
A fun and easy apple pie cupcake recipe using cinnamon roll dough, fresh apples and cinnamon. How can it go wrong??
The base of the cupcakes are actually made from store-bought cinnamon rolls that have been flattened out into thin discs. Then, we fill the middle with apples that are cooked in butter, lemon and cinnamon. Everything gets topped with buttery and sweet streusel and baked. We would eat them for breakfast, we would eat them for lunch and we would definitely eat them for dessert! (These are right at the top of our favorite Indulgent Dessert Recipes!)

These taste so crazy good, not to mention the aroma of cinnamon rolls + apple pie baking in the oven will make anyone buckle at the knees. We first shared this with Betty Crocker and got a huge response, so we jumped at the chance to share it with you!
-Joanne
How to make Apple Pie Cupcakes
Start by making a simple streusel topping for the cupcakes. Mix together butter, flour, brown sugar and nuts.

Now, peel and dice some apples. We used Granny Smith apples, but you could also use another good baking apple. When you choose apples for baking, go for those that are crisp. Try Jonathan, Jonagold or Braeburn apples.

Next, saute the apples. You will need a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Just melt a tablespoon or two of butter.

Add the apples, some brown sugar and cinnamon.

Once the apples have softened a bit, squeeze in some lemon juice.

Open the cinnamon roll package then press each roll into a disk.

Now, place and press each round into lightly greased cupcake cups.

Add a spoonful of apples to each cupcake then sprinkle with the streusal on top.

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes or so then allow to cool for 10 minutes or so, release from the pan and top with whipped cream and if you really want to be bad, some caramel sauce!
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced in to 1/4-inch cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Juice of half lemon (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 can (12.4 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated cinnamon rolls
- whipped cream
- caramel-flavored syrup
- Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly spray 8 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray.
- In 10-inch skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add apples; cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons brown sugar, the cinnamon and salt. Cook 5 minutes longer or until tender. Stir in lemon juice.

- Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix butter, flour, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and walnuts with fork or hands until crumbly. Set aside.
- Separate dough into 8 rolls. Flatten each into 4-inch round; place in muffin cup. Divide apple filling evenly onto rolls in muffin cups. Divide flour mixture evenly over apples.

- Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until bubbly and tops are lightly browned. Cool slightly before removing from muffin cups. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.Serve cupcakes topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of syrup.




53 Comments
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These look amazing! I wish you could buy cinnamon rolls over here in the UK!
Oh no, we never knew they were hard to find over there! You could replace the cinnamon rolls with pie dough sprinkled with a touch of cinnamon.
Joanne
Drooling. Enough said
My oh my
OMG! These look absolutely amazing!! Your blog is awesome by the way
adding this recipe to my list…..thanks!
I just made these. They are Amazing! Thank you for the Wonderful recipe! I tried the Orange Cinnamon rolls and they were equally as good!
so glad you liked them!
-joanne
Making these today for a late Christmas party i cant wait to try them i rolled out my cinnamon rolls tho kneaded them into a ball then rolled. The first one i rolled had lots of holes,and kneading them into a ball first worked great. Gonna take spray whipped cream to the party and finish them there, I also cooked the sweetened condensed milk into caramel and put it in a squirt bottle. Cant wait to eat these up!
wow! This has been pinned. I have to come back to this for the fall when we pick apples! wow!!
These look heavenly, and definitely NOT resolution=friendly!
These are so good and so easy to make! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. They really are AMAZING:)
Made them and loved them! Thanks for the recipe!
Also made these and they were delicious! Funny thing was our can of cinnamon rolls were defective and came with only 6 instead of 8. How does that happen?
We put the frosting that it came with right on top of the apple filling!
Just made these tonight, they didn’t come out as pretty as yours but they are sooooo good! Thanks for sharing! ^_^
Making these for Valentine’s Day tomorrow.. they look SOOO delicious and apple pie is my boyfriend’s favorite! Can’t wait to try them, thanks for sharing!
you are seriously going to make me fat. I’ll just have to convince myself they’re healthy because they contain apples
Honestly, this recipe might just hands down be the best thing I have ever made/eaten! They are absolutely delicious, and I will continue to make these for many years to come!!
We’re all smiles over here! Thanks for letting us know how they turned out for you!
we liked these, but didn’t love them – will try again using a sweetened pie crust
great idea, Nancy!
OMG is all I can say here!!!!! I made some of these today and they were sooooooo yummy! Thank you for sharing this with us, I will most definitely be making them again soon!
P.S. I replaced the nuts with rolled oats cuz I forgot the nuts at the store, still very yummy!
YAY! So happy you liked them!
You can have all the chocolate in the world and it won’t tempt me. But – put something like this in front of me and I will not resist.
Made these and the family went NUTS. I didn’t use caramel or whipped cream; I got vanilla ice cream with caramel swirls instead. It was unholy. O_O
Could I bake these in cute cupcake papers or would that mess it all up?
You could. Our only thought is it may be a little more difficult to line the paper liner compared to the unlined cupcake cup. We sort of pressed the dough into the unlined cup, so the paper may make that difficult.
An alternative – You could bake in the unlined cups then once the cupcakes have baked and cooled, slip them into a cute liner for presentation.
These sound divine! Is it possible to cut the 8 rounds to make 16 small cupcakes in small muffin pan?
Hi Hope– great question! While we haven’t tried it, we don’t see why you couldn’t turn these into mini cupcakes. If you do, keep an eye on them while baking, the bake time will be less. Let us know how they turn out.
Tried them mini, and they were the perfect little bites. Baked for 10 min. and turned out perfect! Soooo good I couldn’t stop eating them!
We made this recipe today and it was outstanding! You can always cheat a little and use apple pie filling but the smell and taste of fresh apples was great.
Hi Rick, So glad you enjoyed our cupcakes! You’re right, you could take a bit of a shortcut with apple pie filling – great idea!
..making these for our charity event Friday! ..they are amazing!
Just came across your recipe. Have to make this one. It combines the two things my son loves, cupcakes an apple pie. I can’t wait.
What a fantastic spin on my all-time favorite fall dessert! Love it!
Im glad i came across this recipe, im making this “cupcake” in my ProStart cooking class for nour apple recipe competition ! hope i win
What a fantastic idea! Love the shortcut too! Don’t think I will find the frozen rolls here but i’ll come up with a substitute!
Thank you! You will have to come and tell us your substitute, would love to learn about it
Wow!! I will definitely be trying these–I’m pretty sure they’ll make it on my Thanksgiving table!!! YUM!
I haven’t made these yet but wondering if I can make these days ahead? Also, if any left, how long will they keep and should they be refrigerated? Looking forward to making them for thanksgiving.
HI BB, We would be fine making these 1 day ahead of time. They should be fine 2-3 more days in advance, but we worry they won’t be as fresh and since you plan to make for Thanksgiving, we thought the fresher the better. Also, if making ahead, definitely store (tightly covered) in the refrigerator. Then, when you’re ready to serve, heat your oven to 350 degrees F and allow them to warm up a bit (3 to 4 minutes).
These look very nice. I don’t think that I can get the cinnamon rolls here but I will definitely be coming up with an alternative base and giving them a go!