Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread

When I saw a recipe on pinterest for cinnamon pull apart bread I was inspired, why had I never thought of cinnamon rolls in bread form? Amazing! I also saw a recipe for apple pie cinnamon rolls, so I put those two together and what resulted is Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread. I had to cook it a lot longer than the cinnamon roll bread recipe called for, possibly due to the liquidity of the apple filling. If I make it again I am going to try and figure out a way to decrease the runnyness of the filling. It was quite messy to cut the apple filled dough into slices, but the messiest part by far was smooshing the rolls together. I imagine this is a cooking project that kids would LOVE!

Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread

Smooshed together from Top With Cinnamon and Alli n Son

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoon dried active yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For cinnamon sugar filling...

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cornstarch

For apple filling...

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup peeled, cored, grated apple (1 to 2 large apples, 3-4 small apples)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup butter, melted

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached, place the cornstarch, sugar, yeast, salt and 2 cups of flour. Heat the milk and butter together in a small saucepan until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and add the water. Let this cool for about a minute, then add the vanilla, and pour all the liquid into the bowl with the flour. Stir this all together until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Start the mixer on a low speed as you add the eggs one at a time until they're just incorporated.

Stop the mixer and add 1/2 cup more flour to the bowl. Mix again at low speed for about half a minute. Add 2 more tbsp of flour and mix in on medium speed until you get a smooth, slightly sticky dough (about 45 seconds). On a work surface sprinkled with about 2 tbsp of flour, knead the dough until it's not sticky (about 1 minute). Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl and cover it with cling film. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size which should take about an hour.

While the dough rises, make the fillings. In one bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch, set aside.

In another bowl, stir together the sugars, flour and spices called for in the second filling.

Mix the grated apples with the lemon juice, then add to the flour and sugar mixture. Mix well, and place in the fridge until ready to use.

Once the dough is ready, lightly flour your work surface and gently tip the dough onto it, sprinkling a little more flour on top of the dough.

Roll the dough out into roughly a 40 x 40 cm square, then brush about 2/3 of the butter over the entire surface of the dough.

Sprinkle 3/4 of the first (cinnamon sugar) filling mixture evenly on top of the butter on the dough.

Top with the apple filling then roll the dough tightly into a log. Be prepared for some oozing.

Place the log horizontally on your work surface. Take a piece of thread and place it vertically on your work surface. With the thread still vertical, place log on top of the middle of the thread. Move the thread to the left or right, so it is still under the dough, and is one centimeter in from the end of the log. Take the ends of the thread and hold them above the log. Cross them over each other once and pull them away from each other until the thread has cut through the dough completely. (you are effectively making a loop of thread around the dough and pulling on the ends to make the loop smaller so that it cuts through the dough on all sides with an even force). On a piece of parchment paper, lay the slice down, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cut another slice and place it on top of the first slice, sprinkle with cinnamon.

Continue until you have a stack about five slices high.

Smoosh the stack a bit and place horizontally in a greased 9x13 inch bread pan. Continue in this manner until you have no dough left. Be prepared for lots of leakage, I covered the entire area with a slip pat and clean up wasn't too bad.

When all of your slices are in the pan, cover pan with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise for another hour. Fifteen minutes or so before dough is done rising, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the bread for 1 hour, when it should be golden brown on top.

Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Run a butter knife around the edge of the pan and gently tip the loaf out onto the wire rack. Put the bread the right way round again and enjoy!

Have a sweet day!

Apple Brown Sugar Bars

Hi everyone! Hope you had a fabulous New Years! Mine was spent relaxing and enjoying time with good friends and good food. New Years day, I was invited to dinner and, of course, volunteered to bring dessert. I chose a bar cookie recipe that has been on my "to bake" list for quite a while. Brown Sugar Bar Cookies, I envisioned them turning out a bit like pecan pie but I had no pecans so added apples instead. I made the shortbread crust per the recipe's instructions, and while the crust was baking, whipped up an apple pie filling. The bars were delicious, but not very esthetically pleasing. To tell you the truth, I was a bit embarrassed to bring them to the dinner. Luckily, the blend of rich custard with tart apples and crisp, shortbread crust made up for their less than perfect appearance. I have never tried a bar cookie quite like these. The recipe involves lots of sugar and butter, so if your New Year's resolution is a diet, look away now! Or just start the diet tomorrow...

Apple Brown Sugar Bars

Adapted from this food.com recipe

Crust

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup margarine or 3/4 cup butter

3 tablespoons sugar

Apple Topping

2-3 large apples (I used Fuji)

1/4 cup butter

4 tablespoons brown sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons flour

Brown Sugar Topping or Filling

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat crust ingredients together until crumbly (I used a pastry cutter and my hands).

Press mixture into a 9x13 baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

While that's baking, peel and dice your apples.

Melt the 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan on the stove over medium low heat. Add in the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 4 tablespoons brown sugar.

Mix, mix, mix. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add in the flour and mix some more. Cook until the apples are just beginning to soften (I apologize, I didn't calculate how long this took, not long though). Remove from heat and start on the brown sugar topping.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.

After crust has cooked for 20 minutes, remove from oven.

Spread/pour apples over baked crust.

I had an audience...

Then cover with brown sugar topping. Bake for another 25-30 minutes.

Cut into squares when cool.

Enjoy!

Apple Shortbread Bars

I found this recipe on Lovin In The Oven blog. It is fantastic (the blog and the recipe)! You really can't go wrong with any dessert made with apples. I picked up some fresh Pippin apples from the Portland Farmers Market (SO excited it's open!) and used them in the filling. They weren't too sweet or juicy so they were perfect for these bars. I took Kim's advice and used a smaller pan (8x8) so the bars came out thick, I also followed her suggestion to make less of the icing. She recommends leaving off the icing all together, as the bars are quite sweet. But when it comes to dessert sweet is a-ok with me so I left it on. The flavors are reminiscent of apple pie, but the shortbread gives the bars a sweet crunch that really takes these bars to the next level of decadent dessert! You should absolutely make these, now, you will NOT be disappointed!

Apple Shortbread Bars

From Lovin In the Oven

Shortbread Crust Ingredients

2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. real butter, softened (no substitutions!)

1 egg, beaten

Apple Filling Ingredients

1/2 c. white sugar

1/4 c. flour

2 tsp. apple pie spice, or cinnamon

4 c. (about 3 medium) sliced, peeled baking apples (I used 3 pippin apples)

Glaze Ingredients

1 c. powdered sugar

About 2 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

To prepare crust, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.

Cut in butter with a pastry blender or use your hands to mix in until you have pea-sized crumbles.

Gently mix in beaten egg. Spray an 8x8 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350 and set aside.

To prepare apple filling, combine flour, sugar, and apple pie spice.

Toss with apples and spread apples out on prepared crust. I actually forgot to toss apples with flour and sugar and had to pick them off the crust and toss them. Apparently I can't watch TV and bake at the same time ☺

Pat reserved crust mixture over the apples, it's ok if there are some uncovered parts, its supposed to be like a streusel. I just tore off bits of batter with my fingers and patted it into place. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until lightly browned. When finished, allow to cool completely. To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. My tip, to make less of a mess, combine all glaze ingredients in a Ziploc bag and smoosh together with your hands. Be sure not to leave any powdered sugar lumps. When glaze is desired consistency, cut off a very small portion of one of the corners of the Ziploc.

Drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden (you can place it in the freezer to hurry things along).

Cut into bars and serve.

What's your favorite fruit dessert? I think these might be mine!

I linked up at Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop, What's On Your Plate Wednesdays, Let's Do Brunch, It's A Keeper Thursday, Sweet Tooth Friday, Sunday Showcase, Weekend Wrap Up at Tater Tots and Jello. and Works for Me Wednesday.

Whole Wheat Apple Scones

First of all, thank you for all your votes in my poll! I love getting your opinions and it was great to see that you guys are so interested in healthy stuff! This makes me happy for many reasons, one of which being I work at a Head Start as a Family and Health Supervisor, this means that I give many trainings throughout the year on nutrition and healthy eating to staff and parents in our program. So, in spite of the many not so healthy treats on my blog, I actually eat pretty healthy, which is why I love this scone recipe! The scones are low cholesterol and only 170 calories. I got the recipe from the archives of good old Cooking Light (aka Myrecipes.com). They cook up super moist and I used almond milk which gave them a distinctive nutty flavor that perfectly accented the cinnamon, apple, and vanilla. They are not very sweet, if you prefer something sweeter, go ahead and add some extra sugar or serve with a dollop of honey. Making them using part whole wheat flour ensures that they are hearty and filling but not too dense. I had one for breakfast and stayed full till lunch!

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Scones

Adapted from Cooking Light via Myrecipes.com

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (about 5 ounces)

1 cup whole wheat flour (about 4 3/4 ounces)

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup chilled butter

1 1/2 cup shredded peeled apple (about 2 medium apples)

1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk (I used unsweetened Almond Milk which has even less calories!)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons low-fat milk

2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat oven to 425°. Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups and tablespoons; level with a knife. Or use a kitchen scale and weigh it out.

Combine flours, 1/4 cup sugar, and next 5 ingredients (through nutmeg) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Grate in butter (chill your butter well and use your cheese grater, so much easier than cutting into small pieces then cutting into flour).

Mix in a bit with a fork or pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add apple, 1/2 cup milk, and vanilla extract, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 4 times with floured hands.

Divide dough in half; pat each portion into a 6-inch circle on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Cut each circle into 5 wedges, cutting into but not through, dough. Brush tops of wedges with 2 tablespoons milk, and sprinkle evenly with 2 teaspoons sugar (I added some cinnamon too).

Bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until golden.

Serve warm.

They are good next day too, just warm them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

Calories: 170, Fat: 5.1g (sat 3g,mono 1.3g,poly 0.3g), Protein: 3.7g, Carbohydrate: 28.1g, Fiber: 2.1g, Cholesterol: 13mg, Iron: 1.3mg, Sodium: 319mg, Calcium: 84mg

Linking to Tater Tots and Jello, Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors, and SUnday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming.