I am delighted to announce that Michelle Ells is the winner of the Tate's Bake Shop giveaway. Michelle, you have won a fabulous gift of cookies - 3 packages of Dark Chocolate Whole Wheat cookies from Tate's Bake Shop and their cookbook (to add to your collection). Thank you so much Michelle for entering into my giveaway!
And for the rest of you I have a lovely recipe just perfect for the season of Fall - Apple Cinnamon Rolls frosted with none other but Cream Cheese Frosting - super yum! Layers of all things tasty that I associate with the Fall are in these sweet rolls. Once your dough is made and rolled out you will layer it first with a brown sugar cinnamon mixture and then chopped apples sprinkled on top. Simply yummy!
I was delighted with how easy these special cinnamon rolls came together. The dough can actually be made in a bread machine but because I do not own one I made my dough in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and had great success. If you would like to make your dough in a bread machine just follow the directions from your machine manufacturer as to which ingredients that I share below should be added first. It is my understanding that usually all the wet ingredients/liquids go first followed by the seasonings, the flour and then the yeast placed in a well of the flour.
The recipe originates from a blog that I have recently discovered called, Mrs Happy Home Maker. Such a lovely blog full of mouth watering recipes. Scrumptious main dishes, breakfast foods and of course desserts of all kinds are just some of the delicious recipes that I have found on this blog. Definitely take a moment to take a peak at Mrs. Happy Home Maker. I want to point out that I did not use the original recipe for the frosting, Caramel Cream Cheese Icing but instead made original Cream Cheese Icing. I was missing a key ingredient for the caramel flavor, caramel ice cream topping as to why I didn't make the icing that went along with the original recipe for these rolls.
Apple Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing
Dough Ingredients:
1 cup warm milk (I warmed my milk in the microwave for 45-60 seconds to warm it)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled for a couple of minutes
4 1/2 cups bread flour (AP flour is fine - I used AP flour)
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp regular yeast (if making your dough in bread machine use yeast for bread machines)
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Filling Ingredients:
5 Tbsp butter, softened (original recipe called for a whole stick which I didn't end up using)
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
Apple Filling Ingredients:
4-5 medium sized baking apples, peeled, cored and diced
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cornstarch
*Cream Cheese Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
*If you would like to make your icing into a caramel icing add in 5-6 Tbsp of caramel ice cream topping....should be a lovely result of a frosting for these special rolls!
Directions:
1. Make the dough. Warm milk in a medium size heat proof bowl in microwave for about 1 minute (do not get it too hot or the yeast will be killed when added to milk...trust me on this as I have learned the hard way). Sprinkle yeast over milk, let sit for a couple of minutes and then gently stir to combine and set aside. Add flour and salt into large bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer. Melt butter and set aside for a couple of minutes to cool then pour into flour mixture. Add in slightly beaten eggs and then milk/yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Mix to combine. At this point I switched over to my dough hook. Run mixer for a good 5 minutes until dough comes away from bowl and is shiny in color.
2. Lightly grease a large bowl and then remove dough from mixing bowl into your prepared greased bowl. Cover with a clean damp towel and set in a warm place without any drafts. Allow dough to rise until at least doubled in size - about an hour.
3. Remove dough from bowl onto a lightly floured and allow to rest for 15 minutes before rolling out.
4. While dough is resting make apple filling. In a medium size sauce pan melt 3 Tbsp of butter. Add in diced apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring every so often.
Cool apple filling as you prepare the dough for layering of all the yumminess.
5. Roll out rested dough into a large rectangle. Mix together 1 cup brown sugar and 2 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon, set aside as you spread 5-6 Tbsp of softened butter over your rectangle of dough....
....and now sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon mixture over the butter layer....
...and then finally the apple filling....
6. Starting on a long side of the rectangle carefully roll up the dough.
No worries if the filling comes out a little bit as you can just spoon it over the rolls once placed in pan.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Melt 1/2 a stick of butter in a 9x13 baking pan. Remove pan when butter has melted. Cut rolled up dough into 1 1/2 inch slices - place slices in prepared pan. Put any remaining filling on top of rolls in pan.
Pop in oven and bake for 15 minutes - rolls should be lightly browned when they are done.
8. While rolls are baking, make the icing as you will want to frost the rolls while they are still warm. In a large bowl combine cream cheese and butter. Beat together for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Slowly add in sifted powdered sugar along with vanilla extract (and caramel topping if you choose to use it). Beat all together until well combined and smooth - about 2-3 minutes.
9. Spread icing over rolls while they are still warm. Such a lovely sight I tell ya!
Serve and enjoy this delightful treat!
Happy Apple Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese (or Caramel Cream Cheese) Icing Baking!
Before I leave you, here is a picture of my precious oldest daughter and the newest addition to our family.....Mitten the Kitten :-)
