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Cinnamon Apple Pie Rolls are made with soft applesauce spiced dough, loaded with juicy apple pie filling, then topped with an apple butter glaze for the ultimate apple sweet roll.

Apples have always been my favorite fruit, and I’m always looking for different ways to use them. Since I make apple pie filling regularly for apple strudel, I’ve been playing around with different ways to use these intensely flavored apples. On the easy side, they made their way into apple hand pies, and today I’ll show you how to add them into my latest cinnamon roll variation: cinnamon apple pie rolls.

I’m calling them cinnamon apple pie and not apple cinnamon rolls because I’m specifically not adding extra cinnamon sugar paste inside the rolls as you would for traditional cinnamon rolls. I personally want to just taste the apples and not extra sugary cinnamon roll goo. Be not disappointed, dear reader if you’re a goo all the time kind of person; I’m adding those instructions for extra goo as well.

Fill your coffee pot with your best coffee; these apple rolls are going to deserve it.

closeup of cinnamon apple pie roll on plate with fork and coffee

Cinnamon Apple Pie Rolls

Why you might prefer these apple sweet rolls over regular cinnamon rolls

apple pie cinnamon rolls on plate with cut apples

cinnamon apple pie roll on plate with fork and coffee

Apples: You will never know how much flavor you can pack into apples until you have some of my apple pie filling. Of course it was going to make an incredible cinnamon roll. Plus there’s apple represented in the dough and glaze. If you love apples, this is your roll!
Soft!: Dry cinnamon rolls these are not. The apples add some extra moisture to an already soft dough, making for a delicate soft roll that’s lovely to eat.
Make-ahead: You can make the dough up to 3 days ahead of time and the apples up to 3 months if you freeze them. When you’re ready to make the rolls, it only takes about 10 minutes to get them rising in the pan.
Easy: If you’re not ready to tackle apple strudel, these rolls are a good alternative. The dough is friendly and easy to work with.

Ingredients for cinnamon apple pie rolls

applesauce roll Dough

Water
Yeast
Granulated sugar
Applesauce
Butter
Apple pie spice or cinnamon
Salt
Eggs
Vanilla paste or vanilla extract
Flour

apple butter Glaze

Powdered sugar
Apple butter or apple sauce
Apple pie spice
Milk

apple Filling

1 recipe Apple Pie Filling
Butter, brown sugar, and apple pie spice if you want more sugar goo (see note in recipe)

Tips for making the best apple pie rolls

Check your moisture: make sure your make the apple pie filling as indicated. By gently cooking the apples until tender and not loading them up with sugar at the beginning of cooking, you’ll make sure that they’re not swimming in liquid. If the apples are too juicy, the dough will pick up too much moisture as they cook, leaving you with soggy middles in your rolls. If your apples have moisture hanging out in the bottom of the bowl, drain them first before using.
Roll out your dough on a pastry cloth: I know this from making strudel, but rolling out your dough on a cloth means it sticks less than on a smooth surface. Since the weave of the fabric can hold on to tiny particles of flour, you’ll find both you won’t have to add as much flour to the cloth vs. a counter and the dough is easier to move around. Just shake out your cloth after you use it and give it a rinse and let it air dry for next time you make rolls.
Use a serrated knife: I love cutting my sweet rolls with dental floss, but in this case a serrated knife is the best tool. This makes sure you’re getting through the apples and the dough.
Bake them longer than you think: because of the extra moisture from the apples, it will take longer to bake the center of the rolls than most sweet rolls. If it seems like the outsides are browning too quickly, cover the pan with foil and bake for the full length of time.

Variations to try to customize your apple cinnamon rolls

spreading brown sugar paste on pumpkin cinnamon roll dough

More sugar goo: These rolls are plenty sweet on their own, but if you want to add a cinnamon sugar filling on top of the apple filling, follow the directions for the filling in the pumpkin cinnamon rolls. Once you’ve spread the paste, layer the apples over top before rolling them up and cutting.
Make a thicker glaze: I love thin glazes on sweet rolls so that they don’t cover up your the beautiful snail design of the roll, but to each their own. If you prefer a thicker glaze, simple take out the milk in the glaze ingredients.

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes + 4-8 hours chilling time
Yield: 15 rolls

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Description

Loaded with perfectly tender sautéed apples rolled up in soft applesauce overnight roll dough these rolls are an apple lover’s dream.

Ingredients

Scale

Dough

1/4 cup warm water (59 mL)
2 tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 g)
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 Tablespoons butter (57 g)
1 teaspoon apple pie spice
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
3 cups all-purpose flour (390 g)

Filling

1 batch of apple pie filling
2 Tablespoons room temperature butter (28 g)

Apple Butter Glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar (90 g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon apple butter or applesauce
2 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice

Optional sugar filling (see note)

1 stick butter, at room temperature (113 g)
1 /2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

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Instructions

Make the dough

Sprinkle the yeast on the warm water in a small bowl with a pinch of the sugar. Set aside for about 5 minutes until the yeast is foamy.
Melt the butter in a small pan.
Crack the eggs and use a fork to whip them into the butter. Once the eggs are smooth, add in the applesauce, sugar, salt, and vanilla stirring to combine. Check the temperature with your finger (the milk/egg mixture should be just warm to the touch.).
Put the flour into a large bowl or your stand mixer bowl. Make a well in the center with your hands, then pour in the applesauce mixture and the foamy yeast. Stir with a wooden spoon to make a rough dough.
After that, with a dough hook on your stand mixer, beat the dough for about 7 minutes on low speed (2 on a Kitchen Aid) until you get an elastic sticky dough that forms into a ball around the hook.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set in the fridge to rise overnight or 4 hours minimum. When you’re ready to make the rolls, the cold dough will be visibly puffed into a nice dome.

Make the rolls

Place your apple filling in a bowl near where you’re rolling out the dough.
Sprinkle some flour on a work surface, preferably a pastry cloth, then scrape out the cold dough on top of the flour. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough.
Quickly roll the dough into a rectangle about 12″X16″.
Brush a 9″x13″ pan with some of the room temperature butter.
Spread the rest of the butter in a thin layer over the dough with your hands.
Scatter the apple filling across the dough in one even layer.
Roll up the dough over the apples along the long edge into a tight log.
Eyeball or use a measuring tape to mark the dough for cutting the rolls into 15 pieces.
Cut the rolls with a serrated knife.
Set the cut rolls in the prepared pan.
Cover the rolls with a clean tea towel and let them rise at room temperature for 45 minutes.
Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350F (180 C).
Bake the rolls for 35-40 minutes until golden brown and set. Check to make sure that the middles aren’t too gooey.
Set the pan on a wire rack to cool while you make the glaze.

Make the apple butter glaze

Mix all the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl. If you like a thicker glaze, omit the milk.
Spoon the glaze over warm rolls.

Rolls are best eaten the same day that they’re made, but you can freeze them without the icing in an airtight bag for up to 1 month. To reheat, warm them in a pan in a 300F degree oven for 15 minutes. From there you can ice them. cinnamon apple pie roll on plate with fork and coffee