Apple Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

I love apples and cinnamon.  I love cupcakes.  I love cinnamon rolls.  When I saw Andrea of Can You Stay for Dinner? make an apple walnut cinnamon roll cupcake, I was in love.  It was love at first site.  I didn?t need to smell them, eat them, devour them.  I just knew. 

They are soft and chewy, sweet, cinnamon-y, apple-y, gooey, DELICIOUS!!!!

I made the for Thanksgiving dessert (I know, I?m late, sorry!!!) and they stayed just as delicious hours later as they were fresh from the oven, piping hot and super gooey soft.  I could have had them all by myself.  Could have, but didn?t.  I have to be good somehow, right?  I was so good, I split a small, deformed one with my mom straight from the oven (for God?s sake, people, wait 5 minutes!  My tongue still hates me for that one! Hot apple chunks and boiling cinnamon sugar=searing pain?) and I had one more at dessert. 
Deliciousness, seriously. 

THE RECIPE'

as adapted from Can You Stay for Dinner?- original recipe here

Ingredients:

2 cups skim milk
1 tablespoon (.5 oz) active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
6 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 eggs
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
2 cups finely chopped tart apples

Directions:

Heat the milk in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave for about one minute.  Add the yeast, then sugar. Stir to dissolve. Add two cups of flour and the salt and beat for a full two minutes. Add the softened butter and eggs and beat until the mixture is well combined. Add the rest of the flour, half a cup at a time, and beat thoroughly after each addition.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a floured surface. Knead the dough for five minutes, until it has become soft and elastic.

Put the dough in a large bowl, cover it with a kitchen towel, and let it rise in a warm area for 40 minutes. It will double in size.  You can also leave it in the covered bowl overnight, like I did.  It won?t hurt it. 

Combine the sugars, cinnamon, and apples in a large bowl.

Turn the dough onto the counter and roll it out 1/4? thick into a rectangular shape. Use a pastry brush to spread half of the butter over the surface.  Spread the cinnamon-sugar-apple mix over the dough, leaving a 1? border all around.

This is half the raised dough.  I had to do this in two parts b/c I didn?t have enough counter space to roll out all the dough.

I also didn?t leave 1? the first time around.  Oops.  That was messy. 

Starting on one of the long ends, carefully roll the dough over the filling and roll into log.  Cut the log into 24 pieces and place each inside one of the cups of a muffin tin lined with paper liners.  Cover the cupcakes with a towel and let them rise in a warm place for another 40 minutes.

Before:  

After:   

Preheat the oven to 350º. Brush the remaining butter evenly on the tops of the cupcakes and bake for 20 minutes. The tops will be a light golden brown.

LET THEM COOL!!!

Take them out and glaze.  I made a cinnamon cream cheese glaze.

I just beat one 8oz block of softened cream cheese with 1 cup powdered sugar, 1tsp vanilla extract and 1 tbsp of cinnamon until soft.  I added a little bit of heavy cream to thin it out a bit, but not too loose.  I should have added a bit more b/c I literally ran out of glaze for the last two, so I ended up putting less on those two. It?s ok, b/c they were deformed and mom and me split one and dad ate the other.  No one ever saw them.  :)

Okay, so Im not kidding.  Make these, please.  And have five for me?  It?s ok. You don?t gain the calories if they are for me.  I promise.