Cinnamon buns with apple twist

Is there anything better than a cup of aromatic coffee and a cinnamon bun straight from the oven? Why, yes there is! I discovered it quite accidentally by buying way too many apples. Every time I go to the kitchen, they are sitting there, staring at me, waiting to be eaten. I have no other choice but work them in whatever it is I’m making. So far it has proven to be quite a delicious experiment. After making some apple cupcakes with cinnamon frosting (which disappeared so quickly, I didn’t have a chance to take even one picture) I figured, what the hell… why not try it in a bun.

Turns out, it is exactly what cinnamon buns were missing. Don’t get me wrong, I love them in pure, apple-less for as well, but I can never make them at home. Out of all the yeast based buns, these are the ones that dry the fastest… One day you have soft cinnamon goodness and the next – unappetizing stone. Apples magically solve the problem! Plus, apples and cinnamon… it’s a no-brainer! 

Buns (makes about 12):

1 cup warm milk

3 tsp dry active yeast

50g sugar

100ml oil (or melted butter)

1 egg

500 g flour

Cinnamon –apple filling:

8 tbsp brown sugar

2-3 tsp cinnamon (or more – no hard rule here)

1 large or 2 small apples – grated

Handful of raisins

50g melted butter

Glaze:

½ cup milk

½ cup powdered sugar

Vanilla flavoring (optional)

Mix yeast, 1 tsp sugar and warm milk and wait for it to foam (5-10 minutes). Mix egg, remaining sugar and oil and add to the yeast mixture. Add flour and mix until blended (I did it by hand and worked just as well). Let it rise for about an hour.

Filling: in small bowl mix cinnamon and sugar, add grated apple and raisins. Pour the melted butter and mix well.

Glaze: mix sugar and milk until well blended. If mixture is too thick, add a splash of water

Roll out the dough into a rectangle (less than 1 cm thick) and spread the apple- cinnamon filling evenly. Starting from the longer edge, roll the dough tightly. Slice with sharp knife into 1 ½ inch slices. If they lost shape, you can “help” them a little, before placing on a baking sheet.

Let them rise for about ½ hour, then bake for 15-20 min in 180 degrees. Glaze the rolls while still warm.