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Cinnamon Rolls With Apple Pie Filling

Easy to follow, fluffy, moist and insanely delicious cinnamon apple rolls with yeast dough made entirely from scratch. Make a perfect treat for the whole family!!
Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Rise Time1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time2 hours 30 minutes
Course: afternoon tea, Baking, Breakfast, Brunch
Cuisine: European, German
Keyword: Apfelschnecken, apple rolls, cinnamon apple rolls, German apple cinnamon rolls, homemade apple rolls, kid-friendly, picnic, travel snack, yeast dough
Servings: 12 Big apple rolls
Author: Ester | esterkocht.com

Equipment

  • Baking sheet (35 x 41.5 cm/ 14 x 16 inches)
  • Kitchen machine or hand mixer with dough hooks
  • Parchment paper
  • Silicon pastry mat
  • Cutting board
  • Knife
  • spoon
  • Saucepan or pot
  • cling film
  • Kitchen towel
  • Rolling pin/ empty glass bottle

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 500 g (17.6 oz/ 4 cups) plain flour plus extra for dusting
  • 4 teaspoons dry yeast (14 g/ ½ oz)
  • 50 g (3 tbs/ ¼ cup) sugar
  • 65 g (2.3 oz/ ¼ cup) butter
  • 250 ml (8.5 fl oz/ 1 cup) whole milk
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 medium egg

For the filling

  • 4 medium apples (500 g/ 17,6 oz)
  • 60 g (2 oz/ ¼ cup) butter melted
  • 2 tablespoons sugar (30 g/ 1,1 oz)
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the icing

  • 55 g (2.1 oz/ about ½ cup) icing sugar
  • teaspoons water/ milk/ lemon juice

Instructions

  • First of all activate the yeast: Heat milk in a pot at medium heat until the milk is slightly warm. You can use your finger to feel the milk. Pour half of the milk in a jar. Put the butter in the remaining milk in the pot. Stir occasionally until butter has melted.
    In the meantime add 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and yeast to the jar with lukewarm milk!! Very important, otherwise if the milk is hot, it will kill the yeast. Stir well and let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes.
    Remove the pot from the heat and let the milk - butter mixture cool.
  • Next make the yeast dough: Put the flour, the remaining sugar, egg and salt in a bowl. Start mixing, while adding the lukewarm milk - butter mixture slowly. Then pour in the yeast - sugar mixture. Knead the dough very well.
    I normally knead my dough like this : If I'm kneading it with the hand mixer, I knead the dough for about 8 minutes at low speed and then for 5 minutes at medium high speed. With the kitchen machine, I knead the dough for 7 minutes at low speed and for 3 more minutes at medium high speed. With the hands, I knead the dough for 10 minutes. If you're using a heavy duty kitchen machine, please knead your dough for maximum 7 minutes.
    Using one hand, remove the dough from bowl and dust it with 1 tablespoon flour. Put the dough back, turn in well so that it is completely covered with flour. Cover with cling film and then with kitchen towel. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in a warm place.
  • In the meantime prepare the apple cinnamon filling. Peel the apples, remove the core and cut into small pieces. Put the apple dices in a bowl, add sugar and cinnamon and mix well.
  • Roll the apple rolls: Place the dough on a lightly floured silicone pastry mat or cutting board. Slightly flour the dough and roll it with a lightly floured rolling pin into a rectangle form (40 x 60 cm (15.7 x 23.6 inches)). Brush the dough top with half of the melted butter. Sprinkle the dough with the apples dices. Using your hands gently press the apples on the top of the dough, so that the filling will not be coming out when rolling. Carefully roll up the dough lengthwise so that in the end you have one long roll. Using a sharp knife cut the dough roll into 12 big rolls or into 16 smaller rolls. Tip: Cut the roll in the middle first, it makes it easier to cut equal rolls.
  • Put the apple rolls on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper. Gently press each roll on top of each roll, so that it will become a bit flat. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for another 20 minutes. In the meanwhile preheat the oven to 180°C (356 °F), with both top and bottom heat. After 20 minutes brush the rolls with the remaining melted butter and bake for 30 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
    In the meantime mix powdered sugar and milk in a bowl and mix well. You could also use freshly squeezed lemon juice, vanilla essence or water instead of milk. Using a spoon, drizzle the icing over the tops of the apple rolls until they're all coated and enjoy!

Notes

  1. The apple rolls can stay fresh for up to 3 days. Just keep them a baking sheet covered with a kitchen towel.
  2. If you have some left over apple rolls feel free to freeze them. When you feel like having some, just take them out of the refrigerator, let them thaw a bit and bake for about 5 minutes at 200 °C (392 °F).