Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Caramel apple cinnamon rolls stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar, caramel, granny-smith apples and drizzled with apple cider caramel sauce and pecans. My cinnamon rolls have the most wonderful, bakery-style buttery flavor! These apple cinnamon rolls are the perfect fall treat! 

Halll-ooooooh!

It’s Friday and i’m bringing you perfectly baked apple cinnamon rolls drizzled kissed all over with apple cider caramel sauce! I am giving you the assignment of making these over the weekend and feeding all your friends and family these cinnamon rolls. You crazy, crazy good apple cinnamon rolls. My, my, you have your tricky ways of pulling at my heart strings. ♥

We ain’t messin’ around here. No way, no how. Cinnamon rolls for reals, in the most delicious way possible. Caramel apples and pecans rolled up in brown sugar and cinnamon sprinkled buttery dough and drizzled in apple cider caramel sauce. Holy moly! These caramel apple cinnamon rolls are crazy good!

If it doesn’t feel like fall where you live (it definitely doesn’t feel like fall where I live) then let me share these extra indulgent, feels like fall, full of apples and cinnamon, all hugs and smiles – caramel apple cinnamon rolls.

*drools*

This is my classic cinnamon roll recipe kicked up a notch. Fluffy, soft, doughy, sweet, and loaded with buttery cinnamon sugar swirls. It took me some time to perfect my cinnamon roll dough recipe and I have a definite winner for you. This dough is heavily adapted from my this recipe. ← YES, you can bake your cinnamon rolls in individual muffin cups too if you want.

Brunch is going to bo exciting with these caramel apple cinnamon rolls!

My cinnamon rolls are easy and super quick to make. They take just over an hour to make from start to finish. Perfect to bake and serve the family on a saturday morning. And you don’t have to get up at 5am to do so.

If LSJ is a frequent stop for you, you know that I am deathly terrified of baking yeast breads. See here for proof. So let me say this, if I can do it, so can you. This is easy peasy. We take baby steps, just a leetle beet at a time.

The dough for today’s recipe is quick and easy to throw together. We’re not wasting hours upon hours just waiting to let the dough rise.. We want apple cinnamon rolls and we want them NOW! This cinnamon roll dough recipe makes exactly 12 rolls. You can bake 11 of them in a round 9-inch pan 12 will fit in a 9×13. I’m not letting even one of these bad boys go to waste! It’s easy to double the recipe and bake them on a sheet pan if you’re cooking for a crowd.

With the exception of 1 ingredient, the dough ingredients are pretty much what you see in every recipe: a little flour, sugar, butter, yeast, milk, water, and an egg. My 1 ingredient that’s not used in cinnamon roll recipes? Powdered milk. Just 2 tablespoons of it. It just adds a nice texture and more bakery-like flavor to these apple cinnamon rolls.

For the caramel sauce, feel free to use your favorite homemade or store-bought caramel. I used my apple cider caramel sauce recipe to make my caramel sauce. The cider flavor + caramel + sour sweet granny smiths give these apple cinnamon rolls such a unique flavor. I also added in a few tablespoons of pecans. I love the crunch pecans add to cinnamon rolls. Feel free to leave them out if it’s just not your thing.

I asked you guys on Instagram yesterday whether I should put this recipe up for Friday or wait till Monday. And almost everyone responded Friday. So here it is, guys! Thanks to all those that helped get these up here just in time to enjoy the splendor of these caramel apple cinnamon rolls over the weekend.

Please, oh please, oh please, oh please, make these cinnamon rolls this weekend (try not to eat the whole pan), and share them with your family and friends. Oh, and take pictures and tag them on Instagram with the hashtag #littlespicejar because I definitely want see you guys making/sharing/eating these!

Have a great caramel apple cinnamon roll filled weekend! 🙂

Continue to Content

Yield: 12 rolls

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Caramel apple cinnamon rolls stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar, caramel, granny-smith apples and drizzled with apple cider caramel sauce and pecans. My cinnamon rolls have the most wonderful, bakery-style buttery flavor! These apple cinnamon rolls are the perfect fall treat!

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Ingredients

Dough Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons salted butter or ghee
• 3/4 cup milk (I used cow's milk)
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 1/4 - 3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 envelope 'rapid rise' or instant yeast (approx. 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 2 tablespoons powdered milk
• 1 egg, room temperature

Caramel Apple + Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

• 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 5 tablespoons salted butter, softened
• 1 large granny smith, cored and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional

optional

• 3/4 cup caramel sauce (homemade or store-bought)

Instructions

1. dough: In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine the milk, water, and butter. Heat on high for 1 minute, remove and stir. Continue to heat in 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until the butter melts and the milk is warm. If the milk is hot, allow the mixture to sit on the counter for a few minutes. You want it to be warm to the touch before you proceed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add 3 cups of flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk, and the yeast. Add the warm milk mixture and the egg. Beat on medium-low speed to combine. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides and form a ball. I needed the entire 3/4 cup for my dough. Continue running the dough in the machine for another 5 minutes on the medium-low speed setting. Remove dough from hook and cover with dough (just the doughs surface) with plastic wrap. Let dough rest for 10-15 minutes.
2. cinnamon brown sugar: In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and ground nutmeg until combined.
3. rolls: when the dough is ready, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a 14x10 inch rectangle. (you can trim the edges with a pizza cutter if you want the dough to be a perfect rectangle.) Using a small spatula, spread the softened butter out evenly over the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon brown sugar mixture. Top with apple and pecan pieces. Drizzle 1/2 cup of caramel sauce on top. Roll up the dough tightly, cut into 12 even pieces and place in a lightly greased 9-inch round or 13 x 9 rectangle pan*. I used dental floss to cut my cinnamon rolls, it's easier than using a knife.
4. rest: Loosely cover the rolls with a towel and allow to rise in a warm, dark place for 20-25 minutes. If you have the time, allow them to sit for 35 minutes, that's even better. TIP: heat a 200 F degree oven, Turn the oven OFF and place the rolls inside the oven and allow them to rise. It's the perfect little trick to get them to rise in 20 minutes.
5. bake: When the dough has risen, uncover the dish. Place a rack near the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the caramel apple cinnamon rolls for 15-18 minutes or until the rolls are golden and cooked through. Remove and let cool on a wire cooling rack for 5 - 10 minutes. Drizzle with the remaining caramel sauce and serve warm. Serve with additional caramel sauce or powdered sugar.

Notes

• If you bake these cinnamon rolls in a 9-inch round pie pan only 11 of the rolls will fit. 12 rolls fit in a 13 x 9 rectangle pan. Also, you can bake these in muffin pans to get individual caramel apple cinnamon rolls.

Have you made this recipe?

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