Easy Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls recipe with a gooey cinnamon apple filling and a super tasty caramel brown sugar frosting TO DIE FOR. You will love these fall-inspired cinnamon rolls!
If you love cinnamon rolls, try Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls, and Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.
Now this is an apple pie I can get fully on board with. I am not really a pie gal if we are being one hundred and ten percent honest. We are all friends here so I like to think this is a safe space where I can let you know that pie is just not my dessert of choice. But take a pie and turn it into a cinnamon roll? HEAVENS YES. Which is why apple pie cinnamon rolls had to happen here. All the flavors of apple pie in a warm and comforting, frosted cinnamon roll.
I’ve been baking ALL THE THINGS this week. Chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cheesecake, and now cinnamon rolls. My house smells like cinnamon and buttery brown sugar and I’m not sad about it. These cinnamon rolls will make you want to ditch your Fall-scented candle your house will smell that good.
Thanks to Fleischmann’s® RapidRise Yeast you won’t need to spend hours in the kitchen whipping up these beauties. This recipe is simple, with no tricky steps. Even my three year old twin kiddos helped me make it this week and they came out perfectly so don’t be intimidated by working with yeast in this recipe – it’s EASY! These will come out even if you’ve got a couple of toddlers throwing flour in the air like “snow” the whole time you knead the dough.
This recipe really involves three main parts – the dough, the filling, and the frosting. The dough is typically the most involved step in making cinnamon rolls, but using Fleischmann’s® RapidRise® Yeast cuts out a lot of extra steps. A few minutes of rising time is all it takes to get a light and soft dough, ready for rolling. If you want to save even more time (who doesn’t??) you can actually make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it, then pull it out when you’re ready to assemble your cinnamon rolls.
Once your dough is prepped and rubbed with softened butter, you can make the filling using freshly peeled and diced apples (I prefer Fuji apples!) along with some sugar and spices. First, sauté your apples in a bit of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon for a few minutes until apples start to become tender. Spoon onto the buttered dough and top with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and apple pie spice.
Roll it up, slice into 12 equal sections, and place in a greased baking pan. Bake for about 25 minutes and move onto the final step – the frosting.
This frosting is hands down the most scrumptious topping for cinnamon rolls, and in particular these cinnamon rolls. The caramel-y brown sugar flavor perfectly compliments the apple pie filling and is a cinch to make. Use a sauce pan on the stove to boil butter and brown sugar, then add some heavy cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar. That’s all there is to it! Drizzle or spread the frosting on the cooled cinnamon rolls and serve or store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
If you’ve been craving something that will put you in the Fall mood, this is IT. Throw on a comfy sweater and your favorite pair of cable knit socks and bake a batch of these incredibly tasty Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls. You’ll fall in love with just one bite!
Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
- 4 ½-5 cups all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 packets Fleischmann’s® RapidRise Yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups water
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 large egg
Filling
- 3 fuji apples - peeled and diced very small
- 5 tablespoons butter - softened, divided
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar - divided
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon - divided
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
Frosting
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Dough
- Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, dry yeast and salt in a large mixer bowl and stir until blended. Place water and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH in 15 second increments until very warm but not hot to the touch (120° to 130°F. Butter won’t melt completely). Add to flour mixture with egg.
- Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in just enough remaining flour so that the dough will form into a ball.
- Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic and dough springs back when lightly pressed with 2 fingers, about 6 to 8 minutes. Cover with a towel; let rest for 10 minutes.
Filling
- In a skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add apples, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and stir 3-4 minutes until apples are tender. Remove from heat.
- Roll dough into a 15×10 inch rectangle. Rub remaining 3 tablespoons softened butter all over the dough. In a small bowl stir together remaining brown sugar and cinnamon, sugar, and apple pie spice. Sprinkle mixture all over the buttered dough. Using a slotted spoon, spoon apples over the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Roll up dough tightly and cut into 12 equal-sized pieces. Place cut-side-up in a greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool somewhat before frosting.
Frosting
- Melt butter in a medium sauce pan and boil for 2 minutes. Stir in brown sugar, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in heavy cream, remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. (Add a few tablespoons of milk as needed to reach desired consistency). Frost sightly cooled cinnamon rolls and serve or store in airtight container up to 3 days.
Can these be made the night before then baked in the morning?
I haven’t tried that with this recipe so I can’t guarantee it, but I think it could work! I’d love to hear your experience if so! 🙂
I was going to ask the same question. Can they be made the night before. Travel with them and put in the oven.
I think that could work!
How big were your Fuji apples? The ones we picked are huge.
I don’t typically write reviews on recipes. However, these were the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made. I’m a home baker, and have made a good amount of cinnamon rolls. But nothing I’ve made has come even close to how delicious these were. Such an amazing recipe, and I’ll be making these frequently for my family and friends