Caramel Apple Sticky Buns Recipe - Mom On Timeout (2024)

Caramel Apple Sticky Buns combine the great flavors of caramel and apple inside a sticky, sweet bun!

This weekend we took our first trip up to Apple Hill for the season. For those of you who don’t live in Northern California – Apple Hill is THE destination for picking apples, drinking cider, and visiting pumpkin patches. We try to get up there twice during September and October with the boys because we always have such a special time. Reece went fishing for the first time at the pond at High Hill and he LOVED it! We drank loads of fresh apple cider and roamed the hills at Denver Dan’s picking apples. We even went on a train ride! We stopped for lunch at Apple Ridge and the boys took a hike while I searched for pinecones. We’re hoping to go back again in a few weeks and really stock up on apples for the winter.

The timing was just perfect for a quick trip to Apple Hill because this week’s featured ingredient for Iron Chef Mom is APPLES! The party started today so head on over to Cheerios and Lattes to link up and vote for your favorite Apple creations!

This recipe yields 24 Caramel Apply Sticky Buns – enough for your family to devour and still have a pan to give away 🙂

Ingredients:

Sticky Buns:
2/3 c Heavy Cream
2/3 c water {or apple juice or cider}
4 Tbls sugar
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
4 1/2 c flour, divided
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
4 Tbls butter, melted

Sticky Buns Filling:
1 c brown sugar
2 Tbls cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg {optional}
1 stick of butter, melted
3-4 apples {Granny Smith work great}

Caramel Sauce:
1 1/2 sticks of butter {12 Tbls}
2 1/4 c brown sugar
3 Tbls Heavy Cream

Note: I made this recipe two ways. One where I used apple cider in place of water and put apples in the caramel in the pan AND inside the buns. The other version I used water and only put apples inside the buns. The version with the apple cider was the favorite at our house BUT it did not raise as much. BOTH were absolutely scrumptious!

Directions:

Heat cream, water {or juice}, and sugar to 110 degrees and then add yeast. Let sit until nice and foamy – usually around 10 minutes or so. Add in two cups of flour and use a mixer to combine until nice and smooth. {I used my stand mixer.} Once smooth, add eggs, melted butter, andremaining2 1/2 c flour and beat until combined.

Transfer the dough to a buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. {I prefer plastic wrap to a towel because you can see how much the dough has risen without lifting the towel and releasing the heat.} Let the dough sit in a nice, warm place until doubled in size – about 1 hour. I divided my dough into two bowls at this point so it would be easier to work with later.

Let’s make the caramel sauce. Homemade caramel sauce is the BEST. You will have to overcome the desire to eat this stuff by the spoonful – your sticky buns need it! Place the butter and brown sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot. Why a heavy pot? Keeps the sugar from burning!

Let it go for a few minutes before stirring. Stir vigorously to keep the sugar from burning. Once the sugar is completelydissolvedadd in the cream. Let the mixture come up to a boil without stirring over medium heat. You can swirl the pan once or twice to keep the mixture from sticking. Let it boil for 1-2 minutes and then turn off the heat and walk away.

Now it’s time to prep for the rolls. Grease two 9-inch round baking pans. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and melt the butter.

Peel and dice the apples. If you want to put apples on the bottom of the pan, dice up four. If you just want to put them inside the buns, peel three. I also read somewhere tha it’s a good idea to use different types of apples when baking so I used two Granny Smiths and Galas. At least I think they were Galas…the boys picked them at Apple Hill 🙂

Fill the bottoms of both greased round baking pans with caramel sauce. Use about 1/4 of the caramel sauce for each pan leaving half of the caramel sauce remaining. You want just enough to cover the surface. If your caramel has thickened on you, just heat it up again to make it nice and runny.

If you want apples on the tops of your sticky buns sprinkle some apples onto the caramel sauce now. I did one with apples on top and one without. My hubby and boys both preferred the one with more apples.

Now it’s time to make the Sticky Buns. Roll out half the dough onto a well-floured surface. Aim for a rectangle shape – it doesn’t have to be perfect! My cutting board measures 14×17 inches so that’s what I did but something smaller or larger will work fine too. Spread 4 Tbls melted butter onto the dough.

Sprinkle on half of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Drizzle half of the remaining caramel sauce {1/4 of the total amount of caramel sauce} on top. Now sprinkle the apples over the top. You can really add as many or few apples as you want here just make sure you have a nice fine dice.

Roll ‘er up! Starting at one long edge, start rolling the dough into a log. I totally want to take a bit of this right now!

Cut the log in half and then make five more cuts so you end up with 12 buns.

Place those sweet little buns into the pan all snuggled up together and looking so yummy!

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise again for another 30 minutes or so. About halfway through, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place pans in preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until nice and golden.

Let buns cool for abut five minutes.

Run a knife along the edge of the pan and place plate on top. Carefully invert the pan and plate so that the pan is upside down like so:

Use a knife to pull the pan off of the plate. Peek-a-boo!

Voila! Caramel Apple Sticky Buns!

I couldn’t resist – I had to have one right away. Then the boys wandered in and well, let’s just say the sticky buns were a complete hit 🙂

More Caramel Apple Recipes

1. Caramel Apple Oat Bars
2. Easy Caramel Apple Dip
3. Quick Caramel Apple Empanadas
4. Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls
5. Caramel Apple Cupcakes

How To Make Caramel Apple Sticky Buns