Baked Apple Cinnamon Rolls
These Apple Cinnamon Rolls are made with crescent dough for a quick shortcut. Honeycrisp apples, apple butter and sweet maple frosting make a fall treat that everyone will love.
Easy Apple Cinnamon Rolls With Crescent Dough
When you’re craving warm, gooey cinnamon rolls but don’t have a few hours to spend in the kitchen waiting for a yeasted dough to rise, hear us out: crescent roll dough.
This isn’t an ingredient we use often. We’re not really a big crescent roll family around here because to be honest, we think they’re too sweet to serve with dinner (so we’re way more into Homemade Garlic Bread). But, the sweetness of this dough lends itself perfectly to fast, pillowy cinnamon rolls!
Add in chopped fresh apples, store bought apple butter and a drizzle of maple frosting, and you’ll have a fall breakfast (or dessert!) that tastes bakery-worthy without any of the fuss.
Why You Will Love Baked Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Using crescent dough is a big shortcut that means no active dry yeast, no kneading and no waiting for dough to rise.
- You’ll only need a handful of pantry staples, one apple, and the crescent dough.
- Simple enough for a weekend breakfast but special enough for a holiday brunch.
Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls Ingredients
A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.
- crescent dough – if you can find a package labeled “Crescent Roll Dough Sheet,” that’s ideal for homemade cinnamon rolls, because it doesn’t have any perforations. But if your store only carries classic crescent roll dough, grab that, and we’ll tell you how to make it work in the Home Chef Tips below.
- apple – we recommend Honeycrisp here, but any type of apple you have on hand will definitely work. One large or about 1-1/2 medium apples is what you need.
- apple butter – adds richness and deep flavor to the apple filling. Store bought is great, but if you have a bunch of apples and want to make Instant Pot Apple Butter, even better. Applesauce won’t work here (it’s too watery), it must be apple butter.
- melted butter – for greasing the baking dish. Baking spray works just as well.
- light brown sugar – adds sweetness to the cinnamon layer inside each roll.
- cinnamon – of course!
- powered sugar – forms the base of the frosting for these crescent roll cinnamon rolls.
- maple syrup – gives the frosting warmth and fall flavor.
- kosher salt – just a pinch in the frosting will balance the sweeteness.
- milk – to thin the frosting to a perfectly drizzly texture. Whole milk is usually best, but any type of milk you have on hand (or half-and-half or cream) will work great.
How To Make Cinnamon Apple Rolls
- LAYER. Unroll the dough sheet on your work surface. Evenly spread the apple butter over the dough, then sprinkle with the chopped apple and the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- ROLL AND CUT. Starting from one long edge of the dough, roll the dough up into a long tube. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 9 pieces.
- BAKE. Arrange the pieces in a buttered pan. Bake until the rolls are golden brown and cooked through.
- FROSTING. While the rolls cook, whisk the powdered sugar, maple syrup and salt together in a bowl. Add some milk, a few drops at a time, until the frosting is still thick but drizzly. Drizzle the frosting over the warm cinnamon rolls.
Apple Cinnamon Rolls Recipe Home Chef Tips
- No crescent dough sheet? Just pinch the perforated seams of a regular crescent roll sheet to seal it up before cutting.
- Add a sprinkle of chopped pecans or walnuts to this apple cinnamon roll recipe before rolling for a little bit of crunch.
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What To Serve With Crescent Cinnamon Rolls
These apple butter cinnamon rolls are perfect served warm for breakfast with a cup of coffee. If you want to round out your meal, say for a holiday with a bigger spread of Brunch Foods, try Vegetarian Quiche and Oven Bacon or Oven Baked Sausage.
Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls Storage
If you have leftovers, transfer them to an airtight container and place them in the fridge uncovered for a few hours until they are fully chilled, then cover them with the lid and keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days.
The best way to reheat is to microwave for 10 to 15 seconds until warm.
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Apple Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
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Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Rolls:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 crescent dough sheet
- 6 tablespoons apple butter
- 1 Honeycrisp apple peeled, cored and finely chopped (1/4-inch pieces)
For the Maple Frosting:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- Pinch kosher salt
- 1 to 2 teaspoons milk as needed
Instructions
- Make the Cinnamon Rolls: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush 9-inch cake pan with butter. In small bowl, stir together brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Unroll dough sheet on work surface. Evenly spread apple butter over dough.
- Evenly spread chopped apple over dough, leaving 1/2-inch border at long edges of dough. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apple.
- Starting from one long edge of dough, roll dough up into long tube. Using sharp knife, cut dough into 9 pieces. Arrange pieces in prepared pan.
- Transfer to oven and bake 20 to 22 minutes or until rolls are golden brown and dough is cooked through. Transfer to wire rack to cool 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the Maple Frosting: In a medium bowl, whisk powdered sugar, maple syrup and salt. Add milk a few drops at a time until still thick but drizzly. Drizzle frosting over warm cinnamon rolls.
