Apple & Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls

It’s apple picking time, and I have a super easy apple recipe to try with your regular cinnamon roll recipe!

Apple & Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls

One of the best things about autumn is the bounty of seasonal fruits and vegetables to choose from. For me, some of the bounty to be had here in Michigan have memories attached to them: mental roots that go much deeper than organic ones ever could. Living in the Midwest means we have a lot of food memories attached to apples and those memories began for me in my mama’s kitchen. My mother was adept at turning Michigan apples into delicious delicacies. Her apple hand pies were creations of rustic beauty with their flaky buttery crust and cinnamon and clove-tinged apple filling. There was also bread pudding with apples, pancakes with pan roasted Galas.  Now that I am all grown up I have created some of my own tasty apple creations. Below I have gathered together the flavors for my Sweet Tango & Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/3 all purpose flour
• 3 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 whole milk
• 2 tablespoons 34% heavy cream
• 1 package yeast
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp of olive oil, reserved

Filling:

• 1 stick unsalted sweet cream butter, melted
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Sweet Tango apples, sliced
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 teaspoon ground clove

Prep ahead

Directions:

1. Cut Sweet Tango apples into 1″ wedges, place apples into a bowl adding a 2 tbsp of sugar and a single tsp of cinnamon. Transfer to skillet and cook apples over medium heat for about 15 minutes until apples start to soften. Place in the same bowl and add cranberries, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Stir until ingredients are incorporated. Set aside.

Glaze:

• 2 capfuls plus a 1/2 tbsp of Rum Chata
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp of heavy cream

Directions:

Prep

In a bowl add powdered sugar, heavy cream and Rum Chata. Stir together using a fork or wire whisk. Mix until smooth and there aren’t any lumps. Set aside until ready to use, do now refrigerate.

The thing with making cinnamon rolls is most people think it’s going to be an incredible time commitment. Now, I am not going to start lying. There will be work but not as much as you think and whatever time you put into making these babies will be rewarded a thousand times over because they’re so darn good.

Here comes the dough

1. Let’s make some dough. First, beat a single room temperature egg in a small bowl and set aside. Next, in a medium size bowl add all of the dry ingredients: the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cinnamon. Mix and set aside. Here’s what I did next. Using a saucepan over medium heat I poured in the whole milk, heavy cream, added the sweet cream unsalted butter and water. Stir until the milk mixture begins to show wisps of steam  Remove from heat.
2. Next little by ever so little and (with a fork in the other hand) add the warm milk mixture to the flour mixture using the fork to combine the ingredients. If the dough is still a bit sticky add no more than a quarter cup (1/4) of flour.  The dough should be soft and smooth, it should easily pull away from the sides of the bowl without sticking. Set aside.
3. On a large work surface, scatter about a 1/3 cup of flour. Place the dough on the floured counter top and knead. Basically, you’re folding the dough in on itself over and over again. Do this for about 3 to 5 minutes. Why knead? Kneading allows air to get into your dough, and sufficient air means softer dough, which in turn equals better rolls.
4. Use 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and brush and coat the inside surface of the bowl Place the dough inside the bowl and cover with a warm kitchen towel. Place the bowl in a warm (not hot) place for 15 minutes.
5. Return dough the floured surface and punch it down. Then using a rolling pin work the dough into a 15 x 10-inch rectangle. I am crazy, so I measured the dough with a tape measure just to sure. Next. Using a brush spread the melted butter over the rolled out dough leaving a 1-inch area on all four sides.
6. Use a rubber spatula spread the filling evening over dough. Now starting with the far edge away from you begin tightly rolling the dough towards you. Remember slow and tight. Using a dough cutter or butter knife, cut the dough into eight rolls and place cut side up in a buttered parchment paper lined 9 1/2″ x  12 1/2″ baking pan and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. We’re almost there. Hold your horses.

Every good cinnamon roll must rise and shine

7.  Okay. We’re in the homestretch! Now we need to proof these babies. And I got an easy method. Heat the oven to 190 degrees. When the oven reaches the desired temp, turn off the oven and place the covered rolls inside. Let them proof for an hour and remove from oven and set aside. Set oven to 365 degrees and cook off cinnamon rolls for 25 minutes. Set rolls out away from a heat source to cool. While cinnamon rolls are cooling prepare the Rum Chata Glaze.