Fluffy cinnamon rolls filled with gooey apple butter and topped with cream cheese frosting, the flavor of autumn just doesn’t get any better than this! This Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls recipe features our very own homemade slow cooker apple butter that is slow-cooked for a full 24 hours to achieve the deepest, most flavorful caramelized apple butter ever!
Cinnamon rolls are something that practically everyone loves. My husband, Todd, is the kind of person who rarely craves sweets (a rare breed but yes, they exist).  But he’ll never ever pass up cinnamon rolls. That irresistible aroma that fills the house while they’re baking, the feeling of sinking your teeth into that soft gooey goodness topped with cream cheese frosting…. There’s just something about cinnamon rolls that feels like coming home.
These Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls are a slam-dunk winner. It’s the recipe I use for standard cinnamon rolls and creates perfectly fluffy rolls. But after making a batch of homemade apple butter recently, I was enjoying a spoonful of it and contemplating other ways to use it. The thought of cinnamon rolls came to mind – imagine spreading them not only with brown sugar and cinnamon but also a generous layer of rich apple butter. So I put it to the test and the end result was absolutely divine.
This recipe features my homemade 24-hour Slow Cooker Apple Butter, but you can use store-bought as well (but trust me, it won’t taste as good!
Our homemade apple butter has such a deeply rich, caramelized flavor, I’m confident you’re going to fall in love with it. It’s also quite thick – thicker than most store-bought apple butters, and so it’s better suited for using as a filling.
And though I realize this recipe is for apple butter cinnamon rolls, you don’t have to use apple butter at all and can omit it to make standard cinnamon rolls. To do that, spread the dough with 1/3 cup softened butter instead of the apple butter at the appropriate step.  This recipe makes the most wonderful cinnamon rolls!
Can Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls Be Made Ahead?Â
They sure can! You have a couple options:
Option 1 (Refrigerate): After you’ve placed the rolls in the baking pan (don’t let them rise), immediately cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge overnight. The next morning place them on the middle rack in the oven (turned off), fill a shallow pan ⅔ full of boiling water and place it on the rack below the cinnamon rolls. Close the oven door. Let the rolls sit in there for about 30-40 minutes until they’ve risen. Then bake as instructed.
Option 2 (Freeze): After you’ve placed the rolls in the baking pan (don’t let them rise) place them in the freezer (don’t use a glass pan). Remove them and set them out on the counter to thaw completely (you could set them out overnight) and then continue with the rising process as instructed.
Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
Let’s get started!
Stir the yeast into the warm milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Â It will be frothy on top.
Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, make a well in the center, and add the eggs, butter, vanilla extract, and yeast/milk mixture.
Attach a dough hook to the stand mixer and knead the dough on the bread setting (“2” on a Kitchenaid) for about 10 minutes.
The dough will be stiff but not dry or very sticky.
Remove the dough and form it into a ball. Â Lightly spray the same bowl with vegetable oil and place the dough ball back in the bowl.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough sit in a warm place to rise until nearly doubled in size, about 90 minutes.
Once the dough is nearly doubled in size punch the dough down in the center and let it rest for 1 minute.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 16X21 rectangle.
The dough will likely spring back, let it rest for a minute and roll it back out to size.
Combine the brown sugar and ground cinnamon in a bowl.
Spread the apple butter over the surface of the dough, leaving about 1/4 inch space around the border.
Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Sprinkle over the apple pieces.
Roll up the dough.
Place it seam side down and slice into 15 equal rolls.
Place the rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch pan. Â I use and LOVE Parrish’s Magic Line pans. Â Made in the USA with hand-forged aluminum.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let them sit in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F until lightly browned, about 30 minutes.
To make the cream cheese frosting:
Combine the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl.
Beat until smooth.
If you prefer more of a cream cheese glaze, spread the frosting over the rolls while they’re still warm so the frosting melts. Â If you prefer a fluffier cream cheese frosting, spread the frosting over cooled cinnamon rolls.
Enjoy!
For more delicious apple goodies be sure to try our:
- Baked Apple Cider Donuts
- German Apple Cake
- Apple Butter Cinnamon RollsÂ
- Apple Streusel Muffins
- Slow Cooker Apple Butter
- Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Cereal
- Curried Apple & Butternut Squash Soup
- Apfelschorle (German Apple Spritzer)
Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup lukewarm milk
- 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs , at room temperature
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter , melted and slightly cooled
- 1 teaspoon quality pure vanilla extract
- For the Filling:
- homemade apple butter (highly recommended, click link for recipe)
- or store-bought apple butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 small apple , peeled, cored and cut into very thin pieces
- For the Frosting:
- 3 ounces full fat cream cheese , softened at room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter , softened at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon quality pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Stir the yeast into the lukewarm milk and let it sit for 5 minutes until frothy. Put the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer, stir in the salt and sugar to combine and make a well in the center. Add the eggs, melted butter, and milk/yeast mixture. Attach a dough hook and knead the mixture on the bread setting ("2" on a Kitchenaid) for about 10 minutes. Remove the dough, form it into a ball, lightly spray the stand mixer bowl with vegetable oil, and place the dough ball back in the bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place until nearly doubled, up to 90 minutes.
- After the dough has nearly doubled in size, punch it down in the center, let it rest for a minute and then place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. The dough will likely spring back, let it rest for a minute and roll it back out to size. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Spread the apple butter evenly over the surface of the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over it, leaving about a 1/4 inch border around the dough. Place the apple pieces evenly over the dough. Roll up the dough, seam side down, and cut it into 15 equal rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes.
- While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.Bake the rolls until lightly browned, about 30 minutes. To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract, beat until smooth.Spread the frosting over the warm rolls if you prefer more of a glaze. Spread over cooled rolls if you prefer the fluffy white frosting.
Notes
Option 1 (Refrigerate): After you’ve placed the rolls in the baking pan (don’t let them rise), immediately cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge overnight. The next morning place them on the middle rack in the oven (turned off), fill a shallow pan ⅔ full of boiling water and place it on the rack below the cinnamon rolls. Close the oven door. Let the rolls sit in there for about 30-40 minutes until they’ve risen. Then bake as instructed. Option 2 (Freeze): After you've placed the rolls in the baking pan (don't let them rise), place them in the freezer (don't use a glass pan). Remove them and set them out on the counter to thaw completely (you could set them out overnight) and then continue with the rising process as instructed.
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet September 30, 2013
Lulu says
These are absolutely super good. Delicious, even without the frosting. I found a container of apple butter I had made last year (the Daring gourmet’s recipe) in my freezer and decided to try these. A bit messy at the step of cutting the roll and moving to the pan! And I used parchment paper, which was not a great idea, if you leave the rolls to cool on it. I should have remove the rolls to a cooling rack a bit sooner. But who cares about a bit of paper, it just adds some fibers…
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Lulu, thank you! :)
April Myers says
Is 3 ounces of cream cheese correct for the icing? My package is 8 ounces.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi April! Yes, it’s 3 ounces, so slightly less than half of a package. That will yield a “standard” amount of cream cheese frosting for cinnamon rolls, but if you’re anything like me you’ll probably double it! ;)
Charmine says
Hi, stumbled upon your blog and am loving all your “healthified” recipes! (: these cinnamon rolls look absolutely gorgeous! Can’t wait to try it out! Question: can I sub the all-purpose flour with bread flour?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Welcome, Charmine, and thanks so much for the compliment! Bread flour has a much higher protein content than all-purpose flour resulting in a denser, chewier texture. I wouldn’t use it for these cinnamon rolls or they won’t be as soft and fluffy. If you have some on hand, you could add some cake flour to the bread flour to more closely resemble all-purpose flour (can’t recall the ratio off-hand) but it may be easier just to make a trip to the store.
meggymo says
What does it mean if my yeast does not get frothy once put in milk. I looked at temp of milk 109 degrees. Did I need to follow directions on yeast packet first?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi meggymo! You need to give the yeast at least 5 minutes to “bloom”, and sometimes it can take a full 10 minutes. If it still doesn’t, and the temperature of the milk isn’t too hot or too cold, then it may be that the yeast has gone bad. Of course, if you mix the yeast mixture with the flour and cover it to let it rise and it does end up rising, then you know the yeast is okay.
Sonnie Olsen says
Wow! Your recipes are so easy to pin! Kudos!
The Daring Gourmet says
Lol, Sonnie! :) Thanks for stopping by and for pinning!
Puss N. Boots says
Can I double check is the flour really general purpose or bread making flour?
The Daring Gourmet says
Hello! I always use all-purpose and they turn out perfectly.
Laurie Flanders says
I must have done something wrong. My dough did not rise.
The Daring Gourmet says
Oh no, Laurie! Yeast is really touchy and there are several things that can go wrong with yeast dough. For example, the yeast itself could have been bad, or the temperature of the milk too hot. Both of these are very common causes of dough not rising.
Anonymous says
Going to have to try this…. After I make the apple butter of course… Yummy!
The Daring Gourmet says
Haha, yes, of course! :) Wonderful, I’m happy to hear you’ll be trying both!
bakeaffairs says
hi Kimbery, this looks so beautiful and sounds absolutely delicious and mouth watering… I love cinnamon buns when they are still warm and with a lot of cream cheese frosting… :-) Have a wonderful day, Bridget
The Daring Gourmet says
Ooooooh, me too! And the more cream cheese frosting the better! :) Thanks so much, Bridget!
Dacia says
I was wondering how long to knead the dough if you don’t have a KitchenAid. I’ve never made homemade dough before and wanted to know f you had any tips for me because these look amazing!
The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Dacia! You know, I always used to knead dough by hand – I preferred it that way – but now that I have two kids under the age of 3 racing around me it’s become a bit challenging (trying to intervene and redirect with flour and dough stuck all over my hands became a bit too much!). There are some great Youtube videos on how to knead dough. I always find visuals more helpful for these kinds of things. If you google “how to knead dough by hand” several videos will show up. You’ll need to knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes, depending on how vigorously you’re kneading it. It’s a lot of work, so if you have someone else in your home to take turns with, that would be a plus! :)
netflixandnutella says
Can’t imagine something more perfect for this time of year!
The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks, netflixandnutella! And just having made another batch of apple butter I’ll need to figure out some additional creative uses for it!
Tabitha says
Uh…oh….
Yeah…
These might have to happen. *sigh* See..here’s what happened. I read your post about the apple butter and decided this was the year I would stop complaining that I moved away from Michigan’s orchards and now live in Texas..where we grow Cactus with the best of ’em..and I would make apple butter. So I used your recipe. I bought 1/2 pint jars and filled 6 of them with the batch I made. We’ve already eaten 2 jars! It was eaten on bread, mixed very generously into barbecue sauce for the best oven baked chicken i’ve ever made, and given away (sparingly – because I was feeling stingy!) as a gift.
And now..these are going to have to happen.
:)
I go very light on my icing on cinnamon rolls as well! My fiance is the one with the sweet tooth in my house. But could anything be more fall comfort food than appley cinnamony yeasty yumminess like this?
The Daring Gourmet says
I know, right?? Your last sentence sum is up perfectly! Wow, Tabitha, I am absolutely thrilled to hear you made the apple butter!! Yes, now you have to make these cinnamon rolls because you have the advantage of using the best apple butter in them! :) Okay, the apple butter barbecued baked chicken…that’s going to have to happen, too! Thank you for putting the idea into my head!
On a side note: Is there such thing as Cactus Butter? ;)
jesusan says
Apple butter in BBQ sauce? Yum! That is one of the most interesting flavor ideas I’ve come across. Seems like it would be a huge improvement to BBQ sauce.
The Daring Gourmet says
Agreed!
jesusan says
Unfortunately for me (because of my eating plan), these sound delicious. The idea of using apple butter in place of regular butter is intriguing. But I would never put frosting on them. I really don’t like a lot of sugar and the frosting would create an overload for me. I might have to make these one day as a treat, or to take to a Christmas party… Every time I see a cinnamon roll recipe it takes me back to the ones I used to make with Bisquick, which were always my downfall. How I’d love to have a cinnamon roll right about now…
The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Susan! I wish I had your problem – I think I could eat cream cheese frosting on practically anything! :)