Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Sauce

Farewell again, weekend.

I had a good time but I wish you'd stay longer. Am I being unreasonable? Yes.

I ate some green food (green tea latte and guacamole on toast) for breakfast. A tad late for St. Patties day celebration.

I curled up and read a new book (thanks P!) until my eyes were sore and fell asleep.

And what a bummer it rained - at least it will keep me off the streets...

So I turned on some Bach Concertos and danced my way into the kitchen.

I've been wanting to make cinnamon rolls for a while now. And apple sauce too.

Maybe I can marry them together?

I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe for the cinnamon rolls sans the maple frosting. It's no doubt that this recipe has been a huge hit with so many people so I couldn't wait to see how it turns out.

Slight alterations to the original recipe: I've used less butter and replaced it with some of the apple sauce. I also swapped 1/3 cup of the plain flour for its wholemeal alternative.

Apple sauce is useful to have in the fridge at all times because you can use it to replace a portion of the fats (butter or oil) for a healthier baked treat like cakes and cookies (I haven't tried replacing butter entirely with apple sauce but I think the texture of the cakes/cookies would be rubbery and not crumbly?)

Thankfully it's apple season at the moment. When it comes to making apple sauce, make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, McIntosh, Fuji or Jonathan (which I used) etc.

The chunky apple sauce is layered on the dough along with sultanas and a bit of butter before you roll it up and slice them into something as glorious as this:

Then you let the magic happen (i.e. some proofing and waiting and baking)...

Don't forget to drizzle (or drown) them in maple syrup goodness too!

The result is a delicious and soft bread roll moistened by the maple syrup. Yum - we finished 2 batches of rolls within a day! I felt the first batch (photographed) lacked sultanas and apple sauce so I was more generous with them in the second batch.

Anyways, I hope you're off to a good start of the week. After a relaxed weekend, think I might just be ready for a busy week ahead! 

Adios!

Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Makes ~15 rolls (I scaled the recipe down to 1/3)

• 1 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
• 2 2/3 cups plain flour
• 1/3 cup wholemeal flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• ~100 g unsalted butter - melted (or I used 50g + apple sauce)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• Cinnamon powder
• ~1/2 cup apple sauce (optional)
• Sultanas (optional)

1. Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool for about 30 mins.

2. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in dry yeast. Let this sit for a min. Add 2 2/3 cups of flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

3. Add 1/3 cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point the dough will be quite sticky, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two. This will give you a firmer dough. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down). I used my dough straight away.

4. When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. (I halved the dough here to make 2 batches) Form a rough rectangle with (one of) the dough. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle melted butter over the dough followed by the apple sauce. Now sprinkle sugar over the butter/apple sauce followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon powder and sultanas.

5. Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

6. Cut the roll to approximately 1 inch thick and lay them in a greased baking tray. Leave a little space in between the rolls for them to rise.

7. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 mins or until they look bloated (I left it to rise for about 1 hr), then bake at a 180℃ pre-heated oven until light golden brown, about 20-25 mins.

Apple Sauce

• 1 kg (~3lbs) of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. 
• 4 strips of lemon peel (use a vegetable peeler)
• Juice of one lemon, about 3-4 tbsp
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar (or more depending on your taste)
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

2. Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peels. Mash with potato masher.

Note: They freeze easily - up to one year in a cold freezer.