Apple Cider Bath Cinnamon Rolls — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:01] Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishers.com with Apple Cider Bath Cinnamon Rolls. That's right, I heard people were bathing cinnamon rolls in cream before they baked them, which sounded like a great idea.

[00:15] So I thought I would try a seasonal twist using apple cider, and I thought the results were amazing. Plus, I'm going to show you how to do this with a very easy, no-knead dough. And to get started we will sprinkle some yeast over some warm milk

[00:28] And we'll let it sit there for about 10 minutes while we get the rest of our ingredients together Which includes some sugar Some melted butter One large egg Plus a little bit of salt of course And what we'll do is take a whisk and bust that egg right in the yolk

[00:43] And we'll give this a quick mix At which point we'll go ahead and add our flour And then we'll simply mix this into a dough using a wooden spoon And we're actually going to use the handle instead of the other end which is going to move through these sticky ingredients faster

[00:57] and it's going to be easier to clean. The only problem is, if somebody walks in the kitchen, they're going to think you don't know how to use a spoon. But that's okay. Stop caring about what other people think.

[01:09] But anyway, once that's been mixed into a sticky dough and we've cleaned up the sides of the bowl a bit, we'll cover that with a towel and we'll let it rest exactly 20 minutes, at which point we'll uncover it and wet our hand and we're going to give it a quick set of stretch and folds

[01:22] by reaching underneath and grabbing dough from the edge and stretching it over the top like this. And we'll go around and do that about six or seven times just to start to build up a little bit of structure.

[01:34] And once we've done that, we'll pick it up and make sure no dough is stuck to the bottom and we'll flip it over and we will quickly shape that back into a ball at which point we're going to cover it again and let it rise for about an hour and a half or until it doubles in size.

[01:48] And yes, you can use a towel again, but I love these see-through covers so you can observe what's going on. And once our dough is ready, it's going to look like this. And once it does, we'll transfer that onto our work surface.

[02:00] And we'll go ahead and press out the air, at which point we'll give it another quick set of folds, stretching the dough from the outside across the center. And as you're about to see, when I didn't grab enough dough and it tore,

[02:12] that indicates that this dough does not have a lot of strength yet. But that's not going to matter, because what we're going to do is flip that over, and we use our bench scraper in a circular motion to shape this back into a nice tight ball at which point we going to transfer it into an oiled zip bag and we pop this in the fridge overnight

[02:30] And during that time, the gluten will develop, and it will have the same strength as the dough that was kneaded. Plus, it will also have a better flavor and be easier to work with. And then the next day before we make our rolls, we want to make our filling,

[02:43] which will include butter and cinnamon, of course, plus a whole bunch of sugar. And I'm using half white and half brown. And then I'm adding one optional ingredient, which is going to be some apple butter, which I thought would work perfect flavor-wise, plus add extra moisture,

[02:59] and allow us to do the filling with half the amount of butter that's usually called for. So I guess if you don't buy a jar of apple butter, you can just go with the whole stick to make the classic cinnamon roll filling. But either way, once that's mixed up, we'll set it aside,

[03:13] and we will pull our dough out of the fridge and transfer it onto a flour-ducted surface. and what we'll do is press out the air and flatten that out and then we'll give the top a light dusting with flour and we will grab our trusty rolling pin

[03:26] and roll this out into a nice big oval. Okay, eventually we want to get to a rectangle shape but to get there we have to do a big oval first and once that's been accomplished we'll rub some flour on the top

[03:38] and we'll flip this over and then before we do the final rolling we'll use our fingers to stretch the dough out to form four corners and we'll form that into a rectangular shape before we start rolling again.

[03:51] And what we're shooting for here is something approximately 18 by 12. But anything close will work and I really don't think you need to pull out the tape measure. Although some of you will. Oh yeah, you know who you are.

[04:04] And that's it. Once our dough is rolled, we'll transfer over our filling and we'll spread that out with a regular spatula or better yet, one of these thin metal offset spatulas. But either way, We want to spread almost all the way to the edge on three sides,

[04:18] but leave about one and a half inches of dough on the side we're going to roll towards, so we can seal the filling in. And then I'm going to go ahead and scatter over some chopped walnuts, which I love, but they are optional, so you decide.

[04:30] And you guys are for all the kings of your cinnamon roll fillings. And that's it. We'll go ahead and roll this up. And as you might know, I don't like to use time wraps, but I did use a little bit here.

[04:42] And then once we get about 4 or 5 inches away from finishing We want to stretch out those corners And then kind of press and flatten out the front edge So we have plenty of dough to finish our roll And once we finish up with the seam at the bottom as usual

[04:56] we'll go ahead and use our two hands very lovingly along the entire length to fine tune it to shape this as uniformly as possible. And once we've done that we'll take a knife and we will score this into 12 equal portions

[05:09] although I do make the two portions on either end a little bit bigger because we're going to trim off about a half inch of dough, which we are not under any circumstances going to throw away. You'll see what we do with that in a few moments.

[05:22] And after, we'll go ahead and use those marks to cut this into 12 equal portions, which I always do with a string, since I think it's easier and you're not cutting into your countertop. But in any event, once we have our 12 rolls,

[05:35] we can use that dough we trimmed out the ends to add to the bottoms of a couple that might look a little bit smaller. since there's no way you got all these perfectly even. And once that's done, we can transfer these into a lightly buttered 9x13 baking dish or pan

[05:49] and we'll cover that with a towel and let those proof for one hour or until they've risen by about 50% and they're all touching each other. And while that's happening, we will make our creamy apple cider bath

[06:02] by adding four cups of apple cider to a soft pan and bringing it to a boil on medium-high heat. And once that's reduced by approximately one half, we will lay the latter quarter cup of it that we'll use for our apple cider icing.

[06:16] And we'll set that aside. And we'll continue reducing this until we have about a third of a cup left. And it's nice and syrupy. At which point, let me turn off the heat so you can see what this looks like. And by the way, don't go anywhere once it starts getting close.

[06:31] Because it will burn very quickly and you'll be starting over. And then to finish this off, all we have to do is stir in some cream. And I will just let that cool while our rolls finish proofing. And after about an hour, they should look something like this.

[06:45] And if they do, we'll take our creamy apple cider bath and we'll ladle that evenly over the top, trying to cover as much of the surface area as possible. And that's it once that's been applied to the top.

[06:57] These are ready to pop into the upper center of a 350 degree oven for about 30 to 35 minutes. Or at least that was the plan. In a shocking plot twist I experienced a tragic timer setting incident

[07:10] And these actually cook for almost 45 minutes I know I can believe it either But anyway they were looking amazing so I was hoping for the best And what we do is let those cool for about 10 to 15 minutes while we make our apple cider icing, which is our reserved apple cider, plus a touch of

[07:27] vanilla, into which we will whip some powdered sugar. And I generally like to mix in half the sugar at a time. And what we're looking for is a fairly thick, but still nicely pourable texture.

[07:39] And once that's been achieved, and our rolls have cooled for about 10 to 15 minutes, we will use the whisk to drizzle that over. And of course, if you'd rather use the popular cream cheese frosting for these, go ahead. But flavor-wise, I think the apple cider icing is a great choice.

[07:54] And that's it. I let those cool down until they were just warm. And then I grabbed a spatula and served one up, hoping for the best and feeling fairly optimistic, because they were looking and feeling pretty good, despite the way too long cooking time.

[08:08] And then I grabbed a knife to cut this open to see if the inside looked just as good. And it did look just as beautiful inside as it did out. But if I'm being honest, when I took a bite, it was a little bit on the dry side.

[08:21] Which again is no surprise, being baked for 10 minutes too long. But what really saved these, besides our creamy apple cider bath, which obviously is going to add moisture and richness, but also was the addition of that apple butter in the filling,

[08:35] which baked up to have a nice shiny gemmy texture. In fact, appearance-wise, they look really good. So I was debating whether I should even tell you about the timer issue. But you know me, I love to share my mistakes even more than my successes.

[08:49] But anyway, do me a favor and double-check your timer and start testing these at about the 30-minute mark and what you're looking for is an internal temp of about 190 to 200. But other than my timer issue, I thought the Rutsky was fabulous

[09:03] and I thought the apple cider bath and the apple cider icing and the apple butter in the filling make for a great seasonal twist on the cinnamon roll which is why I really do hope you give these a try soon.

[09:15] So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy!

[09:33] you