These cinnamon apple rolls are outrageously fluffy, melt in your mouth delicious and full of cosy flavours. Sharp yet sweet apple and warming cinnamon is offset by tangy cream cheese and sweet caramel. The dough is smothered with cinnamon butter and applesauce, rolled up and baked until golden before being topped with a decadent cinnamon cream cheese frosting and caramel drizzle. Think toffee apple meets cinnamon roll. These are every bit as delicious as they sound and take a regular cinnamon roll to the next level.
There’s something oh so comforting about biting into a soft, fluffy, cinnamon infused bun. That melt in your mouth, buttery dough and swirls of cinnamon and sugar are hard to beat. Cinnamon rolls are what my dessert dreams are made of. Perfect for when you want to snuggle up inside with a cup of coffee on a drizzly day.
The recipe looks fiddly, but it’s really quite straight forward once you’ve made the dough. It’s most definitely worth the little extra effort too. I can safely say I’ve never regretted any batch I’ve prepared. If you’d like to speed up the process, prepare the dough the night before to save some time and bake them fresh in the morning. Who doesn’t want warm, sticky buns for breakfast? Your house will smell amazing all day too!
Why you need these cinnamon apple rolls in your life –
- Soft, melt in your mouth dough
- A heavenly combination of apple and cinnamon
- Loaded with warming flavours
- Delicious served warm or cold
- Can be enjoyed at any time of day
How to make cinnamon apple rolls –
Begin by prepping your dough. This comes together really easily and even quicker if you have a stand mixer. Warm dairy free milk together with vegan butter and add to the dry ingredients, then knead for 10 minutes before setting aside to prove until doubled in size. I set my bowl somewhere warm and it’s usually doubled in an hour or so. At this stage you can set the dough aside in the fridge if you wish to bake them in the morning, this will also add extra flavour to the rolls.
Prepare cinnamon butter by melting butter, cinnamon and brown sugar together. Once the dough has proved, roll it out to a large rectangle 50cm x 40cm. Spread over the cinnamon butter, followed by the apple sauce. Then starting on one of the longest sides of dough, cut across 12 evenly sized strips – you can use a knife but it’s easier to use a pizza cutter if you have one.
Roll each strip up carefully and place into a 33cm baking dish, linked with baking paper. Set aside somewhere warm to prove for around 30 minutes, until puffed up and pillowy. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden.
Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the cream cheese frosting and caramel drizzle. For the cream cheese, simply whisk all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. For the caramel, add all the ingredients to a small pan and heat for 5 minutes or so until it turns to a darker brown and starts to become thick. For best results, you want to frost the rolls when they are still ever so slightly warm, this ensures all the cream cheese gets into all those delicious swirls. Once you spread over the cinnamon cream cheese, drizzle over the caramel to finish.
Have you made these rolls?
These rolls are probably up there with one of my favourite recipes ever! I’d love to see if you make them and hear what you think. If you do give them a go, please leave me a comment below or take a snap and tag me on social media. You can find me on Instagram @bos.kitchen or Facebook @boskitchenuk.
Cinnamon apple rolls with caramel drizzle
Ingredients
- 320 ml dairy free milk
- 50 g vegan butter, chopped into cubes
- 500 g strong white bread flour
- 7 g fast-action dried yeast
- 2 tbsp light brown soft sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
Filling
- 70 g vegan butter, softened
- 90 g light brown soft sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon, ground
- 210 g applesauce
Cinnamon cream cheese frosting
- 150 g vegan cream cheese
- 80 g icing sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon, ground
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Caramel drizzle
- 80 g vegan condensed milk
- 15 g vegan butter
- 15 g soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- Warm the dairy free milk in a pan gently until it starts to steam. Add the chopped butter and stir through until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes.
- Add bread flour, salt, brown sugar and yeast to a large mixing bowl and mix well to combine. Pour in the warmed milk and butter and mix until everything forms a sticky dough. Knead in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 6-7 minutes, or by hand on a lightly floured surface for 10-12 minutes, until the dough is smooth and stretchy. Lightly oil the mixing bowl and return the dough to the bowl to prove, covered with a tea towel for a couple of hours in a warm place, or until doubled in size. You can also chill the dough overnight in the fridge at this stage if you prefer and bake them fresh in the morning.
- Prepare the cinnamon butter filling by adding butter, sugar and cinnamon to a small pan and heating gently until starting to soften. You can also do this in a small bowl in the microwave for a minute if you prefer.
- Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle 50cm x 40cm. Spread the cinnamon butter over the dough, right up to the edges. Spoon over the apple sauce and spread evenly over the dough. Starting from one of the longer sides, cut the dough in half using a pizza cutter. Then divide each half into two pieces and cut out three strips from each quarter to give you 12 strips in total. Carefully roll them up as tightly as possible and arrange in a large baking dish (mine is 33cm) with baking paper. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for at least 30 mins, or until they're puffed up and plump.
- Preheat oven to 180•c and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown at the edges. If they still look a little underdone, bake for another 10 minutes but cover with foil to prevent the tops from browning too much. Allow to cool fully.
- To prepare the frosting, mix cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and cinnamon together with a hand whisk or in a stand mixer. Spread over the buns while they are still a little warm to make sure the cheese gets into all the delicious swirls.
- Make the caramel drizzle by adding all caramel ingredients to a small pan and bringing to a high temperature, bubbling for 5-6 minutes, until the caramel starts to reduce and pull away from the edges of the pan. Allow to cool for a few minutes to thicken. Drizzle caramel sauce over the buns and leave to set for 20 minutes before serving.
Leave a Reply