Apple Cinnamon Buns
A seriously delicious breakfast (or dessert!) recipe, these homemade Apple Cinnamon Buns are full of apple and cinnamon flavor that creates a nice sticky topping!
A SIMPLE HOMEMADE CINNAMON BUN
Apples are probably my family’s favorite fruit. I use them all year long for baking. You don’t need to wait for autumn to bake up some of these delicious Apple Cinnamon Buns. Baking up quicker than your normal cinnamon buns, these can be on your table in a shorter time! If you want to try your hand at making some very easy homemade cinnamon rolls, then give this Apple Cinnamon Bun recipe a try!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
We really like to use Honeycrisp but there are other great apples that you can use such as Braeburn, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Cortland and more! So you can use essentially any of these. Generally a tart apple holds up best for baking.
Since we are using instant yeast, it only requires about a 60 minute rise time.
Technically with instant yeast you do not, but I still do to make sure its active. We proof it in milk before adding it to our dry ingredients.
This will make a total of 12 Apple Cinnamon Buns that we split between two 9×13-inch pans.
It’s not necessary. We turn these over so the filling makes a nice and sticky outer glaze but you can absolutely make a cream cheese glaze, powdered sugar glaze or even a maple glaze if you prefer.
These can be stored in an airtight container where they will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. These can also be frozen, place cooled rolls in a freezer container separated by parchment paper where they will keep for up to 2 months. Let defrost in the refrigerator overnight and you can reheat in the microwave or oven until heated through.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- milk
- instant yeast
- unsalted butter
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- all-purpose flour
- salted butter
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- apples
HOW TO MAKE APPLE CINNAMON BUNS:
Warm up milk in a microwave-safe small bowl to about 110F degrees. Sprinkle in yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Set aside for 5-7 minutes to allow yeast to bloom.
With an electric mixer, mix together butter and the remaining sugar.
Add eggs and mix.
Add flour, half at a time, mixing well after each addition.
If you have a dough hook, use it for the next step. Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture. Mix until well combined. You can continue to knead with a dough hook, or place on a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for approximately 5 minutes (until dough is stretchy and elastic).
In a medium bowl, add a teaspoon of oil and put dough into it to rise. Cover and place in a warm place for 35-45 minutes.
Make filling by mixing together cinnamon, brown sugar, and nutmeg.
Once dough has doubled in size, place on a lightly floured surface. With a rolling pin, roll out to a rectangle, approximately 1/4 inch thick. Spread softened butter evenly onto dough, leaving edges free of butter. Sprinkle topping mixture evenly onto butter. Then evenly sprinkle apple slices on top. Carefully roll dough up. Cut into 1 1/2 inch slices. Spray nonstick cooking spray into two 9×13-inch baking dishes, 2-3 inches apart (6 buns in each dish).
Cover and set in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake buns 35-40 minutes, until light golden brown. Once slightly cooled, overturn buns onto a baking sheet or dish large enough to hold the buns.
Enjoy!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Apple Cinnamon Buns
Ingredients
For the dough:
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar divided
- 2 large eggs
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
For the filling:
- ⅓ cup salted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 4 medium apples peeled,cored and diced into small pieces.
Instructions
- Warm up milk in a microwave-safe small bowl to about 110F degrees. Sprinkle in yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Set aside for 5-7 minutes to allow yeast to bloom.
- With an electric mixer, mix together butter and the remaining sugar.
- Add eggs and mix.
- Add flour, half at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- If you have a dough hook, use it for the next step. Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture. Mix until well combined. You can continue to knead with a dough hook, or place on a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for approximately 5 minutes (until dough is stretchy and elastic).
- In a medium bowl, add a teaspoon of oil and put dough into it to rise. Cover and place in a warm place for 35-45 minutes.
- Make filling by mixing together cinnamon, brown sugar, and nutmeg.
- Once dough has doubled in size, place on a lightly floured surface. With a rolling pin, roll out to a rectangle, approximately 1/4 inch thick.
- Spread softened butter evenly onto dough, leaving edges free of butter. Sprinkle topping mixture evenly onto butter. Then evenly sprinkle apple slices on top.
- Carefully roll dough up. Cut into 1 1/2 inch slices. Spray nonstick cooking spray into two 9×13-inch baking dishes, 2-3 inches apart (6 buns in each dish). Cover and set in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake buns 35-40 minutes, until light golden brown.
- Once slightly cooled, overturn buns onto a baking sheet or dish large enough to hold the buns. Enjoy!
Notes
- We use two pans for this recipe to make sure that everything fits.
- Use your favorite baking apple for this recipe, we like honeycrisp.
- You can glaze these with any of your favorite glazes.
- These can be frozen, see my tips above.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
These look so good…….I’m going to use my bread machine to to make the dough. I see from the photo that you have them spaced pretty far apart in the baking pan……..is that why you say to use two 9×13 pans? Could you just put them closer together and use one 9×13 pan? That’s what I do when I make other cinnamon rolls,and they turn out fine.
Actually, after looking at the photo again, the rolls aren’t spaced far apart but the dish looks smaller than 9×13. Are they pretty good sized rolls, so that’s why you need two pans? I g<ess I'll just have to use my own judgement when it comes time to put them in the pan.
They’re pretty large buns. You can certainly cut them smaller and it also depends on how tightly you roll them 🙂