we don’t find it to be necessary, but let us know if you give it a try!
Delicious rolls, I left in for 10mins longer, and they were still raw so cooking time should be adjusted but otherwise perfect!
Skeptical. It took way longer than 5 mins kneading by hand to even get a remote windowpane effect in my dough. Who knows if it will even work. Then the caramel was a COMPLETE fail to the point I have to throw my pot in the garbage, there should be better instructions to help avoid mishaps. I have to walk a couple miles to the store now (no car) to buy caramel, if these rolls are even are edible. Clearly I’m cranky due to this recipe attempt. Be forewarned, this isn’t for novice bakers.
I’m so disappointed for you.
I find them absolutely amazing. Will never use another recipe or buy store bought again.
Whoops, sounds like you didn’t read the instructions thoroughly before you jumped in. I hope you didn’t give up after your first attempt!
So delicious!!! The dough was so easy to make and to work with. Iโve never had dough work out so well before. If you make these I definitely recommend adding more filling. I probably added a little less than 1/4 cup extra brown sugar and more cinnamon and apples and it could use more. Iโd suggest a full cup of brown sugar and as much cinnamon as your heart tells you. I did 3 apples and it was a good amount. The apples were still a little crunchy but I like them that way, it gives it a good texture
The dough turned out fluffy and gooey (especially the next day with a 30 second zap in the microwave). It has a perfect amount of apple but I would have loved heavier cinnamon and brown sugar taste to make it even sweeter (although it was perfect balance for my crowd at Friends giving this year).
Hey Sally, I have just made these using the overnight method, the buns are on the counter for the second rise, but after checking them I have noticed liquid on the bottom of the dish, just visible in some of the small gaps. Any idea if this will affect the bake?
Hi Eimear, that’s likely just a bit of the filling as it comes to room temperature, but shouldn’t be a problem when baking. Hope you enjoy the cinnamon rolls!
Unfortunately, this recipe was a bit underwhelming for me. The dough was super easy to work with, but the rolls barely fit in my 9×13 pan. I thought the apples were a tad crunchy. I would sautรฉ them a bit next time, and also use more apple. I personally like a lot of goo. This filling was seriously lacking for my taste. I made a small batch salted caramel sauce, but Iโm not sure it added anything. Iโve made many of your recipes and have loved them. This was a miss for me, but I may use the apple idea in my favorite cream cheese cinnamon buns from KAF. I look forward to making more of your recipes!
Great recipe.!!! Has anyone tried the prebake for 10 minutes option?