Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Apple cinnamon rolls with walnuts and brown butter frosting are everything you would want in a fall recipe – decadent, flavorful, and oh so delicious!
Love cinnamon rolls? Try these delicious recipes!
How to make these cinnamon rolls with apples and walnuts
These cinnamon rolls are no harder to make than any other homemade cinnamon roll recipe. For the full set of directions, make sure you scroll down to the recipe card below, but here is a brief overview.
How to mix the dough
- Cut the butter into small chunks and place on a plate in the freezer to chill.
- In a small bowl, mix together the yeast and warm apple cider and let sit for 10 minutes until bubbly.
- Pour the vinegar into a 2 cup measuring cup and then fill the cup up to the “2 cup” line with milk and let sit for 10 minutes to make a fake buttermilk.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Remove the butter from the freezer and cut the butter into the flour until it resembles course sand, with a few pea sized bits of butter remaining.
- Pour the milk and yeasted cider into the flour mixture and mix until combined. It will be a sticky mess.
- Place some plastic wrap over the bowl and place the dough in the fridge overnight.
How to make the filling
- In a large skillet, melt the butter.
- Stir in the apples, brown sugar, and spices until all the apples are evenly covered.
- When the brown sugar melts, stir in the apple cider.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes, until the apples are tender and the brown sugar is thick and caramelizing.
- Allow to cool before use (you can even refrigerate this part until you need it if you want to make it ahead).
How to assemble the cinnamon rolls
- The next morning, remove the dough from the fridge and dump it out on a lightly floured surface.
- Roll the dough out into a large rectangle.
- Brush with 5 TBSP of melted and slightly cooled butter.
- Spoon the filling on the dough and evenly spread it around.
- Roll the dough up into a long log.
- Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log into 24 even pieces (I find it easiest to cut it first in halves – so first cut the into 2 pieces, then cut each half into half (so you have 4 pieces) and then you can cut each fourth into thirds – getting you 24 equal sized pieces).
- Place each circle cut side up into the bottom of two greased 9×13 pans.
- Cover the pans with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1.5-2 hours.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Remove the plastic wrap from the pans and place the pans in the oven, spacing them out so one pan is on the top left of your oven and the other pan is on the bottom right.
- Bake 15-20 minutes, rotating halfway so they brown evenly.
- Brush with the 2 TBSP of melted butter and then place the pans back in the oven for another minute.
- Cool in the pans completely before frosting.
How to frost
- In a small sautee pan, melt the butter and carefully watch it until it browns. You want it to just start to turn brown and it starts to smell nutty and rich.
- Turn the heat off and allow the butter to cool (you might even need to place the butter in a bowl so the hot pan doesn’t continue to cook and accidentally burn it).
- Allow the brown butter to cool.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, coffee, powdered sugar and cooled browned butter until fluffy.
- Spread evenly over the cooled rolls.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I store these? Keep these cinnamon rolls in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Can I make these in advance? Yup! This recipe calls for the dough to have an overnight rest in the fridge so you can bake them fresh in the morning. You can also roll them in advance and place the pre-rolled rolls in the fridge.
How to reheat? You can reheat individual cinnamon rolls in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
Try these other great apple recipes:
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Apple Walnut Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 ¼ tsp yeast
- ¼ cup warm apple cider
- 2 TBSP white vinegar
- 2 cups minus 2 TBSP milk
- ⅔ cup butter
- 3 TBSP sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 5 cups flour
- 2 TBSP butter melted to brush on top after baking
Filling:
- 8 apples peeled, cored, and diced small
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 TBSP butter
- 2 tsp ginger
- 8 TBSP apple cider
- 3 TBSP cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 6 TBSP butter
- 4 TBSP brewed coffee room temperature or cold
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Dough
- Cut the butter into small chunks and place on a plate in the freezer.
- In a small bowl, mix together the yeast and warm apple cider and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Pour the vinegar into a 2 cup measuring cup and then fill the cup up to the “2 cup” line with milk and let sit for 10 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour.
- Remove the butter from the freezer and using your fingers (or 2 forks) cut the butter into the flour until it resembles course sand, with a few pea sized bits of butter remaining.
- Pour the milk and yeasted cider into the flour mixture and mix until combined. It will be a sticky mess.
- Place some plastic wrap over the bowl and place the dough in the fridge overnight.
Filling:
- In a large skillet, melt the butter.
- Stir in the apples, brown sugar, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon until all the apples are evenly covered.
- When the brown sugar melts, stir in the apple cider.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes, until the apples are tender and the brown sugar is thick and caramelizing.
- Allow to cool before use (you can even refrigerate this part until you need it if you want to make it ahead).
- Assembly
- The next morning, remove the dough from the fridge and dump it out on a lightly floured surface.
- Roll the dough out into a large rectangle.
- Brush with 5 TBSP of melted (slightly cool) butter.
- Spoon the filling on the dough and evenly spread it around.
- Roll the dough up into a long log.
- Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log into 24 even pieces (I find it easiest to cut it first in halves – so first cut the into 2 pieces, then cut each half into half (so you have 4 pieces) and then you can cut each fourth into thirds – getting you 24 equal sized pieces).
- Place each circle cut side up into the bottom of two greased 9×13 pans.
- Cover the pans with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1.5-2 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 400F.
- Remove the plastic wrap from the pans and place the pans in the oven, spacing them out so one pan is on the top left of your oven and the other pan is on the bottom right.
- Bake 10 minutes, then switch the location of the pans (so they bake evenly).
- Bake another 5-10 minutes, until golden brown (make sure they are evenly golden, if they are just barely golden the rolls will still be gooey in the middle).
- Brush with the 2 TBSP of melted butter and then place the pans back in the oven for another minute.
- Cool in the pans completely before frosting.
Frosting:
- In a small sautee pan, melt the butter and carefully watch it until it browns. You want it to just start to turn brown and it starts to smell nutty and rich.
- Turn the heat off and allow the butter to cool (you might even need to place the butter in a bowl so the hot pan doesn’t burn it).
- Allow the brown butter to cool.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, coffee, powdered sugar and cooled browned butter until fluffy.
- Spread evenly over the cooled rolls.
These rolls look amazing too… I can't wait to try them!!!
Oh my goodness. I love these rolls and can't wait to to try out this recipe. Definite Sunday morning treat:)
I love the thought of spiking the filling with apple cider and all of these ingredients going together. What gems! Definitely looking forward to seeing more of your challenge entries.
You are too sweet, girl! Thank you for your kind words AND your gorgeous cinnamon rolls!!
Oh my..you made these too! I need to pin both of you now! 🙂 They look awesome..as do those brown sugar chicken wings below..BOTH getting pinned. BTW..I'm blaming you and Shelley for my Pinterest addiction in my next post!! lol
The words caramelized and brown butter together in a title are more than enough to get me interested! These sound beyond wonderful!
Oh. My. Gosh. Those look AMAZING. Gorgeous, delicious and so… WOW. Chock full of apples and the cream cheese deliciousness on top… Really, really, REALLY great choice.
I adore Julie…and as such I also adore these cinnamon rolls! Seriously heavenly.
These look so good! I would love to have one with my morning cup of coffee I'm drinking right now. They look so perfect for a fall weekend breakfast.