Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls Recipe- Lauren's Latest (2024)

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Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls are seriously the best thing you will ever eat this fall!! Sweet and comforting for breakfast or dessert. Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Grab your fat pants, ya’ll. I have the best most life-changing ooey-gooey Fall treat for you today! Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls.They seriously areamazing. Super caramelly, sweet, creamy, slightly chewy {in the good way} and tangy. I love all.the.things!! Carbs and I just brought our relationship to the next level with these babies. You guys have to promise me you will try these at least once this year!!

Main Ingredients

This Caramel Apple Cinnamon Roll Recipe is broken down into three parts. The dough, the filling, and the frosting. Just think of it as a mix between an Apple Crumble and a Cinnamon Roll. Anyways, below are the ingredients you’ll need to make this purely indulgent recipe.

The Dough – for the dough you are going to be following The Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Recipe. It has a great breakdown of how to make perfect cinnamon roll dough every time! It also has the list of ingredients that you need so check it out.
Apple Filling –for the apple filling you will need granny smith apples (or apples of your liking), butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, caramels, and caramel sauce.
Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting –this frosting is absolutely divine. To make it you’ll need softened cream cheese, softened butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and more caramel sauce.

Another Caramel Apple recipe you might be interested in is mySalted Caramel Apple Crumble Recipe!!! It’s so good. Just click the link and make it or save it for later. You’ll thank me later.

How to Make Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

The first thing you need to do is make some cinnamon roll dough. I used the recipe from my Cinnabon Clone recipe….totally fail-proof! I ended up adding an extra envelope of yeast to make things rise a little quicker because I’m an impatient girl 🙂 All the step by step photos for making the dough are here.

After the dough has doubled in size {proofed once}, you can roll it out into a large rectangle.

Spread on a generous portion of caramel sauce on the dough usingthe back of a spoon, leaving a 1-2 inch blank edge.

Now come the goodies!! Sprinkle these quartered caramel candies all over the dough, along with…

some cooked apples! These were just sautéed in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until tender. They will make your house smell wonderful!

Voila! I know it’s a lot of stuff going on up in these rolls…but it’s what makes them amazing!!

Carefully roll up the dough, ending with the blank edge underneath the roll to seal it completely.

Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

While the rolls are baking, make the caramel cream cheese frosting….this is just room temperature cream cheese whipped together with a little softened butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and caramel sauce.

I could eat all of this with a spoon that’s how good it is!

Once the rolls are completely baked and lovely and golden brown {and all that caramel has melted and become ooey and gooey}, remove from the oven and spread generously with the frosting we just made.

Like so! Feel free to dive in headfirst…….OR!

Grab a little more of this lovely stuff and get-a-drizzlin’. Just like this!!

OMG, how dreamy and soft and yummy do these look? This is the definition of food p*rn right here.

Make-Ahead

You can 100% make these Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls ahead of time. Make the dough accordingly, fill it and roll it up. Slice and place in the greased pan to let rise. This is where you can cover and refrigerate the rolls until you are ready to bake.

You can also freeze the rolls until you are ready to bake them. To bake you would simply need to fully thaw the rolls and then bake according to the directions.

More Cinnamon Roll Recipes to Try!

Chewy Soft Cinnamon Rolls
The Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Warm Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake Dip
Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls
Christmas Tree Cinnamon Rolls
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze
1-Hour Cinnamon Roll Recipe
Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls
Pancake Mix Raspberry Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon Roll French Toast Waffles
Cinnamon Roll Pretzels
Monster Blood and Guts {Raspberry Cinnamon Roll Pull-Aparts}
Sweet Orange Rolls

And just like that, your life will become complete after one ~~little~~ humungo bite.

Make these and rejoice, ya’lls. They’re that amazing. Or save this recipe by printing, pinning or bookmarking this page. Happy *almost* fall baking!

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls are seriously the best thing you will ever eat this fall!! Sweet and comforting for breakfast or dessert. Enjoy!

servings 12 large rolls

Prep Time 3 hours hrs

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Ingredients

for the dough-

▢ 3/4 cup warm water
▢ 4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast use the fast-acting kind!
▢ 1/2 cup granulated sugar
▢ 1 teaspoon salt
▢ 1/4 cup buttermilk at room temperature
▢ 1 egg
▢ 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
▢ 4 1/2-5 cups all purpose unbleached flour

for the apple filling-

▢ 4 medium granny smith apples
▢ 2 tablespoons butter
▢ 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
▢ 1 tablespoon cinnamon
▢ 11 oz. caramels 1 package
▢ 1 cup prepared caramel sauce

for the frosting-

▢ 8 oz. cream cheese softened
▢ 2 tablespoons butter softened
▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla
▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
▢ 1/2 cup prepared caramel sauce + more for drizzling

Instructions

Making the Dough-

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, pour in water, yeast and 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Stir and proof 5 minutes. Once the mixture looks bubbly and frothy, pour in remaining sugar and salt. Stir on low for 15-20 seconds. In a small bowl, measure buttermilk, oil, and egg. Whisk ingredients together until egg is incorporated to other two ingredients. Pour contents into the water and yeast mixture. Stir another 20 seconds in the mixer. Pour 2 cups of flour into mixer and stir on low until incorporated. Sprinkle flour in by 1/4 cup increments until dough cleans the sides and bottom of the bowl. The dough should be sticky but not sticky enough to stick to your hands when touched. Once it has reached this stage, turn the mixer on and knead for 5 minutes. Remove dough from bowl, grease and replace back into same mixing bowl {since it's practically clean anyways.} Cover with plastic wrap and a dishtowel. Rise 1-2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

Prepare the filling-

To make the apple filling, peel, core, and dice granny smith apples. Heat large skillet over medium heat. Melt butter, then add in apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring frequently, until apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Unwrap entire bag of caramels and cut into quarters.

Assemble the Rolls-

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch down and roll out to be 24x16 rectangle. Spread caramel sauce* over the entire surface of the dough, leaving a 1-2 inch strip at the top blank. Spread cooked apples** and caramel pieces over the caramel sauce evenly. Roll up lengthwise, ending with the blank strip of dough underneath the roll. Cut into 12 even {and very large} rolls and place into a greased parchment paper-lined baking pans. Cover gently with plastic wrap and rise another hour or two to double in size.
Bake rolls at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until they have browned and are cooked thoroughly.

Frosting-

While rolls are baking, make the frosting. Simply whip all ingredients together until light and fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl and whip again for 1-2 minutes.
Once rolls come out of oven, cool 5 minutes, then smother generously with frosting, than drizzle with caramel sauce. Must serve warm!!

Notes

*If you purchased a runny caramel sauce, start by spreading 1/2 cup over the dough adding more as needed. Mine was thick, so I needed more.

**If your apples gave off a lot of liquid during cooking, do your best to just spoon on the apples with minimal 'sauce'.

Nutrition

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: caramel apple, caramel apple cinnamon rolls, caramel rolls, cinnamon rolls

For more seasonal eats and treats, check out these fabulous blogs:

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