Caramel Apple Sweet Rolls

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I stole this recipe for Caramel Apple Sweet Rolls from the website thepioneerwoman.com. This recipe has three parts to it: homemade dough, apple filling and caramel icing. You won’t believe how amazing these sweet rolls taste! Basic yeast dough starts on the stove top and rises for later use. Apple filling is made in a skillet to soften the apples and make a sauce for the filling. After rising, the dough is rolled out and filled with apples and sliced to rise a second time in baking pans. Once the rolls are baked. a caramel icing is made and spread over the hot rolls. These rolls are similar to a basic sticky buns, but with more flavor from the apples and caramel icing.

February 21st is National Sticky Buns Day and making Caramel Apple Sweet Rolls is a great way to celebrate  (to see more Food Holidays see the National Food Holidays category or look at the Food Holiday Calendar).

“Sticky cinnamon buns belong to Philadelphia as do Independence Hall and the Twelfth Street Market. This is a bun of true cinnamon flavor, of a stickiness incarnate.” – Best Recipes of 1949 (This Week Magazine) (see more quotes in the Quotes tab)

Combine 2 cups milk, ½ cup vegetable oil and ½ cup sugar in a large saucepan. Heat until just about to boil, don’t allow to boil (scald the milk). Turn off the heat and let cool to warm…but not too warm. Add 4 cups of flour and 1 package active dry yeast, stir to combine. Will be very sticky. Cover the pot and let rise 1 hour. Add remaining (½ cup) flour, ¾ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp baking powder and 1 ½ tsp salt. (This recipe has a lot of steps so I cut a lot of pictures to keep the post from being too long.)

Stir to combine. Proceed with rolls or refrigerate dough covered, until you need it.

Sauté 4 whole finely diced apples in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Remove to plate and set aside.

In same skillet over medium heat, add a stick of butter and 1cup brown sugar. Stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves, then pour in ½ cup heavy cream.

Stir it around and let it bubble and thicken, about a minute. Turn heat to low and add apples back. Sprinkle with 1 tsp ground cinnamon, stir and let thicken for another 1-2 minutes. Spoon into bowl to cool.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll dough on a floured surface to rectangle 10×30 inches. Spoon apples all over the dough and spread it out evenly. Roll the dough toward you in a long tight roll.

Pinch the seam when you get to the end, then roll over so that it’s seam side down. Slice the dough into rolls ½ to ¾ inch and place them in disposable foil bake pans with a little melted butter spread into the bottom of each pan (filling about 3-4 pans). Set aside and let rise 20-25 minutes.

Then bake the sweet rolls 15-18 minutes or until nice and golden.

While rolls are baking, make the icing. Melt ½ cup butter and ¼ tsp salt in saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 cup packed brown sugar and let it dissolve and start to bubble. Then add ½ cup heavy cream, cook 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Turn off heat and add 2 cups powdered sugar and whisk together.

Add up to 2 cups more of powdered sugar to get to the consistency you want. I transfer the icing to a large measuring cup so it is easier to pour.

Spread icing over rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.

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Caramel Apple Sweet Rolls

This recipe has three parts to it: homemade dough, apple filling and caramel icing. You won’t believe how amazing these sweet rolls taste! Basic yeast dough starts on the stove top and rises for later use. Apple filling is made in a skillet to soften the apples and make a sauce for the filling. After rising, the dough is rolled out and filled with apples and sliced to rise a second time in baking pans. Once the rolls are baked, a caramel icing is made and spread over the hot rolls.
Course Breakfast, Brunch
Cuisine Southern
Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 30 rolls

Ingredients

Dough

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 4 ½ cups AP flour
  • 1 package active dry yeast about 2 ¼ tsp
  • ¾ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 ½ tsp salt

Filling

  • 4 whole Granny Smith apples finely diced
  • 1 stick of butter ½ cup
  • 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Caramel Icing

  • 1 stick butter ½ cup
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups powdered sugar up to 4 cups depending on thickness you want
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

Dough

  1. Combine milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a large saucepan. Heat until just about to boil, don’t allow to boil (scald the milk). Turn off the heat and let cool to warm…but not too warm.
  2. Add 4 cups of flour and yeast, stir to combine. Will be very sticky. Cover the pot and let rise 1 hour.
  3. Add remaining (½ cup) flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine. Proceed with rolls or refrigerate dough covered, until you need it.

Filling

  1. Sauté apples in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Remove to plate and set aside.
  2. In same skillet over medium heat, add a stick of butter and cup of brown sugar. Stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves, then pour in cream. Stir it around and let it bubble and thicken, about a minute. Turn heat to low and add apples back. Sprinkle with cinnamon, stir and let thicken for another 1-2 minutes. Spoon into bowl to cool.

Rolls

  1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll dough on a floured surface to rectangle 10x30 inches. Spoon apples all over the dough and spread it out evenly. Roll the dough toward you in a long tight roll. Pinch the seam when you get to the end, then roll over so that it’s seam side down.
  2. Slice the dough into rolls ½ to ¾ inch and place them in disposable foil bake pans with a little melted butter spread into the bottom of each pan (filling about 3-4 pans). Set aside and let rise 20-25 minutes. Then bake 15-18 minutes or until nice and golden.

Icing

  1. Melt butter and salt in saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and let it dissolve and start to bubble. Add cream, cook 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Turn off heat and add powdered sugar and whisk together. Add up to 2 cups more of powdered sugar to get to the consistency you want.
  2. Spread icing over rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.

Recipe Notes

This worked out great making the dough the night before, it rose beautifully. Spray or oil the bowl that the dough will go in. I punched the dough down before rolling it out, this step wasn’t in the recipe, but most yeast dough recipes call for this step so I added it.

Make sure you have a long counter space to work on. The dough rectangle is very big, I ran out of counter space. It took me much longer than 3-4 minutes to soften the apples in the skillet. I cooked them until they were soft and they released most of their water, about 10 minutes. When cooling the filling, I put the bowl in the refrigerator while I was getting the dough ready.

Don’t preheat the oven until after the rolls have risen in the cake pans. Depending on how thick you cut the rolls, cooking time can increase. My yield was 26 rolls. When rolling out the dough, I ran out of counter space (my rectangle was smaller than the recipe size), so I couldn’t cut 30 ½ inch pieces. When I cooked the first pan for 18 minutes, the center was still doughy; I put the pan back in the oven for about 3 more minutes.

Sifting the powdered sugar first is recommended; it will mix easier with the melted butter and brown sugar with no lumps. Not that lumps of powdered sugar taste bad, but the icing becomes smoother when the powdered sugar is sifted first.