I’m currently in flight while writing this post, headed home from 3 weeks overseas! I wrote a bit last week about my travels so far at that point and it’s wild to think how quickly it all went and soon I’ll be back in beautiful Portland. My travels were filled with beautiful moments, all surrounding adventure, exploration, beautiful friends and food styling and photography! It’s been refreshing and lovely in every way. I’m still posting about my travels, feel free to follow along over on Instagram!
I developed this recipe for Autumn Harvest Cinnamon Rolls before I left in September so that I would have the content ready to share with you at the peek of the Autumn season! October truly is my favorite month out of the year and I’m so excited to come home to it.
I grew up baking at home (you can read more of my story here) for years and one of my favorite things to make was cinnamon rolls. When thinking about what to make for the Autumn season, I realized this recipe hadn’t made it to my blog yet! I hope you can enjoy them as much as I have over your weekend. I have many sweet, family memories surrounding baking these cinnamon rolls as they fit particularly well in our home around the fall / winter season and holidays.
I hope you have a lovely weekend, and thanks to Chris for assisting for this shoot and modeling for me!!
Spiced Autumn Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
The Dough:
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup black chai tea
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
The Filling:
- 1/4 cup butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
- 1 ½ large apples peeled, cored and cut into ½" chunks
The Glaze:
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar finely sifted
- 2 tablespoons cream
- 1 tablespoon whiskey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Prepare dough by first warming the milk and chai tea on the stove in a small saucepan on low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when warm (do not allow to boil!). Add all ingredients into a standard bread machine and place on “dough” setting.
- When dough is ready, approximately 1.5 hours later, remove from pan onto a lightly floured surface. Knead once or twice and roll out to ½ – ¾” thick circle. Using a knife, spread butter evenly over the dough. Top with sugar, spices and apples. Gently roll the dough in, gathering the filling so it’s fairly tight in the roll.
- Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Using a sharp knife, slice the roll into 1 ½” thick wedges, placing in a greased baking pan (any size pan is fine).
- Cover pan of rolls with a lightweight towel and place in the warm oven for about another 30-40 minutes, or until rolls have nearly doubled in size. Remove from the oven, leaving the towel on and heat oven up to 375 degrees. When oven has preheated, remove towel and place pan in oven. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until rolls are lightly browned.
- While rolls are baking, prepare glaze by adding the butter, cream, vanilla and whiskey to a mixing bowl. With whisk attachment, beat on low until mixed. Slowly add sifted powdered sugar. Watch the consistency and beat until it’s creamed. You may need to add a touch more cream if it’s too thick, or more sugar if it’s too thin (depends on the weather and how exact your measurements are).
- When rolls are lightly browned, remove from oven. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and then drizzle glaze over the top. Serve warm and store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
