Baby, it’s cold outside

As we slowly approach winter and the cold starts to set, all I want is comforting food and for some reason, this year all I want to put in it is apples. To be honest, is there a better smell than apples cooking? I don’t think so…

So today I decided to put them in some cinnamon rolls. To be honest, I am not the biggest cinnamon roll fan, I find the taste of cinnamon on its own a bit overpowering, but mixed with other ingredients, it can be wonderful.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

A step by step guide

The first thing to do is to prepare the dough by mixing milk, butter, bread flour, yeast sugar and salt. Mix them all together until you have a dough and then knead it for 5 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for an hour or until doubled in size.

Once the dough is ready, roll it onto floured surface until it has the shape of a rectangle.

If you find it hard to make the rectangle shape, simply cut the edges so you can make the shape. Then, spread butter, sprinkle sugar and finally the apples. I mixed my apples with a little bit of vanilla extract and cinnamon for a lovely flavour.

The next step is to roll your dough, starting from the left side, roll it into a log and then cut the rolls, you should get around 12 to 14 rolls. Just a heads up, this will be messy! If any pieces of apple slip out (they most likely will), simply put them back into the roll and carry on.

Transfer the rolls into greased muffin trays if you decided to do them like me or simply into a big tray, if you choose to cook them all together, make sure you leave some space in between them for them to grow during the second rise. Let them rest for half an hour to an hour and then cook in the oven at 170 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Once they are ready, take them out and let them cool down slightly. In the meantime, prepare the icing mixing cream cheese, butter, vanilla, icing sugar and double cream. Add it on top and enjoy!

Apple cinnamon rolls with a vanilla icing

Ingredients (makes 12-14 rolls):

For the dough:

• 260 ml of whole milk
• 60 gr of butter
• 500 gr of bread flour
• 15 gr of dry active instant yeast
• 100 gr of sugar
• A pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 2 red apples (I used pink ladies)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp of cinnamon
• 65 gr of softened butter
• 35 gr of sugar

For the glaze:

• 120 gr of cream cheese
• 1 tbsp of softened butter
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 50 gr of icing sugar
• 3 tsp of double cream

Method:

1. Warm up the milk and let the butter melt in it. In the meantime, mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Pour the milk and butter into the dry ingredients and mix them well until you get a dough. Knead it over a floured surface for 5 minutes, then, put the dough in a lightly greased bowl and let it rest for at least an hour or until doubled in size.
3. Once the dough ready, cut the apples (peeled or unpeeled) in little squares and mix them with the vanilla and the cinnamon. Punch the dough to get rid of the air and in a floured surface roll it until you have the shape of a rectangle. If you are struggling to get that shape, just cut the edges so it becomes a rectangle.
4. Have the shortest edge of the rectangle closer to you so it’s a vertical rectangle (see pictures above) and spread the butter over it leaving some empty space very close to the edges. Then sprinkle the sugar and finally add the apples.
5. Start rolling the dough from the edge that is the closest to you all the way to the top to form a log.
6. Cut the rolls into 12-14 sections using either a very sharp serrated edge knife or floss (I used floss and found it extremely satisfying). This process is going to be messy! If any apples slip out, simply put them back into the rolls.
7. Place the rolls into a greased muffin tray or a baking tray and let them rest for 30 minutes to an hour. If you choose to use a baking tray, make sure you leave some space in between them for them to be able to grow during the second rise.
8. Once they’ve risen, cook them in a preheated oven at 170 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
9. Let them cool down slightly.
10. In the meantime, prepare the glaze by mixing the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, icing sugar and double cream. Spread or pipe on top of the rolls and enjoy!