Caramel Apple Rolls Recipe
These Caramel Apple Rolls are my busy mom shortcut to a cozy fall breakfast. I use my Sweet Dough with the cinnamon variation. I use store bought canned apple filling, chopped up so it spreads evenly without big lumps. For the caramel, I cook condensed milk on the stove until it turns golden and silky, which makes the rolls taste homemade with minimal effort. It’s half from scratch, easy to assemble the night before, and bakes up soft, gooey, and apple cinnamon cozy in the morning. 💕
This is probably the easiest Caramel Apple Rolls you’ll ever make, with sweet dough from scratch and a simple prep that busy moms can pull off.
Start with my Sweet Dough recipe first. Make the cinnamon flavored variation, then come back for this easy apple filling.
Ingredients for Caramel Apple Filling
2 cups apple pie filling, chopped
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
Ingredients for Caramel topping
1 can condensed milk
Follow These Steps
You'll need a 9x13 pan for this recipe. Preheat your oven to 350F.
First, let's prepare the apples. Pick out the apples from the can. We don't need all the syrup it comes with. Chop up or dice the apples into small pieces, so it's not lumpy when you roll them in the dough. Set aside 1/4 cup of the diced apples for later.
After following the Sweet Dough recipe, your dough should be ready for filling. Spread the apples evenly, covering the surface of the dough. From the long side, roll the dough tightly. Using unflavored dental floss, slice the dough into even rolls. I get 12 rolls out of this recipe.
Combine 4 tbsp melted butter and 1 tsp cinnamon, and pour over the bottom of a 9x13 pan. This will make your Caramel Apple Rolls extra buttery. Place each roll on your pan.
Set aside and let rise for another 15 min. Pour 1/3 cup of heavy cream over the rolls before baking to make them extra soft. Top with the extra apples we set aside. Bake at 350F for 40 min.
While your rolls are baking, prep your Caramel topping. Pour 1 can of condensed milk into a small sauce pan. Cook the condensed milk over low heat, and stir constantly. This will take about 10 minutes. The more you cook the condensed, the thicker and harder it will become.
Once the rolls are done, spread the caramel topping all over your freshly baked Caramel Apple Rolls. Enjoy these soft, pillowy rolls while warm!
Pro Tip
Condensed milk burns easily. If you leave it too long without stirring, it will burn and stick to the pan. Make sure you keep stirring.
For bakery soft rolls later, cool completely, and store airtight at room temp for up to 2 days. Then rewarm at 300°F for 5 to 8 minutes. 30-45 seconds in the microwave also works.
Fun Fact - we used to make caramel candy when I was a little girl in my grandma's kitchen. They're called Yemas, a popular Filipino candy. All you have to do is overcook the condensed milk until it has the consistency of Taffy. It'll still be soft, but hard enough to roll like a Tootsie Roll. You can also roll the caramel into small balls, and dip them in sugar syrup for a hard candy shell, or dip them in melted chocolate to make Chocolate Covered Caramel. And that's how you make homemade, chewy caramel candy.
