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Made these this morning for my family. A unanimous hit! So delicious! Making these this fall for sure.
Liesl
I blinked and it was Monday.
I’m a little sad.
This weekend was filled with some wonderful things, including babysitting 30 kids on a Friday night, and maybe wonderful isn’t the right word for that, but whatever, hosting a Matilda movie night with my girls, and filling our lives to the brim with these heavenly caramel rolls. Somehow treadmills and green veggies and rational portion sizes didn’t make their way into the weekend mix, but Mondays are good for that thing called a fresh start. On second thought, so are Tuesdays.
Before you run into the kitchen to get these babies started, there’s one thing that you need to know. It’s going to take some sweat. Oh, wait, you live in a normal climate? Ok then. It’s just going to take some time.
It’s time well spent, my friends. Well. Spent.
First you’re going to let the dough rise. It’s going to smell amazing and feel even more amazing in your hands and you’re going to ask yourself why you don’t do this more often.
Then you’re going to roll it out
and fill it with sweet caramel apple filling
and drown your soft, fluffy rolls in more caramel apple sauce.
And then,
This.
Is going in your mouth.
Print
Caramel Rolls with Apples and Walnuts
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 15 1x
Description
These homemade caramel rolls are soft and fluffy and loaded with sweet, sticky apples and walnuts. So perfect for a Saturday breakfast!
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (more or less depending on dough consistency)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk, lukewarm
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 3 apples, peeled, cored, and finely diced
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix 2 cups of the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Add the lukewarm milk, egg, and butter. Mix with a bread mixing attachment until moist ingredients are incorporated and mixture is beginning to clump together. Scrape down the sides and add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing again until dough is sticking together. Use your hands to knead the dough together – it should be workable and have some elasticity.
- Place the dough in a large buttered or greased bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let rest in a warm spot for one hour. When dough has rested for one hour and risen to about double it’s original size, punch it down and fold the corners back into the middle, making it a compact ball once again. Cover again, with corner side down, and let rest for 30 minutes.
- While dough is rising, saute the apples, butter, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla together in a saucepan over low heat. Let the mixture gently simmer together for about 10-15 minutes, until apples are tender and mixture has thickened slightly. Add chopped walnuts and set aside.
- Roll the dough into a 9×15 rectangle. Pour 1/3 of the apple mixture onto the dough and spread it evenly. Starting at the wide end, roll up the dough with the apple mixture inside. When the dough has been rolled up, use a large knife to cut the dough into 12-15 spiraled rolls and place each of them in a large buttered ovenproof skillet. Leave some room between each roll for the dough to rise.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover the rolls and let rise again for 30 minutes. When risen, pour 1/3 of apple mixture over the top. Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until lightly browned and baked through. Pour remaining 1/3 of sauce over the hot rolls before serving.
Notes
To make these ahead of time, go through all the steps, stopping after you cut the rolls and place them in the pan. Cover them and store in the fridge. Leave some extra time for them to come back to room temperature and rise again on the day that you want to bake them (it took me at least 2 hours to get them warm and risen again after refrigerating).
As you make the dough, adjust the consistency with a tablespoon of flour to thicken or a tablespoon of milk to soften if necessary.
You can also use a 9×13 baking dish.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: caramel rolls, apple caramel rolls, walnut caramel rolls
PS. Thank you Dulce Dough for helping me be a successful baker. You rock.
PSS. Wanna take 15 seconds to vote for Chicken Tamale Pie so I can give away a free vacation?
And you’re like, come on. Just gimme the soft white bread and caramel sauce.
Fair enough.
Hi there can you just kneed with hands or do you have to have a mixer stand? Thanks
It should be fine to use your hands. 😉
So light and fluffy <3 I used raisins instead of walnuts, and I made them vegan by using ¼ cup of applesauce instead of egg.
Let the filling caramelize so it doesn't ooze out when you roll it.
Turned out amazing!!
Love the addition of apple in a sticky bun recipe. Going to make this for the next “grandkids” visit later in the month. Found you because Pat Sloan . com referred to your recipe today – July 5, 2017
This has been my go-to roll recipe for over a year. It’s great! I highly recommend following the directions in regards to rising, it really makes a difference. If you want it less sweet, do 1/2c white sugar and 1/2c brown. I substitute pecans for walnuts sometimes and i always put lemon juice on the apples before sauteing them. Great recipe thank you!
Delicious ! I’m baking mine right now and the look amazing, thank you so much for de recipe ♥
Made these this morning for my family. A unanimous hit! So delicious! Making these this fall for sure.
I made these rolls yesterday and had one for breakfast this morning… and they are FA-BU-LOUS! So delicious, I’m thinking about having one for dessert this evening! Mmmmh my mouth is watering already!
Glad you liked them Suzanne!
These looked so so amazing, that I HAD to try them out. Sadly, my sauce did not turn out as saucy or liquidy as yours did.. its in the oven as I type this.. but I’m pretty sure the result is going to be good..
I probably will have to make some more topping sauce though.. any tips on how to make it as deliciously liquidy as yours? Oh I added a bit of apple tea (apple peels simmered in water) to my sauce to make it liquidy, but it still got all evaporated.. 🙁
Hmm, what happened to the sauce? Did it crystallize? Maybe the heat was too high? I only simmered mine for about 15 minutes or less, just enough to melt the sugar. If you make more, I would use lower heat to see if that helps.
is this recipe okay to halve or freeze? If i make 15 of these I will probably eat 13 of them! LOL. They look delish!
I simply can’t resist rolls smothering in caramel and nuts. I just can’t. And these have to be the most tempting rolls with the most perfect balance of nuts and caramel to dough… Love these! I’m featuring this post in today’s Food Fetish Friday (with a link-back and attribution as always). Thanks for continuing to inspire me with your creations…
Made these rolls this weekend with apples fresh from the farmer’s market. They were divine!
I never let yeast scare me from trying a recipe. All that kneading is just cheap therapy in my mind. My hubby prefers frosted rolls, but caramel owns me!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! These look like the best thing ever.
These caramel rolls look so delicious! I wish I had them for my breakfast tomorrow.
how did I miss this post? Just saw it on FG but maybe it never made it into my Reader? The important thing is I saw it now, and wow, what rolls! they look amazing, Lindsay!
Thanks Averie! Not sure about the reader thing but I’m glad you saw it now! 😉
WOW!!! This looks so good! 🙂
Oh boy. I made caramel apple cinnamon rolls a week or two ago and they’re AMAZING! The only problem I have is that I made so many at once, got sick, and now I have a cinnamon roll aversion. And I didn’t get pictures. Wah! But these, these look awesome. 🙂
Oh no! I feel bad but I’m smiling. 🙂 Oh, the food blogger’s dilemmas.
The most PERFECT caramel rolls I’ve ever laid eyes on. And my grandmother’s are legendary! Lindsay – you are amazing. 🙂
Oh boy do I really have to wait until the weekend?
Love the new affiliate links by the way, just updated mine!
I think I just swooned!
Wow, you make these look so easy. They look amazing!
Wow, those look positively decadent! Looks like a perfect fall brunch treat.