Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls
These are definitely not your average apple buns from a supermarket! These apple butter cinnamon rolls are super fluffy and filled with a perfect fall combination of cinnamon, apple, pecan, and apple butter flavors. Finish it off by topping it with apple butter cream cheese icing and chopped pecans and you have yourself an extra special apple butter breakfast recipe.
Equipment
- Hand or stand mixer
- 9"x 13" pan or 12 ea muffin tin
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
Dough
- 1½ tsp Active dry yeast
- 2 Tbs Warm water no hotter than 120°F
- 30 g Granulated sugar
- 192 g Whole milk
- 382 g All purpose flour plus extra for rolling
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 5 Tbs Butter, unsalted Softened
Apple cinnamon filling
- 1 Stick Butter, unsalted melted, not hot
- 212 g Light brown sugar
- 2 Tbs Cinnamon, ground
- 1 cup Pecans finely chopped plus extra for garnish
- 1 ea Apple peeled and finely diced
- 170 g Apple butter
- ½ Cup Heavy cream
Cream cheese apple butter icing
- 86 g Cream cheese room temperature
- 1½ Tbs Butter, unsalted softened
- 90 g Powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
- 1½ Tbs Apple butter
- ½ ea Lemon juice
Instructions
To prepare the dough:
- Whisk together the yeast with the warm water then combine with the rest of the ingredients.
- Using your hand mixer or stand mixer with dough hook attachment(s), mix on low speed until incorporated, then on medium speed until you achieve the windowpane test. About 7-10 minutes.
- Test for the windowpane by taking a small portion of dough and roll into a ball. Stretch it out gently starting in the middle into a square shape, and until the center is a thin film. If your dough easily stretches thinly without tearing and you can see the gluten strands, then the dough is ready. If it rips easily, then you need to mix more.
- Cover the dough and allow to proof until 1.5 its size.
To prepare the filling:
- Melt the butter and whisk vigorously with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside at room temperature.
- Set aside separately the apple, pecans, apple butter, and heavy cream.
- Prepare your baking pan with parchment paper and pan spray or prepare your muffin tin with pan spray.
To roll out, fill, roll, and cut:
- Flour a work surface and turn the dough onto your surface. Dust the top of the dough with flour.
- Roll into a 14"x 10" rectangle.
- Spread the cinnamon butter mixture evenly across the rectangle leaving a half-inch gap around the edges.
- Spread the apple butter on top again leaving the half-inch gap.
- Sprinkle the pecans and apple pieces on top but this time leave an inch and a half along one long edge.
- Starting with the long edge with the larger gap of pecans/apples, start to tightly roll. When you roll about one-third of the way, you can roll less tightly and focus more on keeping the stuff inside.
- With the seam facing down against the table, slice the ends off using a serrated knife with a gentle sawing motion or using dental floss by pulling sightly with it wrapped around. Slice into 12 pieces.
- Arrange the rolls in either your pan or muffin tin. Cover and allow to proof until 1.25x their size.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
To prepare the cream cheese apple butter icing:
- Beat the cream cheese until creamy then cream in the butter. Mix until creamy.
- Cream in the powdered sugar and cinnamon followed by the apple butter. Set aside.
To bake and finish:
- Pour the heavy cream over the buns and bake for 30 minutes rotating halfway through. The buns should be golden brown (lighter towards the middle) with an internal temperature of at least 190°F.
- Allow to cool until still warm then spread the cream cheese icing. Top with chopped pecans if desired.
Nutrition
Calories: 474kcalCarbohydrates: 66gProtein: 6gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 343mgPotassium: 164mgFiber: 3gSugar: 27gVitamin A: 706IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 82mgIron: 2mg
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