The Best Apple Walnut Cinnamon Roll, EVER!!

I absolutely love this recipe! If you love Cinnamon Rolls (like I do), you will love this recipe too!

Faye and I have been a part of a Freezer Meal Swap group with a few friends which has been loads of fun! It gives us a chance to get together each month, enjoy a delicious meal, catch up on girl-talk and of course, stock our freezers with delicious food! What doesn't sound fun about that?

I made these cinnamon rolls for one of our recent exchanges which I hosted at my house. I took a basic William Sonoma recipe and kicked it up a notch by adding apples and walnuts. Yum!! I have to say that these rolls are so delicious and I'm not just saying that because this is a food blog (haha)...the bread is light and fluffy, not heavy or dense at all. The filling is an amazing combination of apples, brown sugar and walnuts for crunch. The smell of the cinnamon and apples while the rolls are baking will drive you crazy!

So brush off your Kitchen Aid mixer (if you haven't used it yet) and give this recipe at try!

Also, if you are ever in the the San Diego County area and are craving a delicious cinnamon roll and don't want to bake it yourself  (even though the above recipe it a MUST TRY HIT!), you need check out the Elizabethan Bakery in Encinitas California. www.elizabethandesserts.com . Faye and I recently went there to celebrate by my birthday with Pecan Cinnamon Roll.  I think the picture speaks for itself.

  

Happy Cooking everyone!!

Overnight Apple Walnut Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients

Makes 10 rolls

Ingredients:

Active Dry Yeast- 1 package (about 1 tablespoon)

½ cup warm water

4 ½ cups  all-purpose flour (1/2 cup more if needed)

4 eggs  (mixed)

¼ granulated sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened.

½ cups (1 stick) unsalted butter (melted)

3/4  brown sugar

½  walnuts

1 ½ apples peeled and cut into small pieces

1 ½ tablespoons of ground cinnamon

Vanilla Glaze

1 cup confectioner sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons whole milk

(Stand Mixer required)

Prepwork:

Butter a 9x13 baking dish.

Peel apples add brown sugar, and cinnamon and set aside

Directions:· 

1.   Add yeast  to your kitchen aid bowl, add water. Leave for five minutes.  You will notice the yeast will rise and expand.   2. With the Whisk attachment , add ½ cup of flour.    Cover with clear plastic wrap and put aside in a warm area for 30-40 minutes. 

 3.  Once time is up, add eggs, sugar, salt and the remainder of the flour.  Mix with first with a spoon, then add the Dough Hook.   Kneed it for about 4-5 minutes.   

4. Add the softened butter and knead for about 10 more minutes. (If it’s too sticky, add some of the ½ cup flour till its is a nice smooth dough).  

5.Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough double in size

for 2-3 hours.   Once the time is done, take the dough out of the bowl and put on a well-floured surface.  

6.  Roll it out with a rolling pin to a 15"x10" retrangle ( mine was more like 14"x10")  

 7. Using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter over the surface of the dough, but leave about 1 ½ inches at the end with no butter no it. You need this to seal.  

8. Add the nuts to the apple cinnamon mixture and mix to combine.   

9. Sprinkle the apple/nut mixture over the dough except for the 1 ½” edge you left with no butter. 

10.Starting at the longest end, start rolling up. Use your hands    push in the apple mixture if its moving forward. 

11.Once you done with the roll, pinch the side ends to seal it.      Make sure the seam line is facing the bottom of your cutting    board then cut the roll into 10 pieces. 

12.Put the individual pieces into the prepared baking dish  with  the cut side is facing up. 

13.Brush the tops of the rolls with the remaining butter.  Cover with clear plastic wrap and let rise in the refrigerator overnight     

 14.  In the morning, remove from refrigerator and let the dough rise for about 1 hour.   .
  15. Preheat the oven to 350f.    Usually I turn on the oven and let the pan sit on top of the stove where it nice and warm.)  

16. Bake the rolls for 30 minutes, remove from oven and cool.  Make the Icing:  While the rolls are baking, make the icing by mixing together the sugar , salt, butter , vanilla and milk.  Icing will be like a nice paste.  Once the rolls have cooled a bit, spread with the glaze.Enjoy!