Rich apple cinnamon buns

Today I want to share a simple recipe for delicious Autumn treats. This time we'll prepare aromatic, fluffy cinnamon buns that we'll enrich with juice apples and smooth cream cheese icing.

Fluffy, tender yeasted dough lets sweet, apple and cinnamon filling shine. Fruits make the buns moist, and their flavour goes perfectly with cinnamon aroma that wil fill your whole kitchen. All of that under smooth, creamy icing and a bit of sauce that makes the buns pretty and brings extra caramel notes.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (for 12 cinnamon buns) 

Dough

• 500 g wheat flour
• 60 g sugar (~5 tbsp)
• 7 g dry yeast
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 250 g kefir
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1.5 tsp vanilla paste
• 60 g butter
• 2 tbsp milk

Apple filling

• 600 g apples (before peeling)
• 30 g butter
• 30 g brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Cinnamon filling

• 175 g brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 20 g butter

Icing

• 120 g cream cheese
• 120 g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 60 g caramel sauce

Method

1. Prepare apple filling. Put around 450 g peeled, cubed sour apples into a large pot. Add 30 g butter, 30 g light brown sugar and 2 heaped tsp cinnamon. Stir through the contents of the pot shortly over medium heat, until sugar and butter dissolves, and continue heating the mixture up until it comes up to a boil. Turn heat down to low and cook apples for 15-20 minutes, until they visible soften up, but still keep their shape, while syrup formed out of sugar and juice evaporates almost completely. It's worth stirring through the contents of the pot from time to time to prevent the mixture from sticking. Once apples are soft and syrup evaporated, take the pot off heat and set it aside to cool completely.
2. Put 500 g wheat flour into a large bowl. Add 60 g fine white sugar, 7 g dry yeast and 0.5 tsp salt. Stir through the dry ingredients shortly with a whisk until everything gets evenly distributed.
3. Add 250 g lukewarm kefir, 4 large egg yolks and 1.5 tsp vanilla paste to the dry ingredients. If you don't have vanilla paste at hand, you can also use vanilla sugar. Add it to flour together with regular sugar in that case. Stir through the contents of the bowl with a silicone spatula, only until flour absorbs moisture.
4. Once it happens, add 60 g cool melted butter to dough. Mix everything together again until fat gets evenly distributed in dough and start kneading dough by hand. Do it in the bowl at first, only until dough absorbs flour. Transfer it onto a lightly dusted worktop next and knead it until smooth and elastic. It can take 10-15 minutes, so be patient and work steadily. Of course, you can also prepare dough in a stand mixer fitted with dough hook.
5. Once dough is ready shape it into a ball, put it into a lightly oiled bowl and turn it a few times so that oil covers dough. It will prevent it from drying out while proofing. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and put it into a warm place for around 90 minutes until dough doubles in volume.
6. Towards the end of dough raising, prepare second part of filling. Put 175 g light brown sugar into a small bowl and add 2 heaped tbsp cinnamon. Stir through the contents of the bowl shortly until cinnamon gets distributed in sugar.
7. After around 90 minutes return to yeasted dough that should've risen beautifull by now. Place it onto a dry worktop and form it into a rectangle, 40 x 30 cm. Once you've got the right shape brush dough with a bit of cool melted butter. Spread butter almost across the whole surface, leaving a clean 3 cm strip along one longer side. We will use the clean part to seal cinnamon buns.
8. Arrange cinnamon and sugar mixture on top of melted butter. Try to do it as evenly as possible and cover the whole greased surface. Press sugar lightly into dough. Arrange a thin layer of stewed apples on top. You can also press them down lightly, but be careful not to break the dough underneath as it will make it much harder to shape buns.
9. Divide the dough rectangle into 12 roughly equal strips. Roll up each strip into a tight, apple and cinnamon filled roll. Transfer buns into a baking tine lined with baking paper, 24 x 36 cm. Leave around 2 cm of space between the buns to give them space to raise. Once you've shaped all the buns press them down lightly with your hand, making them into a uniform, round shape. Cover the baking tin with a piece of plastic wrap and set it aside into a warm place for 20-30 minutes, until the buns rest and raise.
10. After 30 minutes the buns should begin touching one another. Remove plastic wrap and brush each bun with a bit of milk. That will help the buns become beautiful and golden during baking.
11. Put the buns into an oven preheated to 180 degrees, no fan, for 15-18 minutes, until beautiful and golden. Take ready cinnamon buns out of the oven and set them aside in the baking tin to cool.
12. Once the buns have cooled down, prepare icing. Put 120 g room temperature cream cheese into a small bowl and add 120 g icing sugar as well as 1 tsp vanilla extract. Mix through the contents of the bowl with a whish until smooth, fluid icing forms, and sugar dissolves. Put the icing on top of cool buns and spread it equally. Optionally, squeeze 60 g lukewarm caramel sauce on top.
13.  Enjoy! 

Approximate nutritional value 

100 g 

• 329 kcal
• Carbs: 53 g 
• Fat: 10 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Fibre: 2 g

1 slice (recipe makes 12 cinnamon buns)

• 438 kcal
• Carbs: 71 g 
• Fat: 13 g
• Protein: 7 g
• Fibre: 2 g