Apple sugar butter cinnamon

Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls

Written on September 30, 2013

Yeah, and it only gets better with cream cheese frosting! Cinnamon roll meets rich, caramelized apple butter, studded with fresh apples, and baked to perfection. Spread with cream cheese or caramel topping and enjoy!

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t like cinnamon rolls, have you? If so, they’re certainly in the vast minority. The aroma that fills the house while they’re baking, sinking your teeth into that soft gooey goodness topped with cream cheese frosting….There is just something about them that feels like coming home.

My husband, Todd, is the kind of person who rarely craves sweets. But he’ll never pass up peanut butter or chocolate chip cookies, Rice Krispy treats, or cinnamon rolls. When we first met he told me he didn’t like cake, so for his birthday I surprised him with a batch of cinnamon rolls baked in a round pan and put candles on it. He was in heaven.

This cinnamon roll dough is the best I’ve had. It has the perfect texture. I love to unroll the baked cinnamon buns, watching the dough gently rip apart in soft, fluffy strands. Traditionally I’ve used this recipe for standard cinnamon rolls. But after making a batch of homemade apple butter recently, I was enjoying a spoonful of it and contemplating other uses for it. Somehow the thought of cinnamon rolls came to mind – imagine spreading them not only with brown sugar and cinnamon, but how about a generous layer of rich apple butter? The image stuck in my mind and wouldn’t leave until I put it to the test. The end result: Divine.

This recipe features my homemade Amazing 24-Hour Crockpot Apple Butter, but you can use store-bought as well (but trust me, it won’t taste as good! Also, my apple butter is quite thick. Be careful when selecting an apple butter to purchase that it isn’t very runny or these rolls may result in a goopey mess!).

Note: You don’t have to use apple butter at all. If you prefer to omit it, spread the dough with 1/3 cup softened butter instead of the apple butter at the appropriate step. This recipe still makes the most wonderful cinnamon rolls!

Note: See “note” in the recipe box for Make Ahead instructions.

Let’s get started!

Stir the yeast into the warm milk and let sit for 5 minutes. 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. Lightly spray the same bowl with vegetable oil and return the dough.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough sit in a warm place to rise until nearly doubled in size, about 90 minutes. I turn the oven on to 350 degrees F for about 1 minute, turn it off, and then put the dough in the oven to rise.

Beautiful dough with the perfect texture, 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.

Measure out the apple butter and combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a separate small bowl.

Spread the apple butter over the surface of the dough, leaving about 1/4 inch space around the border.

Sprinkle with the sugar/cinnamon mixture.

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. I use and LOVE Parrish’s Magic Line pans. 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 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. If you prefer a fluffier cream cheese frosting, spread the frosting over cooled cinnamon rolls.

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Apple Cinnamon Crumb Muffins

These apple cinnamon muffins start with an easy muffin batter that’s flavored with cinnamon, brown sugar, and plenty of juicy apples. We use the same base recipe when making blueberry muffins because the simple batter produces moist, soft, and cakey muffins with tall muffin tops. They’re always a favorite! Enjoy the muffins plain or top them with crumb topping before baking and smooth vanilla icing before serving. If you love apple cinnamon bread, you’ll enjoy these apple muffins!

These crumb-topped apple muffins have been a personal and reader favorite since I published the recipe in 2014.

Tell Me About These Apple Cinnamon Muffins

• Flavor: These are buttery muffins where apple and cinnamon flavors take over. It’s always disappointing when you bite into a muffin and there’s hardly any “stuff” like blueberries, chocolate chips, etc. Today we’re using extra apples so you get the delicious fruit in nearly each bite. If you’re looking for a fall baking recipe where apples shine, this recipe fits the bill!
• Texture: The apple cinnamon muffins are moist because we add yogurt (or sour cream) to the batter. And because we start with creamed butter and sugars, the muffins are soft, light, and cakey like a cupcake. We don’t overload the batter with milk (use only 1/4 cup (60ml)), so you still have a slightly dense texture. I like to describe these muffins as having the perfect harmonious balance between soft and dense!
• Ease: I categorize this recipe as a beginner baking recipe because you use simple ingredients and easy mixing methods. An electric mixer is key for creaming the butter and sugars together and if you decide to add the icing, you just need a whisk. Some crumb toppings require cold butter and a pastry cutter to mix, but we’re using melted butter here so you just need a fork. Easy! All of the ingredients used are baking staples, so there’s nothing new or difficult. Plus you have wiggle room with the yogurt and milk depending on what’s convenient for you. I love easygoing recipes that produce consistently delicious results and know you appreciate that too!

Why This Apple Cinnamon Muffin Recipe Works

Today’s muffin recipe uses my all-star muffin batter. This batter can be used to create endless muffin varieties and you’ll see it again in my blueberry muffins, peach muffins, cranberry orange muffins, and more. In fact, this “Master Muffin Batter” has become such a hit with readers that I created a separate page dedicated to all its possibilities: 1 Muffin Batter for Infinite Muffin Recipes. It starts with basic dry ingredients like flour, baking powder + soda, and salt. More often than not, I add ground cinnamon and you’ll see its addition in today’s apple cinnamon version. The wet ingredients are just as straightforward– creamed butter with sugars, plus 2 eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream/plain yogurt, and milk. I use either plain Greek yogurt or sour cream based on what I have and the same goes for the milk. Use whole milk, 1%, almond milk, buttermilk, oat milk, etc. I’ve made these muffins what seems like 1,000x with various milks and trust me, they all work!

• By the way, if you’re a muffin aficionado, you might also love my Bakery Style Muffins which are denser, jumbo in size, and have a distinctively tight crumb.

Overview: How to Make Apple Cinnamon Muffins

I like to make the crumb topping first so it’s ready as soon as the batter comes together. The crumb topping, while certainly optional, comes together with ingredients you use in the muffin batter– very convenient. (It’s the same crumb topping we use on peach muffins.) After that, you can peel and chop the apples into roughly 1/2 inch pieces. Pictured below is 1 cup plus several chunks on the side. You need 1 and 1/2 cups (about 165g) which is about 2 medium apples. Fold the apples into the batter.

How to Create The Perfect Tall Muffin Tops

Press crumb topping into the tops of each muffin before baking. For tall muffin tops, there are 3 directions to follow closely:

1. Make sure your muffin batter is THICK. (This one is!)
2. Fill your muffin tins/liners all the way to the top with batter.
3. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at an initial high temperature, and then lower it the temperature.

This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up the muffin top. Once the temperature is lowered, the centers of the muffins bake. I recommend this in nearly all of these muffin recipes.

And one more piece of advice before you start:

Best Apples to Use in Apple Muffins

Firmer apples are ideal for baking so avoid soft, mealy, and mushy apples. If you’re baking a recipe that calls for many apples such as apple crisp or apple crumble pie, use a mix of tart apples and sweet apples. These apple cinnamon muffins only need 1 or 2 apples, so it’s fine to use tart apples like Granny Smith or sweet apples like Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Pink Lady.

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Apple Butter

Learn how to make apple butter and fill your house with the aroma of cooking apples, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Our apple butter recipe is great on toast or spooned into oatmeal!

Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.

It’s hard to find any apple butter, let alone good apple butter in the grocery store these days. Making apple butter is a great way to preserve the fruits of an apple harvest.

What is Apple Butter?

Apple butter is made by slowly cooking pureed apples for over an hour. The sugars in the apples caramelize as the puree cooks, giving the apple butter its rich, sweet flavor and dark color.

In contrast to what the name implies, there is no «butter» in apple butter. The name comes from its smooth and buttery texture. Apple butter is delicious on buttered toast.

Don’t Throw Away Your Apple Cores!

Although apple butter takes time to make, the upfront part is easy. You do not have to peel or core the apples.

The pectin for firming up the resulting apple butter resides mostly in the cores and there is a lot of flavor in the apple peels. After the first cooking, these parts get discarded as the pulp is run through a food mill.

This recipe produces a traditional apple butter, which is both sweet and sour, the addition of cider vinegar just intensifying the flavor and giving it its tangy edge. It’s seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and lemon.

For more information on apple varieties, check out our Guide to Apples.

The Difference Between Applesauce and Apple Butter

Apple butter is a smoother, more concentrated form of applesauce. The methods for making the two both start out similarly, by slow-cooking apples until they’re soft and mushy. Applesauce will be ready at this saucy stage, sometimes with the addition of sugar and/or spices to flavor it. But to make apple butter, you puree the stewed apples and cook them down further so more liquid evaporates and the apples caramelize.

Alternatives to Stovetop Cooking

Don’t love standing at the stove stirring for ages? These two methods are way more hands-off.

• Microwave: Instead of cooking the seasoned puree on the stovetop in Step 5, cook it uncovered in a microwave, on medium heat setting to simmer, for around 30 minutes. If you do this, monitor the cooking every 5 or 10 minutes. Microwaves vary in their power.
• Slow cooker: In Step 5, transfer the seasoned puree to a slow cooker. Cook on low with the lid ajar (lay spoons across the cooker and set the lid on top) so steam can escape. Stir once every hour or so. Depending on your cooker, it could take up to 5 hours for the apple butter to cook down.

The Best Apples for Apple Butter

Look to softer apples, like Gravenstein, to make apple butter, as they will cook down faster. We also like the tart flavor of Granny Smith apples. Combine different apples to match your taste preferences. We recommend the following varieties:

• Braeburn
• Cortland
• Fuji
• McIntosh
• Golden Delicious
• Jonagold

Learn which apples are best to use in cooking and baking in our guide to apples.

Swaps and Suggestions for Homemade Apple Butter

• Switch up the spices. This recipe calls for cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and some lemon to bring out the flavor, but feel free to play around with others spices such as ginger and nutmeg if you wish.
• Switch up the sweetener. We recommend sticking with white sugar for a straightforward apple flavor. But readers have shared some of the swaps they’ve made in the comments. Check them out!

To Can or Not to Can?

Want to make larger batches of apple butter so you can have jars on hand for later and not worry about refrigerating them? Planning to give jars as gifts? If so, sterilize glass jars for canning. We offer detailed directions for water bath canning in the recipe below.

If you want to eat your apple butter up quickly, skip the canning. It keeps in the fridge for weeks as long as you’re not dipping dirty spoon into it. Or freeze it for later.

NOTE: For this recipe to be safe for canning, the sugar levels should not be reduced lower than to 1/3 cup sugar per 1 cup apple pulp.

Storing and Freezing Apple Butter

• Fresh apple butter will keep in the fridge for at least couple of weeks, if not longer.
• Sealed, canned jars of apple butter will keep for years in the pantry (they’re best used within a year, though). Once opened, they’ll also keep for weeks in the refrigerator.
• Frozen apple butter will keep up to a year.

Ways to Use Your Apple Butter

Whether you spread it on toast, swirl it into oatmeal, or serve it on a cheese plate, you’ll find a plethora of delicious ways to incorporate apple butter.

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