Yep. For this last year's Thanksgiving, I was feeling sorry for myself again for not having you three big boys with us for dinner, so I decided to make something special for breakfast. I couldn't make my regular killer cinnamon rolls because those are reserved for Christmas, and I was craving apple, pie, so I decided to merge the two together. I'm sure others have thought of this marriage before, but it was by far one of my best ideas. Is it a breakfast item? A dessert? The answer to both is, "yes!"
You can't super see the apples in this first picture, but trust me, they're there-there's about a whole pie's worth. My secret to a delicious apple pie (and now roll) is to use a variety of apples to give a unique texture and flavor. Additionally, by pre cooking the apples a bit, you minimize the liquid coming out of them during the baking process, preventing a soggy bun (or pie).
INGREDIENTS
For the rolls:
Single batch of dough, filling, and icing from my Special Occasion Cinnamon Roll recipe
For the apple pie filling:
An assortment of six medium-sized apples peeled, cored, and diced into nickel sized
chunks. I use the following types of apples:
- 2 granny smiths
- 2 honeycrisp or cosmic crisp
- 1 golden or red delicious
- 1 pink lady, gala, liberty or whatever else looks fresh and good
2 T unsalted butter
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 T granulated sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 T flour
DIRECTIONS
First, make sure you have your dough prepared and ready to go from the recipe linked above. While the dough is rising, you can make the apple pie filling. Using a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the diced apples. Sprinkle the sugar over the apples to begin a little caramelization process. Allow the apples to cook, stirring often, just until they begin to soften, approximately 5 minutes. Add in the cinnamon and sprinkle the flour over the top. Cook for another minute or two. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
To assemble the rolls, follow the same method as in my regular cinnamon roll recipe. on a lightly floured surface (I usually use a large cutting board) roll the dough out to approximately 16 x 21 inches laying horizontally. With your hands, evenly spread out the softened butter across the entire rectangle as the recipe calls for. Sprinkle the filling mixture evenly over the butter. Then, evenly spread the apple pie filling over the cinnamon sugar mixture, leaving about 1" from all of the edges.
Working carefully from the long edge, roll it up to the other side into one long roll. Using a bread knife or unflavored floss, cut off the uneven ends (about 1/2 inch each end). Also using a bread knife or the floss method, divide the dough in half, then 1/3rds for each half. Cut each ⅓ in half, so that you end with 12 even slices.
Butter a 13x9 baking pan and place slices in the pan. Lay a dish towel over the pan and allow to rise at room temperature for at least a couple of hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake until a golden brown (15-18 minutes). While the rolls are baking, make the cream cheese icing by beating the room temperature cream cheese and butter together in a stand or hand mixer until creamy and well mixed. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla until mixed well and no lumps remain.
Immediately after taking the rolls out of the oven, slather icing all over them so it melts into them and gives them the ooey gooey-ness that you love. Allow to cool for 15 minutes and then serve with extra icing. ENJOY!
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