Category Archives: Christmas

Cranberry Apple Pie

Updated 11/14/2020 to add better photos, and adjust the baking temperature and time. The pie was originally made with Cream Cheese Pie Dough, but the current photos are All-Butter Pie Dough. They are both linked in the recipe.Welcome back to pie season! In the last couple of weeks I’ve posted my go-to Cream Cheese Pie Dough, a Pumpkin Pie that is super light and fluffy thanks to the addition of whipped egg whites, and a showstopper Black Bottom Pear & Almond Pie. Yum! Make sure to check them out while you’re writing your Thanksgiving menu! Today, I’m bringing you a pie that is sweet and tart thanks to a mixture of apples and juicy fresh cranberries. Apples, cranberries, orange, and spices? Sign. me. up. Cranberry Apple Pie This recipe starts out like most do, by rolling out pie dough. Fit it in a pie plate, and trim the edges to 1-inch. Since this is a double crust pie, we need extra long edges for a good crimp. Put the bottom crust in the fridge to chill while we make the filling.

Peel some apples. In this pie, I used two Granny Smith, two Honey Crisp, and one Golden Delicious. In a regular apple pie, I’d use more tart apples (like Granny Smith), than sweet, but as we’re adding all those tart cranberries, I figured it was better to go sweet. Dice the apples into 1/2-inch pieces and set them in a large mixing bowl. In a traditional apple pie, I would slice the apples, but here I recommend chunking them so that they are similar in size and shape to the cranberries–this promotes even baking. Rinse some fresh cranberries and pick over them to remove any that aren’t in great shape. Place the cranberries in the bowl with the apples. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and arrowroot powder. I use arrowroot powder as the thickener in my fruit pies, but if you don’t have any, use an equal volume of cornstarch or instant tapioca. Zest and juice an orange. Pour your sugar and spice mixture, orange zest and juice into the bowl with the apples and cranberries. Use your clean hands to toss everything together.Let the filling sit at room temperature for thirty minutes to release some excess liquid. If we put the filling into the crust without letting some of the liquid drain off, our filling will seep out of the crust while the pie bakes and bake/burn itself onto the bottom of the oven. No thank you! Also, our filling will shrink down below the top crust, leaving a huge gap between the top crust and the bottom. Again, no thank you! So, once the filling has sat for a while, drain off the excess liquid (there will be a lot!) before putting the filling in the prepared bottom crust. Dot the filling with butter (I forgot and had to dot with butter after the top crust was on 😁). Put the filled pie plate back in the refrigerator and roll out the top crust.

Roll out the top crust dough to a 12-inch diameter. From here, you can either place the whole crust over the top of the pie or get a little fancier. For a full top crust, lay the rolled dough over the filling, trim and crimp the edges, and cut a few vents (lest you have an exploding pie) before proceeding. If you want to do something a little more exciting, cut your dough into 1/2-inch strips. Lattice crusts are classic and simple to weave. Deb Perelman has written a great tutorial, if that’s the route you’d like to take.I have been into braided top crusts lately. To achieve a braided top, take three strips at a time and lay them on a floured surface. Gently (very gently) braid the strips together. Set the finished braids aside while you complete the rest of them (I made five). Lay the braids (or the lattice) on top of the pie and trim the ends.

Remember those extra long edges we left on the bottom crust? Fold them in toward the filling, effectively enveloping the ends of your decorative top crust. Once this is finished, crimp the edges and brush the exposed crust with cream before sprinkling with additional sugar. Put the pie in the fridge while you preheat the oven. Bake the pie for 45 minutes to an hour, until the apples are tender, the cranberries are bursting, and the crust is golden brown. If the crust starts to get too dark during baking, loosely tent it in foil.

Let the pie cool for at least four hours before slicing and serving. I know warm pie is tempting, but the pie needs to be room temperature or cold to slice nicely. Each slice can be quickly warmed in the microwave, if you’re not into cold pie. I don’t know about you, but I am into pie at any temperature.Cranberry Apple Pie is fantastic with whipped cream. Or a la mode. Or with caramel sauce. Or with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar. Or plain. Or with yogurt for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving. What?! There’s fruit in there! It’s totally breakfast-appropriate. Trust me.

Cranberry Apple Pie
makes one 9″ pie

1 recipe Cream Cheese Pie Dough or All-Butter Pie Dough
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
5 cups peeled, 1/2-inch diced baking apples (about 5 large apples)
1 cup fresh cranberries
juice and zest of one large orange
3-4 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder*
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
Cream or milk, for brushing

On a floured surface, roll 1 disc of cream cheese pie dough so that it is 12 inches in diameter. Fit it in a standard pie plate, and trim the overhang to 1 inch. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cinnamon, spices, salt, and arrowroot powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the sliced apples and fresh cranberries. Toss with sugar/spice mixture and orange juice and zest. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for about thirty minutes to release excess liquid. When the time is up, dispose of the excess liquid. Transfer the filling to the bottom pie crust. Dot with butter and refrigerate.

Roll out the second crust to a 12-inch diameter. Slice the dough into 1/2-inch thick strips. Lay them on the top of the pie in a decorative pattern.* Fold the bottom crust overhang over the ends of your strips so that the edges are about 1/2 inch all the way around. Crimp the edges. Brush the exposed crust with milk or cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Refrigerate the pie while the oven preheats.

Place a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the pie on the top rack and bake for 65-75 minutes, until the cranberries are bursting, the apples are tender, and the crust is cooked. If the top crust starts to get too dark at any point, loosely cover the top of the pie with foil for the remainder of the baking time.

Let pie cool on a rack for at least three hours before slicing and serving. Pie will keep covered at room temperature for up to three days or in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Notes:

1. I prefer my Cream Cheese Pie Dough or All-Butter Pie Dough, but any good pie crust will do.
2. I use a combination of sweet and tart apples, the majority being sweet. I recommend Honey Crisp, Macintosh, or Golden Delicious for the sweet variety, and Granny Smith for the tart. See more information on baking apples here.
3. If you do not have or do not want to use cornstarch or arrowroot powder, I recommend an equal volume of instant tapioca. Looking for arrowroot in Brooklyn? Take a trip to Sahadi’s.
4. I have linked to a lattice top tutorial in the content above. If you would like to braid your crust, braid three strips at a time and lay them over the filling before proceeding.

Black Bottom Pear & Almond Pie

4 Replies

On our anniversary last year, Henry and I went to al di la, an absolute treasure of a restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn…with my parents. They were visiting and wanted to take us out to celebrate, and who were we to turn down a (very) nice free meal? At the end of a dinner that I’m still thinking about almost a year later, we decided to split a dessert. This is a big deal. You see, Henry’s not much for sweets. I make dozens of cookies every week (not to mention all the cakes and pies and cinnamon rolls), and he politely turns down almost all of them. He digs gingersnaps and chocolate cake without frosting, but that’s pretty much it. So when he wanted to split a dessert at this restaurant, I leapt at the opportunity. Seeing as he is pickier about sweets than I am (I just had a cookie and called it breakfast), I let him choose. And he went for the one thing on the menu that didn’t look wonderful to me: an almond cake with pears and bittersweet chocolate. You see, for me, fruit and chocolate don’t really go together. I mean, if you give me a piece of chocolate cake with raspberry filling, I’m not going to turn it down. (As a rule, I don’t turn cake down.) But it’s not my favorite. So when this cake showed up at the table, I expected to take two bites, say how good it was, and be finished with it. That’s where I was wrong. This cake was dense and rustic, with a good almond flavor, soft pieces of pear, and a magical layer of melted chocolate. I’m pretty sure I ate all of my half and most of Henry’s too. And here we are, two weeks away from our anniversary, and I’m still thinking about it…so I took that cake and made it pie.This pie, you guys. This pie. It’s got soft pears in an almond filling, all suspended over a puddle of chocolate ganache. And all of that is in a cream cheese pie crust because that’s how I roll. It’s elegant and seasonal. There’s fruit, there’s chocolate–it covers all the bases. I won’t lie to you, it takes time and there are many steps, but none of them are difficult. This pie is sooo worth the effort. Don’t let the length of the recipe scare you away. You can do this. Let’s get started.We start by poaching pears. If we put raw pears in the pie, the result could be…crunchy. And while crunchy pies can be amazing (pecan pie is my jam), fruit pies should have a softer filling. So, let’s poach. We need four firm pears, like Bosc, about seven ounces each. Leaving them whole, peel them and set them aside. Bring some water and sugar to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Squeeze in the juice of an orange (about 1/4 cup) and throw in the two halves of your squeezed orange. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat and drop in the pears. Simmer for 20 minutes, then let them cool to room temperature in the poaching liquid. You can do this up to 24 hours ahead, and then put the pears and liquid in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the pie. If you want to cut the poaching step altogether, you may use canned whole pears in juice.Then, take one good pie crust (I like this Cream Cheese Pie Dough), roll it to a 12-inch diameter, fit it in a pie plate, and crimp the edges. Then, throw it in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 425F. This crust has to be partially blind-baked, or baked without filling, because the wet filling in this pie could give us a soggy crust otherwise. When the oven is preheated, take the pie crust out of the refrigerator and prick the bottom of the crust several times with a fork. This is called docking; it keeps the crust from puffing up by allowing trapped steam to escape. Then, line the crust with foil and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the crust for 17 minutes. Remove it from the oven and take out the foil and weights/beans. Bake the crust for an additional three minutes. Let the crust cool to room temperature while you prepare the ganache.
This part is easy. Chop four ounces of bittersweet chocolate and put them in a bowl. Heat 1/4 cup of heavy cream in a small saucepan over low heat. When it just barely comes to a boil, remove it from the heat and pour it over the chopped chocolate. Once the chocolate looks melty, stir it all together with a fork until you have a smooth, beautiful sauce. Let that cool a little bit while you make the frangipane.
Frangipane (almond filling) sounds difficult, but it really couldn’t be simpler. Put blanched almonds and a little flour in a food processor, and blitz until it becomes a fine meal. Then, pulse in sugar and salt, followed by six tablespoons of butter. Once that all comes together, put in one egg and 1/2 teaspoon of pure almond extract. It’s ready when it vaguely resembles hummus. Do not over-process, or you’ll have almond butter. Delicious, but not what we need here.
Now, to assemble. Spread your ganache in the room temperature pie crust. Let it chill in the fridge for five minutes, just to set. Then, spread half your frangipane over the ganache, and then top that with half your pears. Spread the pears with the second half of your frangipane, and then decorate the top with the second half of your pears. Brush the exposed pears with heavy cream and sprinkle them with sugar. Cover the exposed crust with a pie protector or foil; I use a 9″ hoop that I made out of foil, and it works like a charm. Place the pie in a 350F oven for 45-55 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Let it cool for at least two hours before slicing and serving with lightly sweetened whipped cream and a dusting of confectioner’s sugar. If you want to make it ahead, the pie will keep covered at room temperature for two days or in the refrigerator for three.Now, look how fancy you are with your fancy pie. You can throw the word “frangipane” around at your Thanksgiving dinner and be all sophisticated and stuff. And then you can eat two slices in a very unladylike fashion and tell everyone that there are no leftovers as you shove the last piece in the back of the fridge. You’ve earned that last piece. You are the pie queen/king. You nailed it.

Want more pie? Check out this light and fluffy Pumpkin Pie, and come back next week for one more pie recipe before Thanksgiving.

Black Bottom Pear & Almond Pie
heavily adapted from Pear and Almond Tart by Deb Perelman
makes one 9″ pie

Pears
4 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 whole orange, washed
4 whole pears*, about 7 oz each, peeled

Crust
1/2 recipe Cream Cheese Pie Dough

Ganache
4 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate*
1/4 cup heavy cream

Frangipane (Almond Filling)
4 ounces whole blanched almonds*
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold-ish room temperature, cut into cubes
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

heavy cream, for brushing
1-2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Start by poaching the pears. In a large pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Slice the orange in half. Squeeze the juice into the water, then drop both halves of the orange into the pot. When the liquid comes to a boil, turn the heat to medium high. Drop in the pears and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. They should be tender, but not falling apart. Let the pears cool to room temperature in the poaching liquid.*

On a floured surface, roll out the pie crust to a 12-inch diameter. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate*, and trim the edges to 1/2-inch of overhang. Crimp the edges. Place crust in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Blind bake the crust. Preheat the oven to 425F. Remove chilled crust from the refrigerator. Prick the bottom of the crust several times with a fork. Line the inside of the crust with foil, and fill with pie weights or 1 lb of dried beans. Bake for 17 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven, and gently lift out the foil and weights/beans. Bake the crust for an additional three minutes. Let crust cool to room temperature.

Make the ganache. Chop 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate and place in a small bowl. Place heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it just barely starts to boil, remove it from the heat and pour the cream over the chocolate. Once the chocolate looks soft, stir it together with a fork until you have a smooth chocolate sauce. Let cool a bit while you prepare the frangipane.

In a food processor (or very good blender), grind blanched almonds and flour until the mixture is a fine meal. Pulse in salt and granulated sugar. Pulse in butter. Pour in egg and almond extract, and process until frangipane is a homogenous paste.

Prepare the pears. Discard the poaching liquid. Slice the pears in half and core them. Then cut each half into 1/4-inch slices width-wise.

Assemble the pie. Spread an even layer of chocolate ganache onto the bottom of the pie crust. Refrigerate five minutes to set. Spread half the frangipane over the ganache. Layer half the pears on top. Then, spread the pears with the rest of the frangipane. Decorate the top of the pie with the remainder of the pears. Brush the exposed pears with heavy cream and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cover the exposed crust with foil or a pie protector. Bake the pie for 45-55 minutes, or until the pears are light golden brown. Let the pie cool for at least two hours before slicing and serving with a sprinkling of confectioners sugar and sweetened whipped cream.

This pie keeps covered at room temperature for two days, or in the refrigerator* for three days.

Notes:

I use Bosc pears. Anjou and Bartlett are also good choices. Make sure your pears are firm.
I use Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Dark Chocolate.
If you can’t find whole blanched almonds, an equal weight of slivered almonds (without skins) or almond flour will do.
The pears may be prepared up to 24 hours in advance. Just let them cool to room temperature, discard the orange halves, and then refrigerate the pears in the poaching liquid until you are ready to use them.
Use a standard pie plate, not deep dish.
Let refrigerated pie sit at room temperature for 60-90 minutes before slicing.

Pumpkin Pie

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With pie season now in full swing, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about pie this week. On Monday, we made pie dough. On Tuesday, we mixed together pumpkin pie spice. Today, we make pumpkin pie! If you are celebrating Thanksgiving in the United States, there’s a pretty solid chance that there will be a pumpkin pie on your table. Some may be lovingly homemade, some may be store-bought, but all of them will get eaten. As one of my favorite food bloggers, Julie Van Rosendaal says, “The very best kind of pie is the kind on your dinner table.” She’s right–store-bought pie is better than no pie at all (especially if there’s whipped cream involved). But homemade pie is always better than store-bought. Sara Lee is fine and all, but we can do better.

We can make a light and fluffy pumpkin pie. Where traditional pumpkin pie is a little on the dense side, given the very wet combination of pumpkin purée, eggs, sugar, and dairy, ours will be a little airier thanks to whipped egg whites. Three egg yolks will go into the filling as-is; they’ll make our pie rich and delicious. The two egg whites, however, will be whipped until they are foamy and hold soft peaks, then gently folded into the filling right before it’s poured into the crust. Egg whites help with structure in baked goods. By whipping air into them before adding them to the filling, we are ensuring a lighter, airier texture. As the pie bakes, the filling will puff up. This happens with a traditional pumpkin pie too, but it deflates as it cools. Ours will stay a bit puffy even after it reaches room temperature. The egg whites will also give us a very large volume of filling. If you are using a standard pie plate, you’ll probably have some filling leftover; if you use all the filling in a standard pan, it will overflow in your oven. I don’t know about you, but pretty much the only thing I don’t love to do in the kitchen is clean the oven. If you use a deep dish pie plate, you should be able to use all of the filling. I don’t have a deep dish pan, but if you try this recipe in yours, leave me a comment to let me know how it turns out!

This pie starts with a single crust of cream cheese pie dough. We roll it out, fit it into the pie plate, trim and crimp the edges, and chill it while we make the filling. In a large mixing bowl, we combine pumpkin purée, light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Then, we have to separate some eggs. Separate two eggs, reserving the egg whites in a separate bowl. Separate a third egg, but discard the white. Mix the three egg yolks into the pumpkin mixture. Then stir in cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt, followed by heavy cream. Now, go grab those two reserved egg whites and your electric mixer (hand- and stand-mixers are both fine). Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Then, with a silicone spatula, gently fold them into the pumpkin mixture. Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust, brush the crust with some additional cream, and chill it again while you preheat the oven. Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 425F, before turning the oven down to 350F for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the crust looks too brown, cover it with foil or a pie protector for the remainder of the cook time. I use a 9-inch hoop that I made out of foil, and it works like a charm.

This pie will definitely be one of the best things on your Thanksgiving table. Traditional Pumpkin Pie is a classic for a reason, but I think this light and fluffy version gives it a run for it’s money!

Make sure to check back in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving for two more pie recipes!

Pumpkin Pie
heavily adapted from Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie on Simply Recipes
makes one 9″ pie (deep dish or standard)

1/2 recipe Cream Cheese Pie Dough
2 cups pure pumpkin purée (1 15-ounce can)
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs (separated) + 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream + extra for brushing

On a floured surface, roll out pie dough to a 12″ diameter. Fit into a 9″ pie plate and trim the overhang to 1/2-inch. Crimp the edges and chill the crust while you prepare the filling.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together pumpkin purée, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Whisk in three egg yolks, and reserve the two egg whites. Stir in cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Add in heavy cream. Set aside.

Pour the egg whites into a separate mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, 3-4 minutes. With a silicone spatula, gently fold the whipped egg whites into the pumpkin mixture. Pour pie filling into prepared crust.* Brush the crust with a little heavy cream. Chill prepared pie while oven is heating.

Preheat the oven to 425F. When it reaches temperature, bake the pie for 15 minutes. Then, turn the oven temperature to 350F and bake for an additional 32-45 minutes,* covering the crust with foil if it starts to get too brown. The pie is ready when the filling no longer jiggles, or when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool pie on a rack for at least two hours before slicing and serving. Pie will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Notes:

If you are using a regular pie plate, you will have roughly 1/2-3/4 cup of leftover filling. If you are using a deep dish pie plate, you should be able to use all the filling.
Thirteen minutes is a huge gap in doneness time, but ovens and pies are all different. Mine (made in a standard pie plate) are done at exactly 35 minutes.

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls

5 Replies

Updated 10/22/2019 to add better photos, change the size of the pan, and simplify the glaze.

I woke up at 7:30am yesterday needing apple pie. This wasn’t just a craving–I needed it. Quickly. And for all the great things that can be said about pie, its speed of preparation is not one of them. My first thoughts were putting apples in oatmeal, or making an apple compote to go over yogurt. And while both of those are great options, they just sounded too…healthy. So instead, I stuffed all the flavors of apple pie into cinnamon rolls and ate two before 10:30am. It was the right thing to do. Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls These rolls are just…so good. The dough is soft and sweet, with a little extra chew and puff from the addition of bread flour. The filling is full of soft apples, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. And the glaze. Oh, the glaze! It’s made with fresh pressed apple cider and touch of heavy cream to bring these rolls over the top. The very best part? They can be on your table in two and a half hours or less without too much effort. The recipe is long, but there is very little active prep time. Perfect for a lazy autumn weekend breakfast. Or, if you’re me, an autumn Thursday morning breakfast. Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls Let’s start with the simple yeast dough. Yes, I used “simple” and “yeast” in the same sentence. Yes, I did it on purpose. Yeast can be intimidating–I was too afraid to try working with it until three years ago when I watched my boyfriend fearlessly make fantastic pizza dough. After that, I decided to be brave and make some myself, and you know what? Yeast is nothing to be afraid of. It’s just another leavener, like baking soda or baking powder. For this recipe, we use instant yeast, which is even easier to use than regular active dry yeast. To make the dough, you just stir together all purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, salt, and one packet of instant yeast. You warm milk, water, and butter just until it is hot to the touch, and then stir that and an egg into the flour mixture, adding a little more flour to achieve a soft, smooth dough. Knead it all for five minutes or so, then let the dough rest for a few minutes. This is only a rest–because we are using instant yeast, this dough only needs one rise! While it’s resting, make the filling.

To get the soft-but-not-gummy texture of good apple pie filling, sauté apples in butter for twenty minutes. While those are cooling a bit, stir dark brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and a little salt into softened butter. Then roll out your dough, spread on the butter, and sprinkle it all with the soft apples. Then all you have to do is roll up the dough, slice it, and place it in a 9×13″ pan to rise for 60-90 minutes, until the rolls have doubled in size.

Take a break. You just made scratch cinnamon rolls–you deserve a break. Make yourself some coffee, read the paper, stalk your friends on Facebook. When the rising time is up, put the rolls in a 375F oven for 30 minutes while you make the glaze. Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls The glaze is super easy and totally amazing. Just whisk together apple cider, confectioner’s sugar and a pinch of salt. That’s it. Easy. You can make it as thin or thick as you like by adding more apple cider or confectioner’s sugar. When the rolls come out of the oven, pour the glaze over, put a roll (or two) on a plate and prepare for pure autumnal breakfast bliss. Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls These keep well for two days, covered at room temperature. The glaze may soak into the rolls, but they will still be soft, sweet, and totally decadent when you grab the last one out of the pan on your way to work on Monday. The apple flavor will even improve over time. Make these for your family and friends this weekend! And invite me over, please 😊 Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls
adapted from Easy Cinnamon Rolls and Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls on Sally’s Baking Addiction
makes 12-13 rolls

Filling:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
2 large apples, peeled and cut into a 1/2 inch dice*
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

Dough:
1 1/4-1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour*
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast*
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup milk (I use whole milk)
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg, room temperature

Glaze:
1/4 cup apple cider
2 cups confectioners sugar
pinch of Kosher or sea salt

Start making the filling. Cut four tablespoons of butter into small cubes and set aside to soften.

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a medium sauté pan over low heat. Add in diced apples and cook, stirring frequently, until they are soft. Spread apples on a plate and set aside to cool until they are no longer hot to the touch.

Mash softened butter cubes with a fork. Stir in dark brown sugar, spices, and salt. Set aside.

Start making the dough. Set aside 1/2 cup of the all purpose flour. In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour, bread flour, granulated sugar, salt, and yeast. In a small saucepan*, heat water, milk, and 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter over low heat until the mixture reaches 115F. Remove from heat and stir into the flour mixture. Stir in egg. Add reserved all purpose flour in 2 tablespoon increments until the dough is smooth and soft*, pulling away from the side of the bowl when stirred. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5-6 minutes. Form dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.

Grease a 9×13-inch pan and set aside. Flour a surface and a rolling pin. Roll dough into an 8″x14″ rectangle. Spread softened butter mixture over the entire surface of the dough. Scatter apples over the softened butter.

Starting at the long edge of the dough furthest from your body, roll the dough tightly toward yourself until you have one long tube. Using a large, sharp knife (not serrated) cut 1″ rolls. Place cut rolls in prepared pie plate. Loosely tent with foil.

Place rolls in a warm, draft-free place to rise for 60-90 minutes, until they have doubled in size.

Once the rolls have risen, preheat the oven to 375F. Bake rolls for 25-30 minutes, tenting with foil at 15 minutes if the tops are getting too brown.

Mix together the glaze. Using a fork, whisk together apple cider, confectioner’s sugar and salt until smooth*. Pour over warm rolls. Enjoy.

Notes:

I use one tart apple, like Granny Smith, and one sweet apple, like Honeycrisp.
I use Fleischmann’s RapidRise Instant Yeast.
If you do not have bread flour, all purpose flour may be substituted. Your rolls may not be as soft and chewy as if you’d used the bread flour, but they will still be delicious.
You can also heat the milk mixture in the microwave in 20 second increments. I do not have a microwave, so I do not know how long it will take to reach 115F.
I usually need 6 tablespoons of the reserved flour to achieve the desired consistency.
Add more apple cider or confectioner’s sugar for a thinner or thicker glaze.

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Category Archives: Christmas

Cranberry Apple Pie

Black Bottom Pear & Almond Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls