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Cinnamon Rolls With Apple Pie Filling

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Pillowy soft, yeast risen cinnamon rolls baked with apple pie filling are even better than you'll believe. Sweet, tart cinnamon spiced apple pie filling make these the ultimate brunch dish.

This post is sponsored by Cosmic Crisp apples but all opinions and thoughts are my own.

A cinnamon roll on a white plate torn open in the front to show the apple pie filling which is spilling out. There is a white background and a blue and white mug in the background.

What Inspired this recipe

I love a warm cinnamon roll with coffee on a Sunday morning. I love leftover apple pie with coffee on a Sunday morning too...so why not combine the two! The meeting up of these two well-loved treats is something so special, I guarantee you'll be making these again and again.

These are naturally sweet and slightly tart from Cosmic Crisp apples. The dough is so tender, moist and soft while remaining fluffy and light. This is a homemade, from scratch recipe though I will offer some optional shortcuts if you need to save time.

And, if you love these cinnamon rolls, you’ll also love my Apple Cardamom cake, hearty apple oatmeal cake and my light and airy apple beignet recipes.

9 x 13 inch glass pan with 12 baked cinnamon buns in it. They have pale icing drizzle over horizontally.
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Recipe Ingredients

Labelled image of ingredients in an overhead shot. Shown are apples, eggs, sugar, butter, oil, flour, salt, icing sugar, vanilla, brown sugar, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Cosmic Crisp apples - I’ve been working with Cosmic Crisp apples for awhile now and love them. They are delicious for fresh eating and also for baking. Naturally slower to brown than other apples, they hold up well to baking with a nice tart-sweet flavor and are the recommended apples for this recipe.

Cinnamon – The best and most classic flavor with apples, cinnamon is my choice for these apple pie rolls.

Yeast – Traditional active yeast is used for this recipe.

See recipe card for quantities.

Cosmic Crisp Non-GMO Apples

Step-by-Step Instructions

Don't be daunted by all the photos, there are just 4 main steps. Make the dough, make the apple pie filling, roll the dough with the filling and then bake. I've just added lots of photos to make these cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling foolproof 🙂

Cinnamon Roll Dough

  1. In a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), mix warm water, yeast and sugar. Let it sit 10 minutes until yeast is dissolved and starts to foam or bubble indicating it is active.
Large metal mixing bowl with yeast and water in the bottom.


2. Beat together eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and salt then add this to your yeast mixture.

Wet activated yeast in large metal bowl. A measuring cup with the pale yellow wet ingredients whisked together.

3. Pour in flour and mix slowly (by hand or with dough hook attachment in stand mixer) until it starts to come together.

Dough kneading in a kitchenaid stand mixer. Red apples in the background.

4. Continue to knead for 10 minutes. You can knead by hand on your counter or in stand mixer with dough hook.

Finished dough that has been kneaded and is in a ball at the bottom of the silver bowl. It looks very slightly sticky and is now ready to rise.

5. Once dough has been kneaded, (place back in bowl if you kneaded by hand) cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise. Let it rise 4 hours. At this point you can make the rolls or place it, covered, in your fridge overnight and make rolls in the morning.

Stainless steel bowl with dough in it has plastic wrap loosely placed over top for the rising step.

Here is what your dough will look like when it's ready. It is soft yet firm and very slightly sticky.

Dough in silver bowl has risen and is now ready to use for cinnamon rolls.

Apple Pie Filling

  1. Peel, core and chop your Cosmic Crisp apples into a ¼" dice.
  2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan on medium-low heat.
  3. Add diced apples, stir to coat.
  4. Put lid on, stirring occasionally until apples are softened, about 6 minutes.
  5. Add in brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, stir to combine and turn heat up to medium.
  6. Continue to cook until thick and syrupy, approximately 8 minutes. Then set apple pie filling aside to cool completely.
    You can make this ahead by a day and keep covered once cooled, until ready to use.
  • Cosmic crisp red apples halved and some diced to show what size to cut them too.
    1
  • Two chunks of butter (¼ cup) in a saucepan ready to melt.
    2
  • Saucepan of ¼ inch cubed apples cooking in the melted butter.
    3
  • Saucepan now has the lid on it while the apples cook.
    4
  • The apples in the saucepan are cooked down and brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg are being poured in from a red measuring cup above.
    5
  • The apple pie filling is brown in the saucepan and ready to cool before using.
    6

Assembly

Butter or grease a 9" x 13" baking dish and do the same to a clean area of countertop where you will roll out your dough.

Black countertop has been lightly coated in butter and the dough ball is sitting on it.
  1. Pour cinnamon bun dough out of bowl onto greased counter and roll or press into a rectangle that is approximately 16" x 12" with the longer edge horizontal in front of you.
  2. Spread apple pie mixture over the dough rectangle.
  3. Leave 1" bare on the side closest to you and 2" bare on the opposite side.
  4. Starting at the side closest, lift and roll the dough over itself.
  5. Continue rolling until you get to last 2".
  6. Pull the last 2" up to top of roll and pinch in place. Preheat oven to 350'F.
  7. Lightly score the dough roll into 12 equal sections.
  8. Cut using a buttered knife. Place the 12 cut rolls into the baking dish in 3 rows of 4.
  9. This will likely be messy but that's ok. Spoon spilled apple pie filling back into the centers of the rolls and let rise another 30-40 minutes while the oven preheats.
  • Dough is rolled out on a black countertop with a measuring tape in front. It is in a 12 inch by 16 inch rectangle.
    1
  • The cooled apple pie filling is poured along the middle of the dough rectangle.
    2
  • The pie filling is spread out equally over the rectangle leaving 2 inches on the far side plain and one inch plain on the closest side.
    3
  • Starting to roll the dough by pulling the first inch up and over the apple filling.
    4
  • The dough is gently pulled up and rolled over the apple pie filling.
    5
  • To finish the roll, the last 2 inches are pulled up and over to the top and pinched in place. It is now ready to be cut into 12 peices.
    6
  • A sharp buttered knife has scored the dough into 12 equal sections.
    7
  • The roll of dough is being cut. 4 slices of cinnamon roll have been cut and placed in the glass baking dish and some apple pie filling has spilled on the countertop.
    8
  • All 12 rolls have been cut and placed in baking dish and it is on top of the stove waiting to be baked.
    9

Put in preheated oven and bake, turning once in the middle, for 30 minutes or until cinnamon rolls are lightly and evenly browned on top.

Cinnamon buns are finished baking and have light brown edges. They are sitting on top of the stove in the glass pan cooling.

Icing

While cinnamon rolls are baking, whisk together icing sugar, vanilla and water to a thin but not too runny consistency.

Once rolls are baked, cool in pan 10 minutes and then drizzle icing over top or spread with a spatula and enjoy.

  • Vanilla, icing sugar and a white bowl on a white cutting board.
    1
  • Creamy icing in a 1 cup measuring cup with a spoon in it.
    2
Pan of baked cinnamon rolls with icing drizzled over on a white background.

Hint:

If dough is sticking too much to the countertop, use a buttered thin spatula to help lift it up and over.

Expert Tips

Prevent soggy cinnamon rolls – Cooking the apple pie filling before using helps thicken the filling and reduce water content from apples. This is important so that the dough bakes up fluffy and not soggy.

Fresh spices – Keeping fresh spices makes a big difference in your baking. If your cinnamon has been languishing in your back cupboard for a year or longer, consider buying some fresh and tossing the old.  Store your cinnamon and other spices in a cool dark cupboard. Avoid placing your spices above the stove or other warm places where they will deteriorate and lose flavor faster.

Substitutions

  • Store Bought Dough - If you're short on time, you can use store bought cinnamon bun dough or a yeasted pizza or bread dough instead.
  • Butter - Substitute hard margarine in place of butter if preferred.
  • Icing- Homemade or store bought cream cheese icing is also really delicious on these apple filled sticky buns in place of the simple icing sugar version.
  • Rolling Dough - If you prefer, you can flour your counter top instead of greasing it with butter when rolling out the dough.
  • Yeast - I have used traditional active dry yeast for this recipe but you can easily swap an equal amount of instant or fast-rising yeast if that's what you have. Your dough may rise slightly faster but it will be just as good.

Variations

  • Cardamom - instead of cinnamon, try this wonderful and warm spice. Use 1 teaspoon in place of the cinnamon in the apple pie filling.
  • Apple Cinnamon Sweet Bread - Divide dough into 2 and roll out each piece. Spread apple pie filling equally over both pieces leaving 1-2" bare around the edges. Fold in half, turn sideways and fold in half the other way. Roll it slightly and place in loaf pan to proof, then bake as directed.
  • Dairy-Free Cinnamon Rolls - These are super simple to make dairy-free. Simply use hard margarine in place of butter and unsweetened nut milk in place of the dairy milk. Yum!
Overhead shot of a single cinnamon roll with the apple pie filling spilling out one side. It is on a white plate.

Storage And Make-Ahead Tips

These are great to make ahead, impressing your guests on a Saturday morning AND getting to sleep in 😉 Pre make your cinnamon roll dough and apple pie filling up to 2 days ahead. Store both separately, covered in the fridge. These roll really nicely when the ingredients are chilled but allow a few extra minutes (40-60 min instead of 30) for them to warm up and start to rise once they are rolled, cut and in the pan.

These are of course best the day they are baked but they will stay moist and delicious up to 3 days. Once they are a few days old, warm them up slightly in the oven or microwave and they will soften right up.

You can freeze these. While best served warm and fresh, they can be double wrapped, not yet iced, and frozen for 1-2 months. For ideal thawing, keep them wrapped and thaw overnight in your fridge. Bring them out and warm them gently in your oven for 10-15 minutes before topping with icing and serving.

FAQs and Expert Tips

What's the difference between cinnamon rolls and sticky buns?

Cinnamon rolls have the filling rolled in and are then iced after baking. Sticky buns have a caramelized or brown sugar syrup coating the bottom of the baking dish. Once cooked, the buns are inverted (turned upside down) and the brown sugar glaze is the sticky topping making them "sticky" buns.

Are Cosmic Crisp apples GMO?

No! Cosmic Crisp's are a traditionally bred apple and are non-GMO. Developed at Washington State University in part by Dr. Bruce Barritt formerly of Kelowna, BC, they are now grown throughout Washington. Cosmic Crisp brand apples are a cross between the ‘Enterprise’ and ‘Honeycrisp’. This sweet, large, juicy apple has a remarkably firm and crisp texture.
I only ever work with ethical, sustainable brands and companies and that means never GMO products.

Are Cosmic Crisp good for cooking and baking too?

Cosmic Crisp apples are great for cooking and baking, due to their sweetness and crispy texture.
Additionally, they’re naturally slow to brown, so you can slice and chop
them before you start baking and they’ll still be beautiful when it comes time to add them to your recipe
Available across Canada at most major retailers, your refrigerator’s crisper is the best place to store these apples.

Despite the mess of baking, these are really quite simple and use everyday pantry and fridge ingredients. Don't be afraid, just take them one step at a time.

The apple pie filling is a bit messy when cutting your dough into individual rolls but this is ok and to be expected. The smaller you cut your apples and the cooler the filling is when you are rolling, the easier it will be.

Let me know how it goes? Are these your new favorite cinnamon rolls? I love to hear your experience, as well as any questions that come up.

If you have any questions or comments, you can find me on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. I try to answer any recipe related questions quickly as I know you might be in the middle of making it.

Cheers and happy cooking, Friends! Sabrina

📖 Recipe

9 x 13 inch glass pan with 12 baked cinnamon buns in it. They have pale icing drizzle over horizontally.

Cinnamon Rolls With Apple Pie Filling

Pillowy soft yeast dough is rolled around cinnamon laced apple pie filling for the most scrumptious cinnamon rolls ever!
5 from 24 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Baking, Brunch
Cuisine: American, canadian
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
4 hours
Total Time: 5 hours
Servings: 12 Rolls
Calories: 437kcal
Author: Sabrina Currie

Ingredients

Dough

  • 1 tablespoon Dry active yeast
  • ½ c Warm water
  • ⅓ c Sugar (granulated)
  • 4 c All purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 Eggs
  • ½ c Milk Whole milk or 2%
  • ½ c Vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla

Apple Pie Filling

  • 4 c Cosmic Crisp apples, diced ¼ inch dice
  • ¼ c Salted butter
  • 1 c Brown Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg

Icing

  • 1 c Icing sugar
  • ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • 1+ tablespoon Water 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon for a total of 20 mls.

Instructions

Dough

  • In a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), mix warm water, yeast and sugar. Let it sit 10 minutes until yeast is dissolved and starts to foam or bubble indicating it is active.
  • Beat together eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and salt then add this to your yeast mixture.
  • Pour in flour and mix slowly (by hand or with dough hook attachment in stand mixer) until it starts to come together. Continue to knead for 10 minutes. You can knead by hand on your counter or in stand mixer with dough hook.
  • Once dough has been kneaded, (place back in bowl if you kneaded by hand) cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise. Let it rise 4 hours. At this point you can make the rolls or place it, covered, in your fridge overnight and make rolls in the morning.

Apple Pie Filling

  • Melt butter in a medium saucepan on medium-low heat. Add diced apples, stir to coat, and then put lid on, stirring occasionally until apples are softened, about 6 minutes.
  • Add in brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, stir to combine and turn heat up to medium. Continue to cook until thick and syrupy, approximately 8 minutes. Then set aside to cool completely.
    You can make this ahead by a day and keep covered once cooled, until ready to use.

Assembly

  • Butter or grease a 9" x 13" baking dish and do the same to a clean area of countertop where you will roll out your dough.
  • Pour dough out of bowl onto greased counter and roll or press into a rectangle that is approximately 16" x 12" with the longer edge horizontal in front of you. Spread apple pie mixture over the dough rectangle leaving 1" bare on the side closest to you and 2" bare on the opposite side.
  • Starting at the side closest, lift and roll the dough over itself and continue rolling until you get to last 2". Then pull the last 2" up to top of roll and pinch in place.
    If dough is sticking, use a buttered thin spatula to help lift it up and over.
  • Preheat oven to 350'F.
    Lightly score the dough roll into 12 equal sections and then cut using a buttered knife. Place each of the 12 cut rolls into the baking dish in 3 rows of 4. Spoon spilled apple pie filling back into the centers of the rolls and let sit to rise 30 minutes while the oven preheats.
  • Put in preheated oven and bake, turning once in the middle, for 30 minutes or until cinnamon rolls are lightly and evenly browned on top.

Icing

  • While cinnamon rolls are baking, whisk together icing sugar, vanilla and water to a thin but not too runny consistency.
    Once buns are baked, cool in pan 10 minutes and then drizzle icing over top or spread with a spatula and enjoy.

Notes

The apple pie filling is a bit messy when cutting your dough into individual rolls but this is ok and to be expected. The smaller you cut your apples and the cooler the filling is when you are rolling, the easier it will be.

Nutrition

Calories: 437kcal | Carbohydrates: 72g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 250mg | Potassium: 143mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 38g | Vitamin A: 197IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @wckitchengarden or tag #wckitchengarden!
Close up picture of a single cinnamon roll with the apple pie filling spilling out. It is on a white plate that's on a wooden cutting board and there is text overlay of the recipe name.
book cover titles 10 herbs 10 ways by Sabrina Currie West Coast Kitchen Garden over top of a white table full of various herbs.

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About Sabrina Currie

Classically French trained cook, photographer and food stylist living on beautiful Vancouver Island, BC.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lilly

    Thank you for sharing such a detailed post!! The pictures really helped me to nail this recipe! The apple pie filling is my favorite part. I can't wait to make these again

    Reply

    • Sabrina Currie

      Wow, thanks for letting me know know Lilly! I really appreciate getting feedback. Cheers!

      Reply

  2. Andréa Janssen

    I love cinnamon rules, but these rolls with apple pie filling are truly delicious! What a great food combination!

    Reply

  3. windingcreekranch2020

    These look perfect, almost like apple pie and cinnamon buns rolled into one! I'm saving this recipe for when I get some delicious BC apples! 🙂

    Reply

  4. Janelle

    this is just what I needed

    Reply

  5. Jeannie

    Love the idea of apple fillings inside the cinnamon rolls, making this for sure

    Reply

  6. nancy

    we can't get enough of this delicious recipe!

    Reply

    • Sabrina Currie

      Oooh I’m so glad! My family goes crazy for them too. Thanks for sharing Nancy!

      Reply

  7. Ramona

    Oh my !! I’ve got apples and this has to be made as soon as this weekend. It looks divine and I absolutely adore any apple treat.

    Reply

  8. Vanessa

    I love cinnamon rolls and I love all apple based desserts so this was the perfect combo for me! Also smells so cozy while baking on these cold days!

    Reply

    • Sabrina Currie

      I agree! Thanks for your kind words Vanessa.

      Reply

  9. Bernice

    I've got to make these this weekend! Every time I see them I drool all over, especially this morning because I haven't had breakfast. Love that apple filling!

    Reply

  10. Cindy Mom, the Lunch Lady

    I often do this with my grandmother's no yeast cinnamon roll recipe. I bet these are even better, with the pillowy soft roll and gooey filling!

    Reply

    • Sabrina Currie

      Thanks Cindy! Great minds think alike!

      Reply

  11. Sean

    Wonderful recipe! I recently got to try Cosmic Crisp apples for the first time and I was impressed. I can see how they'd nicely cover fresh eating and cooking/baking. And on that subject, I LOVE the idea of bringing apples into cinnamon rolls! I've always liked cinnamon rolls, but I like apple pie a heck of a lot more, and this recipe was like a lightbulb going off in my head. Thanks so much for sharing it!

    Reply

  12. Michelle

    We love anything with apple pie filling at my house. I can't wait to try these this upcoming weekend!

    Reply

  13. Terri Gilson

    I LOVE these apples - it takes forever for them to turn brown! And these cinnamon rolls look delicious!

    Reply

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