These high altitude apple butter cinnamon rolls are incredibly soft and fluffy, filled with apple butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, and frosted with maple apple icing. Make the dough in the evening, let it chill overnight, then shape and bake the rolls in the morning for a breakfast that everyone will love on a cold fall morning.
For other cinnamon roll variations, try my classic buttermilk cinnamon rolls, cardamom orange cinnamon rolls and strawberry rolls with cream cheese frosting.

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Why You’ll Love These Rolls
So Soft and Fluffy. These really are the softest apple butter cinnamon rolls, tender and rich from milk, eggs and butter, with the best sweet cinnamon filling.
Easy to Prep Overnight. Let’s face it, no one wants to get up at 4am to make and proof dough, just to get to enjoy hot cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I’ve developed today’s recipe specifically to let the dough rest and chill overnight, so that in the morning, you can easily roll out the chilled dough, shape the rolls and bake them without needing to get up hours early.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
TIP: I based today’s recipe on my classic buttermilk cinnamon rolls recipe. For lots of tips and FAQs on making cinnamon rolls, be sure to check out this post.
Ingredients
Dough
- Bread Flour. With a higher percentage of protein than all-purpose flour, bread flour gives cinnamon rolls a chewier texture that’s just so good.
- Butter + Milk + Eggs. Since this is an enriched dough (as opposed to a lean dough of just flour, salt and yeast), ingredients like butter, milk and eggs add more flavor and richness for a fluffier, more tender cinnamon roll.
- Sugar. Adds sweetness and helps to feed the yeast.
- Salt. Flavor.
- Yeast. The yeast introduces gas bubbles into the dough, so that the rolls rise soft, fluffy and pillowy.
- Vanilla Extract + Freshly Grated Nutmeg. Flavor.
Filling
- In the filling, the usual ingredients of butter, brown sugar and cinnamon help to create a rich, sweet, gooey filling that cinnamon rolls are known for.
- Apple Butter. A thin layer of apple butter is all you need to add more depth of flavor and moisture.
Icing
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
- Butter. Adds richness and flavor.
- Milk or Cream. Thins the icing and adds moisture.
- Apple Cider Concentrate. Gives the icing a strong apple flavor.
- Maple Extract. Flavor.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Instructions
Dough
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the buttermilk and stir. Warm the mixture just until it reaches between 110-115 degrees F. If it gets too hot, let it sit for a few minutes until it cools down to the correct temperature. It’s important that you check the temperature – if it’s too cold, it won’t activate the yeast, and if it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the warm butter and milk, 3 cups of flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, yeast, eggs and vanilla extract. Knead for 5 minutes on medium/low speed. The dough will be soft, loose and sticky.
- Lightly spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Scrape the dough into the bowl, and cover tightly with plastic. Set the dough in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes. If your oven has a bread-proofing setting, you can use that to proof your dough. If not, let your oven preheat to the lowest setting, turn the oven off, and then set your dough inside to rise.
- Set the bowl of dough, still covered, in the refrigerator, and chill for 2 hours, or preferably overnight. This rest period allows the gluten to rest and the dough to develop flavor. Also, since this is a very soft dough, it’s extremely difficult to work with when it’s not chilled. The cold dough is very easy to roll out, fill, roll up and cut.
- Use the remaining 1/4 cup of flour to flour your work surface, and turn the cold dough out onto the flour. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, too, and roll the dough out into a rectangle, roughly measuring 12×18 inches.
Filling
- Spread the dough all over with the soft butter, then spread with the apple butter. It won’t seem like much apple butter, but too much and the dough will be difficult to roll up.
- Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll Up and Bake
- Thoroughly spray a standard 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick baking spray (on top of the pan and inside the cups).
- Roll the dough up lengthwise, so you have a long log of dough. To cut the dough, the easiest way is to use dental floss (unflavored). Just take a length of floss, slide it under the dough, then cross it over the top to cut through the dough. Cut the dough into 12 equal portions.
- Place the cut rolls in the muffin pan. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise just a little, until the dough fills the cups and is just starting to puff up.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake the rolls on the center oven rack for about 18-20 minutes, until golden brown and baked through.
- Let the rolls cool in the pan for no more than a minute or two, then use a spoon to lift them out of the pan and set them on a cooling rack.
Icing
- In a bowl, whisk together all of the icing ingredients until smooth. Spread the icing over the top of the hot rolls, letting it drip over the sides.
- The icing will set in about 10 minutes, and the rolls are best eaten warm.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
If I don’t have instant yeast, can I use active dry yeast?
- This recipe calls for instant or rapid-rise yeast, which does not require any proofing first, so you can just mix it right into the dough.
- If you only have regular active dry yeast, you should proof it first, before adding to the dough. To do this, heat your butter and buttermilk as instructed. Then sprinkle the yeast, and 1 teaspoon of sugar, over the liquid. Stir in and let sit until foamy, about 5-10 minutes. Add to your dough and mix as instructed.
Can I make cinnamon roll dough without a stand mixer and dough hook?
- You can make the dough without a mixer and dough hook, but it will be more difficult to knead the dough by hand. Since the dough is soft and sticky, it’s tempting to add too much flour when kneading by hand, resulting in a drier roll.
Can I bake these rolls in a 9×13 pan instead of a muffin pan?
Yes, absolutely. You may need to bake the rolls for a few minutes longer.
How do I reheat cinnamon rolls?
- A cinnamon roll is always best when it’s freshly baked, hot from the oven, am I right? But these are still fantastic leftover. Any cinnamon rolls that don’t get eaten right away should be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- The best way to reheat them is in a toaster oven for about 5 minutes at 300 degrees, or in your microwave for 45 seconds on 50% power.
Will other flavors of fruit butter work in these rolls?
Yes, you can use any kind of fruit butter or pumpkin butter.
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High Altitude Apple Butter Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¾ cup whole milk or buttermilk
- 3 ¼ cups bread flour, spooned and leveled (divided)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 ¼ tsp (1 packet) instant or rapid rise yeast
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, very soft
- ¼ cup apple butter
- ½ cup light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 2-3 tbsp milk or cream
- 2 tbsp apple cider concentrate
- 1 ½ tsp maple extract
Instructions
Dough
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the buttermilk and stir. Warm the mixture just until it reaches between 110-115 degrees F.If it gets too hot, let it sit for a few minutes until it cools down to the correct temperature. It's important that you check the temperature – if it's too cold, it won't activate the yeast, and if it's too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the warm butter and milk, 3 cups of flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, yeast, eggs and vanilla extract. Knead for 5 minutes on medium/low speed. The dough will be soft, loose and sticky.
- Lightly spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Scrape the dough into the bowl, and cover tightly with plastic. Set the dough in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes.If your oven has a bread-proofing setting, you can use that to proof your dough. If not, let your oven preheat to the lowest setting, turn the oven off, and then set your dough inside to rise.
- Set the bowl of dough, still covered, in the refrigerator, and chill for 2 hours, or preferably overnight.This rest period allows the gluten to rest and the dough to develop flavor. Also, since this is a very soft dough, it's extremely difficult to work with when it's not chilled. The cold dough is very easy to roll out, fill, roll up and cut.
- Use the remaining 1/4 cup of flour to flour your work surface, and turn the cold dough out onto the flour. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, too, and roll the dough out into a rectangle, roughly measuring 12×18 inches.
Filling
- Spread the dough all over with the soft butter, then spread with the apple butter. It won't seem like much apple butter, but too much and the dough will be difficult to roll up.
- Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll Up and Bake
- Thoroughly spray a standard 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick baking spray (on top of the pan and inside the cups).
- Roll the dough up lengthwise, so you have a long log of dough. To cut the dough, the easiest way is to use dental floss (unflavored). Just take a length of floss, slide it under the dough, then cross it over the top to cut through the dough. Cut the dough into 12 equal portions.
- Place the cut rolls in the muffin pan. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise just a little, until the dough fills the cups and is just starting to puff up.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake the rolls on the center oven rack for about 18-20 minutes, until golden brown and baked through.
- Let the rolls cool in the pan for no more than a minute or two, then use a spoon to lift them out of the pan and set them on a cooling rack.
Icing
- In a bowl, whisk together all of the icing ingredients until smooth. Spread the icing over the top of the hot rolls, letting it drip over the sides.
- The icing will set in about 10 minutes, and the rolls are best eaten warm.
I have made dozens of cinnamon rolls – these by far are the best I have eaten.
I’m so glad you loved them! 🙂