Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Apple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls


Now, these aren't technically cupcakes...more like cinnamon rolls baked in a cupcake wrapper...but I count them anyways :) And they have an apple cider glaze on top. Mmmm.

I made these for my birthday this year, and they were good! Better if you heated them up in the microwave for about 30 seconds, otherwise the dough was kind of hard. Tasted good, but I like them warm and a little mushy!
The recipe was taken from Cupcake Project via Paul Deen.
The original recipe says the yield is 24, that's how many I made, but I probably could've gotten another 4-6 out of the dough fairly easily.

Cinnamon Roll Ingredients
2 cups 2% milk
1 tablespoon (.5 oz) active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar2 teaspoons salt6 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 eggs¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Filling Ingredients
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup loosely chopped pecans (I only used 1/2 cup)
2 cups finely chopped tart apples (I didn't measure the apples, just cut up two regular sized green ones)

Directions
In a small saucepan or a microwave oven, warm milk to about 110 F. (I don't have a thermometer, so I just guessed and warmed it in the microwave but didn't let it boil)
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the milk.
Add salt and two cups of flour and beat for two minutes.
Beat in eggs and butter.
Stir in the remaining flour a half cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about five minutes).

(Here I tried to use my regular hand mixer, and it made a messss! I changed my mind after dough got stuck all up onto the base of the mixer, and put it in my bread maker to knead instead. Definitely knead by hand or use a kneading attachment for your mixer if you want to avoid my mistake! Or throw it in a bread machine through the kneading cycle like I ended up doing.)


Place the dough in a large bowl and cover it with a towel. Set in a warm place and allow to rise for 40 minutes or until approximately doubled in volume.
Roll out dough into a long rectangle about 1/4” thick.

Brush with about half of the melted butter. (I poured it on and rubbed it in with my hand)

To make the filling, in a medium-sized bowl, mix sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans, and apples.
Spread the pecan/apple mixture evenly over the dough, leaving about an inch empty on all sides.

Roll dough over itself from back to front along the long side of the rectangle to form a log. Slice the log into 24 even pieces.

Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners and place each piece of the log in a cupcake liner. If they don’t fit, fold the ends together to make a “C” shape. The pieces should come to about the top of the liners. (It was easier for me to get the dough into the cupcake liners before I put them into the tin.)

Cover the cupcake tins and set in a warm place to rise for another 40 minutes. (I skipped this step entirely, and it didn't seem to matter)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Evenly distribute the remaining ¼ cup of melted butter over the tops of the cupcakes. (I also skipped this step, thinking they had plenty of butter on them already.)

Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden.

Apple Cider Glaze Ingredients
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon apple cider

Directions
In a medium-sized bowl, mix powdered sugar and apple cider until fully combined.
Drizzle over cupcakes.

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