As we head into fall, these Apple Caramel Rolls with Bacon Jam are a sweet and savory, all-in-one breakfast bun.
Most evenings, you can find me taking a seven-mile walk around town (I need to do something to work off all of the carbs and cheese I’m eating!!). For half of that walk, I’m usually chatting with my mom about the day’s happenings. For the other half, I’m mentally a thousand miles away with my music playing and my mind wondering about the next kitchen creations.
So let’s rewind a few weeks. Shortly after I posted the cinnamon buns recipe, I knew I had to think of other flavor combinations that are less common. After I came up with a few ideas, the first one I had to try was with apples and bacon jam.
Ingredients for Apple Caramel Rolls with Bacon Jam:
The bacon jam recipe is from few weeks ago. I did eliminate the shallots and garlic as I didn’t want it to be too savory.
The dough recipe is from my cinnamon buns.
Apple Caramel Mixture:
- 4 apples, diced
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp flour (optional)
Directions:
For dough —
Soften yeast in warm water. Let sit until yeast becomes frothy … about 10 minutes. Combine milk, sugar, shortening, and salt; cool to lukewarm. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour; beat well. Beat in yeast and egg. Gradually add remaining flour to form soft dough, beating well. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about two hours).
For bacon jam —
Chop your bacon into small, 1/4″ pieces and cook in large skillet until crispy. Remove bacon and let drain on paper towels. Discard all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Next, add the brown sugar, water, apple cider vinegar, and pepper and let the mixture start to simmer and then reduce the heat to about medium — letting it reduce and thicken. At this point, add the bacon pieces into the skillet, stir until combined, and cook together for a minute or two. Then serve!
For apple caramel filling —
Wash and dice your apples into 1/4″ pieces. In a large sauté pan, melt the butter and coconut oil. Next, add all of the apples and stir so they are coated with butter/oil. After cooking for about 10 minutes, the apples should be softened. Then add brown sugar and all of the spices and vanilla, stirring until the brown sugar has dissolved and the mixture is well combined. If the sauce is too thin, sprinkle in 1-2 tablespoons of flour to thicken it — making sure that it’s completely incorporated into the sauce. Once the sauce is thickened, remove from heat and let cool.
For apple caramel rolls —
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Once your dough has doubled in size, remove from bowl and roll out into a large rectangle shape (about 20″ long and 16″ wide) onto floured surface. Then smear the dough, from end to end/top to bottom, with the softened butter (4 tbsp). Once covered with the butter, sprinkle the entire surface with the brown sugar (3 tbsp) and cinnamon (2 tsp). Then pour the apple caramel mixture across the dough, spreading it out so there’s an even layer.
Tightly roll up the dough, starting from the bottom. Once you have the entire dough rolled up, take a ruler and mark evenly sized cuts the length of the roll. Then cut each mark into the individual buns.
Take your preferred baking pan, pour your bacon jam into the bottom. Then place each of the buns into the jam, cut side down. Once you’ve placed all of the rolls into the pan, cover and let rise again (about an hour).
After the buns have almost doubled in size, bake for 40-45 minutes.
Once baked, remove from oven and invert onto a cookie sheet. Return to over and bake for another 10-15 minutes. You want this process to caramelize the bacon pieces.
Serve warm!
For your own milk glass bottles, click here!