Apple butter makes fall feel cozy and so do cinnamon rolls, so let’s combine them! Apple butter cinnamon rolls are a fun fall weekend vibe or perfect for Thanksgiving morning while watching the parade!
Let me share a couple secrets to make the best cinnamon rolls that feel like getting them fresh from the bakery!
Use a piece of thread to cut the cinnamon rolls. A knife smooshes the rolls, the thread helps them keep their shape. All the products I used are from Amazon. If you don’t have prime, you can get a 30 day free trial here.
I also recommend adding a little extra butter and brown sugar on top.
But more importantly, heavy cream! The heavy cream gets soaked up and makes the cinnamon rolls bigger and more moist!
Another random note I find helpful, get yourself a pack of disposable shower caps. They’re perfect to put over metal bowls when letting dough rise!
Make sure you heavily grease the casserole dish too.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup warm milk (110-120°F)
- 63g granulated sugar (5 tbsp)
- 1 pkt instant dry yeast (7g / 2 1/4 tsp)
- 560g all purpose flour (4 2/3 cups) + extra for dusting
- 73g brown sugar (1/3 cups)
- 1 stick unsalted butter (113g / 1/2 cup), melted
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Filling
- 43g unsalted butter (3 tbsp), room temp
- 110g brown sugar (1/2 cup)
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 cup apple butter
Drizzle
- 3 tbsp melted butter plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 cup brown sugar mixed together
- 1 cup heavy cream
Icing
- 4oz cream cheese, room temp
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (extract)
- 240g powdered sugar (2 cups)
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- Extra apple butter to drizzle
Directions:
- In a stand mixer bowl, add the warm milk, yeast and granulated sugar and let stand about 5 minutes until foamy/frothy on top
- Using the dough hook, add the rest of the dough ingredients and mix on medium 8-10 minutes then put it in a ball in a greased bowl, covered, for about 2 hours until doubled in size
- Mix filling ingredients together into a paste and set aside
- Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dough to 12 inches x 24 inches and spread the filling on top
- Roll up the dough long ways and use a long piece of thread to slide under the dough and make 2 inches size cinnamon rolls
- Place them in a well greased 13×9, cover and let rest about an 1 1/2 hours
- Before baking, add the optional, but highly recommended butter brown sugar drizzle and heavy cream and bake covered in a preheated 350°F oven for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 20 or until golden brown and/or a thermometer in the middle is between 190°-200°F
- Mix the icing ingredients together and spread on cinnamon rolls after they’ve been out of the oven for 10 minutes. They need to still be warm but not hot. Add extra apple butter drizzle and swirl it around and enjoy!
These apple butter cinnamon rolls are so freaking delicious!
It’s your classic cinnamon roll flavor but elevated for fall with the apple butter complimenting this classic breakfast and dessert recipe for the holidays
We ate the leftovers for days and they hit every time!
If you wanted to make them ahead of time, I would make the recipe up until the second rise, so having the rolls rolled in the 13×9 covered and popped in the fridge. You can make the icing ahead of time too and keep in the fridge, then pull everything out a few hours before baking so the cinnamon rolls can come to room temp and start rising then you can complete the recipe easily the morning of a weekend or holiday!
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Amazon Products used in this recipe:
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