German Apple Cinnamon Rolls (Apfelschnecken)

German apple cinnamon rolls are an irresistible German pastry made from a fluffy dough filled with apples and finished with cinnamon sugar.

Unlike American apple cinnamon rolls, they are baked spread out. Instead of topping them with cream cheese frosting, they are brushed with melted butter before and after baking, and then pressed into a bowl of cinnamon sugar. Although you could also sugar-glaze them or glaze them with apricot jam. May I just say the perfect fall afternoon treat to enjoy on a picnic blanket with a cup of steaming coffee?

Want to try making German cinnamon rolls from Hamburg? Try my Franzbrötchen (by the way, they would be perfect with added apple too!). My German baked apple pastries are also rather to die for. Simply have too many apples? Make homemade chunky applesauce.

How to make them

These German apple cinnamon rolls are not hard to make. If you'd like to make them for breakfast, you could even prep part or all of this recipe the night before. Then bake and finish them in the morning. Find detailed step-by-step instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

First, knead together your dough until smooth and let it rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.

In the meantime, peel and cut up your apples, then toss them in lemon juice to keep them from turning brown. Set aside.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle (12 by 16 inches or 30 by 40 centimeters) and spread it on the room-temperature butter. If it's not soft enough, put it in the microwave for a few seconds.

Add the apples on top of the butter, then make a tight roll. Rolling up the long side, so you end up with a fat roll the width of the shorter side of the rectangle.

Cut the roll into 12 pieces, then lay them cut side up on two baking sheets prepped with parchment paper or reusable silicone baking mats. I forgot to do the following, but here is another tip. Since you're baking the rolls spread out, the end dough piece tends to separate from each roll and becomes a bit too brown. To avoid this from happening, you can tuck each end piece under each roll.

If any of them are taller than others (which happens to me with the end pieces), press them down with your palm to make them a bit flatter.

Now bake the Apfelschnecken for 20 minutes and rotate them halfway through baking, so they brown evenly.

When finished baking, brush with more melted butter and dip them upside down into a bowl of cinnamon sugar.

Enjoy one or two of these German apple cinnamon rolls with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients

You don't need a lot of ingredients to make some really great German apple cinnamon rolls, so here goes the list (and some tips for each ingredient).

• Flour. I use all-purpose flour for all of my baking. I buy the organic kind from Costco.
• Yeast. I use active-dry yeast for all of my baking. In Germany, it's common to use fresh yeast, which you can buy in a cube. Well, it's impossible to find that in America, but I have had great success with using dried yeast and activating it first. I buy a large bag from Costco, give half to a friend, and then keep the other half in an airtight container in the fridge or in the freezer. It stays good that way for about a year.
• Milk. I used 2% milk cow's milk in this recipe because that's what our daughter drinks. You can use any kind of milk you have on hand and even plant-based milk or water works.

• Sugar. I use pure cane sugar in all of my baking.
• Sour cream. You can use either full-fat or reduced-fat sour cream or substitute with Greek yogurt.
• Butter. I buy grass-fed butter at Costco because I bake so much.
• Apples. I used locally grown Johnathan apples in this recipe. They are great for baking, but you can use any apple you like. 
• Cinnamon. I used Ceylon cinnamon in this recipe, but any kind of cinnamon will work. You will mix it with sugar, then press the apple cinnamon rolls into it after baking.

Tools

There are a couple of tools that are useful to have when making apple cinnamon rolls.

• Sharp knife for cutting the apple cinnamon rolls.
• Silicone baking mats because they are reusable and nothing sticks to them.
• Citrus press for tossing the apples in lemon juice.
• Stand mixer with a dough hook. I've used mine every week for 13 years and LOVE it.
• Rolling pin for rolling out the dough into a perfect rectangle.

Other optional things I love about eating these apple cinnamon rolls

• Picnic blanket. This minimalist and beautiful picnic blanket comes with a harness for easy carrying. It has a waterproof bottom side and can be washed.
• A pretty serving board like this wooden board with leather detail. Looks great leaning up against the kitchen wall, too.
• The cutest picnic basket. Also, check out this gorgeous and super practical bicycle basket that attaches to the front of your bike.

Video

Watch me make German apple cinnamon rolls in this short video.

Hungry for more German apple recipes?

Then check out my apple baking recipes for German apple streusel cake, Austrian apple strudel, German apple pie, German baked apples, and baked apple pastries.