Big, fluffy & soooo soft!
If you ever wanted to try out a very easy to make and delicious apple-cinnamon rolls recipe, it is your chance today! This recipe will blow your mind – I promise. After a couple of tries and modifications, I finally found the perfect combination of ingredients that makes this recipe absolutely perfect. And because so many have been asking me about it on Instagram, I thought I’d share it with you today. :) Don’t worry – you don’t need to be an expert for this. Even without any baking experience, I’m sure you’ll be able to make them and they will still turn out just as perfect.
I would love to see your creations! So please, don’t hesitate to tag me on Instagram or Facebook with @thegermanintrovert so I don’t miss them! <3
All the ingredients for the dough:
- 250 ml (1 Cup) of milk (don’t use plant-based milk, it won’t work)
- 42 g (1 1/4 once) fresh yeast (instant yeast works as well)
- 60 g (1/4 Cup) sugar
- 500 g (4 Cups) flour
- 100 g (1/2 Cup) butter
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
All ingredients for the filling:
- 3 apples
- 300 g (1 1/4 Cup) cream cheese
- 150 g (2/3 Cup) powdered sugar
- 1 packet of vanilla sugar
Important: You need a hand mixer with a dough hook! Otherwise it will be pretty difficult to prepare the dough just with your bare hands. (But it’s not impossible.)
Instructions:
- Heat the milk in a small pot until it’s just a bit warmer than room temperature. Don’t – under any circumstances – let the milk boil! Then add the yeast and stir it very well. The yeast has to be dissolved entirely! Then add 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of sugar to the mix. Again – stir very well! Let this mixture sit in the pot for 10 minutes – preferably in a warm area. You can use the remaining heat of your stove – but don’t let it boil. This step is essential for the dough since this will activate the yeast that will make your apple-cinnamon rolls soft and fluffy.
- Now we’ll be preparing the rest for the dough. Just put all of the remaining ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, and salt) in one bowl. When the 10 minutes for the yeast activation have passed, add all that is in the pot to the bowl. Now: Mix everything together with your hand mixer (use the dough hooks!!).
- The moment your dough is getting really sticky and hard to mix for your hand mixer, it’s time to take it out of the mixing bowl and knead it with your hands. Why? Because we have to get all of the oxygen out of the dough. This sounds way harder then it is, though. Just knead the dough until it feels soft and elastic in your hands.
- Then put it back into your mixing bowl and let it sit for 1 hour. It must rise double the size during this time, so cover it with a towel and wait. :)
Last steps:
(Don’t forget to preheat the oven to 170° Celsius / 338 °F!)
- Filling: Mix all the ingredients for the filling together in one bowl. Stir it very well until the powdered sugar, and the cream cheese is looking all slick and smooth.
- Slice the apples into little pieces. Remember, you’ll be putting them into the rolls. Don’t make them too big!
- Take your dough and roll it! You want to roll it into a rectangular shape, so it’s easy to roll it up afterwards. (Around ~2 cm thick/ 1 inch)
- Now spread the cream cheese onto the dough and add the apple pieces on top of it. If you like, you can also take another tablespoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the apple pieces to add a little more of a cinnamon taste to it. :)
- Roll up the dough length-wise! You’ll be cutting into 12-ish slices. Mine tend to be between 4 to 5 cm (1,5 inch to 2 inches).
- Now place the rolls upwards onto a baking pan and put it into your oven for 40 minutes. Temperature: 170° Celsius (338 °F) in a convection oven.
Enjoy the rolls while they are still a little warm. You can even use left-over filling to put it as a frosting on top of your apple-cinnamon rolls. But that’s totally up to you! :)