Apple Butter Cinnamon Buns

Here it is! The post that will make good on my promise from last week of a baking recipe to use up that yummy apple butter. And you guys, it is seriously tasty.

When I was thinking of new ways to use the apple butter (since I still haven’t convinced my resident Brit to try it in sandwiches or other savory dishes) I had a stroke of genius: using it as the filling for awesome appley cinnamon buns! So I pulled up a sweet dough recipe from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite food blogs, and my basic cream cheese icing recipe and set to work. The results were delicious, though I do have to admit that it almost ended in disaster. The rolled out dough stuck to the counter and the filling made it so wet that it wouldn’t roll into a log or slice neatly into buns. Cursing and frustrated, I scraped the messy rolls into two pans, convinced I had ruined them and wasted all the remaining apple butter. The situation wasn’t helped by the fact that I was doing this step at midnight while trying to make as little noise as possible for a house guest sleeping in the next room. Pro tip: don’t take on baking projects late at night. It will only end in tears.

Much to my surprise, the buns rose beautifully overnight and were a smashing success in the morning! Of course, the frustration of the night before would have been avoided if I hadn’t been convinced that I had invented a brilliant never-before-seen recipe and instead googled ‘apple butter cinnamon buns.’ Yeah, I’m not the first one to the party, apparently. The good thing about being unoriginal though, is that I have now read other recipes and found where I went wrong. (Pro tip #2: flour your work surface thoroughly and don’t use well over a cup of apple butter as your filling!) So the recipe below has been corrected so that you do not make the same mistakes as me.

Now that I’ve admitted my baking shame, I must defend myself by saying: these are freaking delicious. Like, one of the top ten things I’ve ever baked. Despite my trouble rolling and slicing them, the rolls held their shape well in the oven, cooked evenly and came out fragrant, fluffy, and finger-lickingly gooey. I’ll be making these again very, very soon.

Apple Butter Cinnamon Buns:

Dough (adapted from this Smitten Kitchen recipe):
3 large eggs
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter, melted
3/4 cup (175 ml) buttermilk (or make your own by adding 3/4 tbs vinegar or lemon juice to 3/4 c plain milk)
3 3/4 cups (470 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting counter
1 packet (7 grams or 2 1/4 teaspoons) instant dry yeast (this is equal to 10g of dried active yeast)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Filling:
1/2 cup apple butter (or more if you’re brave! But be warned it gets gloopy fast!)
Generous 1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tbs ground cinnamon

Icing:
3 ounces (about 90 g) cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered (icing) sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Begin by making the dough the night before you want buns. Mix the eggs, sugar, butter, and buttermilk together in a large bowl (if using dried active rather than instant yeast, add it to the warmed buttermilk and let sit for a couple of minutes first). Add 2 cups of the flour, as well as the yeast (if using instant) and salt and mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a dough. Add the remaining flour by kneading it in with your hands, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is soft and moist, but not too sticky. Clean out your bowl, oil it, and scrape the dough back in. Cover tightly with cling film and place it somewhere warm until it has doubled in size (2 hours or so, depending on how warm the dough is while rising). While the dough is rising, let the apple butter come to room temperature, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon, and butter a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm…or nearest equivalent!) baking dish. I did mine in two round pans and they worked out fine.

Once the dough has doubled, punch it down slightly, then turn out onto a well-floured surface. Flour your rolling pin, then roll it out to a 18 x 12 inch (45 x 30 cm) rectangle. Spread the apple butter over the dough, leaving a small uncovered border around the edges, then sprinkle with cinnamon-brown sugar mixture. Fold over one of the long edges, then continue rolling it into as tight a spiral as you can manage (try using a dough scraper or spatula to help you if it sticks to the counter). Once it is rolled, slice the log into twelve equal sections with a very sharp serrated knife. Carefully place the buns into your baking dish, so the swirls face upwards. Don’t worry if there are leaks…it won’t matter at all when they’re baked! Cover the dish with cling film and leave in the fride overnight (up to 16 hours).

In the morning, take the buns out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to bake them. Preheat your oven to 350 F (180 C). Bake them until golden brown, about 30 minutes, or have an internal temperature of 190 F (88 C).

While they’re baking, make the icing. Mix together the cream cheese and butter, then add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well. Stir in the vanilla.

Allow the buns to cool (at least a little!) before smearing the icing all over.

Enjoy with coffee and share with your friends…they’ll be very impressed!

Bun-appétit!

Helena