Name: Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 150 min
Ingredients: 1 cup 2% milk; 6 tbsp unsalted butter (melted); 1 large egg (room temperature); 3 3/4 cup all purpose flour (more if needed); 3 tbsp sugar; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 tbsp instant yeast; butter (for greasing the bowl); 1 tbsp butter; 4 cups apples (thinly sliced, ~3-4 apples); 3/4 cup brown sugar; 2 tsp ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 3 tbsp all purpose flour; a pinch of salt; 2/3 cup powdered sugar; 1 tbsp 2% milk; 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

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I am living my best life over here indulging in these Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling…and you should too. These warm, fluffy, soft cinnamon rolls are loaded with juicy apple slices, cinnamon brown sugar filling, topped with sticky sweet glaze.

It is exactly what the name says it is. Think of the best soft delicious cinnamon rolls stuffed with gooey apple pie filling. Cinnamon rolls meet apple pie. SUCH A DREAM.

A rectangular casserole of cinnamon rolls filled with apple pie filling and drizzled with sweet glaze

I’m convinced heaven is filled with these cinnamon rolls filled with apple pie filling. Just one after another dropping from the sky freely and endlessly…

You can eat them every moment every day and never gain an extra pound.

Table of Contents

Apple Pie Filling Cinnamon Rolls

I love cinnamon rolls. Always have. Always will.

I didn’t think it’s possible, but I think I love these Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling even more.

The gooey, sticky apple filling taste exactly like what it says it is: the caramel apple filling you find in an apple pie. Except that instead of being sandwiched between two pie crusts, it is now rolls into these soft, fluffy sweet bread rolls.

Recipe testing these Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls were fun, but it took a whole lot of trails. The trickiest part for me was to perfect the consistency of the apple pie filling. We want the filling to be just thick enough yet not too watery. It should be rolled along with dough fairly easily, yet we do not want it too dry.

These cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling are made with my tried and true sweet rolls recipe with a slight tweak, very similar to the rolls from my Cinnamon Raisin Rolls and Honey Buns recipe.

The bottom line is this. This is my favorite cinnamon rolls to date.

Cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling is indeed true gift to mankind…and beyond.

Closeup of cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you will need to make apple pie filling cinnamon rolls:

Rolls

2% milk
unsalted butter
large egg
all purpose flour
sugar
salt
instant yeast

Apple Pie Filling

Apples – make sure they are in thinly sliced, smaller pieces so that they cook and soften easily.
Brown sugar
Ground cinnamon
Vanilla extract
Butter
All purpose flour – so that apple pie filling is nice and thick
A pinch of salt – to open up the flavors!

How to Make Cinnamon Roll with Apple Pie Filling

Make the yeast dough

To make these cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling, let’s start with the dough. This is a sweet yeast bread roll that uses instant yeast.

Yeast sounds intimidating, but let me assure you, it really isn’t! I used to be afraid of any recipe that calls for yeast and avoided them, but I quickly realize that with a little guidance and instructions, there’s nothing to it!

I used my stand mixer and the dough hook to knead the dough (my stand mixer is my favorite kitchen equipment), but you can knead with your hands if you do not have a stand mixer.

Heat milk and butter to around 90-100℉ but stay below 100℉ to avoid killing the yeast (yeast will be added to this liquid later). Mix together milk and butter then beat up an egg and add it to the mixture.

Ideally, let egg sit out from the refrigerator for a little while before using it. Eggs shouldn’t be too cold because when cold eggs meets the warm liquid it may turned into scrambled instead of being incorporated into the warm liquid.

Once the wet mixture is combined, add in dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and instant yeast) and knead the dough using the stand mixer or hands.

Then let cinnamon roll dough rise for an hour and it should be almost double in size!

Dough for rolls after it has risen for an hour

Punch the dough with fist to release air inside it.

Then remove dough from bowl and roll it out on a floured surface using a rolling pin into a ~15″x12″ rectangle.

Flattened dough out into a rectangular shape

Apple Pie Filling

We can’t have Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls without the apple pie filling! And who am I kidding, it’s definitely my favorite part.

I typically start cooking the apple pie filling once I let the dough rise. I like to get started as soon as possible because the apple pie filling needs time to cool before rolling them into the rolls to avoid turning your Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling into a gooey hot (pun intended) mess.

To make the apple pie filling, melt butter in a put, and then bring together apple slices, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, flour and a pinch of salt. Boil until it thickens. Whisk/stir continuously.

A pot of apple pie filling — *Apple Pie Filling*

Transfer the apple pie filling into a bowl and let it cool until the dough is risen and ready.

Then spread apple pie filling onto the rolled out dough.

I like to leave a 1-inch frame around the dough without filing so that it won’t spill out when rolling the dough.

And here begins the rolling of our Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling.

And it’s also the trickiest and messiest part in the making of our beloved Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling…but I say just embrace the mess! Because it’s truly worth it.

Gently roll the dough into a tube from the long side.

The dough is soft (that is why the rolls are moist and soft), the center will be slightly pudgier than the side, and that is okay!

When rolling it might be slightly jiggly and some filling will ooze out, and that is okay too!

I like to cut both ends because the ends have less apple pie filling and are much smaller in size.

After cutting both ends, I slice the large tube into 12 individual cinnamon rolls stuffed with apple pie filling.

Rolled Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls prior to baking — *Ends cut out and places on the side (Left). Cinnamon rolls cut into twelve pieces*

Next, transfer these rolls into a greased 9′ x 13′ rectangular baking dish.

The transferring process can be a messy one too but that is (also) totally okay!

(See a theme here: embrace the mess!)

Once all the rolls are transferred over, let the rolls rise for 30 minutes.

Once the rolls rise and bake, it will look all nice and much more like actual cinnamon rolls 🙂

Pre-bake apple cinnamon rolls — *Unbaked Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling (after individual rolls are left to rise for 30 minutes)*

Bake for 22-25 minutes and then drizzle with my easy and delicious sweet glaze or icing!

A casserole dish of cinnamon rolls and two plates of cinnamon rolls

Tips and Tricks

I know the process is a tad long but I promise you it is so worth it!

Highlighting a few tricks to make making Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling easier and more seamless:

When making the dough, keep temperature of the wet ingredients (milk, butter and egg mixture) below 100℉ to preserve the effectiveness of the yeast. At the same time, if the wet ingredients are too cold, yeast will not activate. That is why we recommend heating milk and butter to 90-100℉ . A meat thermometer will be helpful to get the right temperature.
Eggs used for the dough should not be too cold when incorporated into the warm milk and butter mixture because it may produced scrambled egg pieces.
Dough should be sticky to the fingers but avoid adding too much flour because that will dry our the dough and cinnamon rolls will be less soft and moist. Flour needed will vary – my recommendation is to start with 3 3/4 cups and then add 1 tbsp more if the dough is still super sticky (big clumps sticking to fingers).
Make sure dough is rising in a fairly warm spot. During the winter when our house tends to be cooler, I place it on a spot where there is sunlight, close to a heater or in a warmer room.
Apples should be cut into smaller, thinly sliced pieces so that they can be cooked/baked quickly, this way they will be soft and juicy and no longer crunchy.
When spreading apple pie filling onto flattened dough, leave a 1-inch frame around the dough where there is no apple pie filling. Doing this will prevent less filling from spilling out of the dough when rolling the dough into a tube.
A serrated knife is what I find works best to cut the tube of dough into small cinnamon roll pieces.
When making the glaze/icing, adjust the consistency accordingly by adding more powdered sugar to thicken glaze and more milk to thin out glaze.

A plate of one cinnamon roll with apple pie filling

And here’s the delightful end product: warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven homemade Cinnamon Rolls with apple pie filling. Your kitchen smelling like cinnamon, apples and all things Fall. SO DREAMY.

Serve this for brunch on weekend, holidays, potlucks, family get-togethers. It’s always a hit at our household!

I have so much faith in you! ❤️

Make Ahead and Storage

Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling can be made ahead and stored in an air tight container in room temperature for up to a day. After that, I recommend storing in the refrigerator.

It can be reheated in the microwave. Drizzle the top with a few drops of water if it has been in the fridge for a while and have dried out.

If you want to assemble Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls and store without baking, you can freeze them after placing the cinnamon rolls stuffed with apple pie filling on the casserole.

When ready to bake, refrigerate overnight so that it is completely defrosted, then let it sit in room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

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