Apple pie cinnamon roll monkey bread is made with cinnamon-sugar-coated pieces of refrigerated cinnamon rolls and apple pie filling baked under a buttery brown sugar sauce until it’s caramelized. Both containers of cinnamon roll icing go over the top while it’s still warm, because there was never any reason to hold back at that point.

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread with Apple Pie Filling and Brown Sugar Sauce

My biggest irritation with monkey bread has always been the center. I don’t care how good it looks, all caramelized on the outside, if I dig in and find a gummy wad of dough in the middle that has never fully baked. It has annoyed me forever, and figuring out how to prevent it from happening has taken many, many rounds of testing. Adding apple pie filling only made the problem worse, because now I was putting even more moisture into the exact place monkey bread already struggles.

So while I’m using a couple of shortcut ingredients, getting the combination right was the part that took some testing. The real challenge was making cinnamon rolls and apple pie filling work in a Bundt pan without producing wet, underbaked cinnamon-roll sludge in the middle.

This apple pie cinnamon roll monkey bread does have a lot going on before the icing gets involved. There are soft apples between the cinnamon roll pieces, brown sugar sauce caramelized around everything, and then I pour both containers of cream cheese icing over the top while it’s still warm. This is what I wanted someone’s mom to serve when I woke up at their house after a sleepover. I’m righting that wrong. And when I get to the middle, I’m not mad.

The Decisions Behind This Recipe

• I wanted lots of apples in this, but not all the extra moisture that comes with a can of pie filling. Monkey bread already has enough trouble baking through the center. So I cut the apple slices up, added lemon juice to cut through the concentrated sweetness, then let the filling drain for five minutes. I still get a full can of apples in the bread, but I’m not pouring all of the extra sauce into the Bundt pan with them.
• I cut each cinnamon roll into four pieces because smaller pieces bake more reliably, but they’re still big enough that you can see some of the cinnamon-roll spirals. And I don’t mash them down into the pan. They go in loosely, with room to expand as they bake. Packing the dough tightly only makes it harder for the pieces in the middle to catch up with everything already getting dark and caramelized around the outside.
• The apples are layered between the cinnamon roll pieces instead of being tossed through them. I tested batches where everything was mixed together, and it gave me much less control over where the wet filling ended up. Layering lets me spread the apples throughout the monkey bread without coating every piece of raw dough in pie filling before it goes into the oven.
• The brown sugar sauce goes over everything after the Bundt pan is assembled. I cook the butter, dark brown sugar and salt together first, then add the vanilla off the heat, so I’m pouring a smooth sauce over the monkey bread instead of adding the butter and sugar separately. As it bakes, it moves around the cinnamon roll pieces and apples and gives the outside the sticky, caramelized finish monkey bread is supposed to have.
• And I don’t use color alone to decide when this is done. The top can be golden brown, the sauce can be bubbling and the pieces closest to the outside can look perfect while the thickest dough near the center is still underbaked. I check one of the thickest cinnamon roll pieces near the center with an instant-read thermometer and want it between 195°F and 200°F. That’s the number I trust.

Ingredients

• Apple pie filling – Use one 20-ounce can. I cut the apple slices into smaller pieces so they distribute through the monkey bread more evenly, then drain off the excess sauce before layering them into the pan.
• Lemon juice – Cuts some of the concentrated sweetness in the apple pie filling without adding much extra moisture.
• Baking spray with flour – Use it generously in every crevice of the Bundt pan. There’s a lot of caramelized sugar in this recipe, and the flour in the spray gives you a much better chance of getting the bread out of the pan without leaving chunks behind.
• Granulated sugar – Mixed with the cinnamon and used to coat the cinnamon roll pieces before they go into the pan.
• Ground cinnamon – Mixed with the granulated sugar before the cut cinnamon rolls are tossed through it, adding more cinnamon outside the rolls to go with what’s already swirled through the dough.
• Refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing – I specifically use two cans of Pillsbury Flaky Grands Cinnamon Rolls with Cinnabon Cinnamon and Cream Cheese Icing. The larger rolls are still big enough to show some of their cinnamon spirals after I cut each one into quarters. Save both containers of the cream cheese icing for the top.
• Unsalted butter – Melts with the dark brown sugar to make the sauce that caramelizes around the cinnamon rolls. Using unsalted means I can control the salt separately.
• Dark brown sugar – Has more molasses than light brown sugar, which gives the sauce a stronger caramel flavor and helps create the sticky exterior around the monkey bread. If you’re out, make my homemade brown sugar.
• Kosher salt – Important because there’s no shortage of sweet stuff in this recipe. It keeps the brown sugar sauce from tasting overly sugary.
• Vanilla extract – I stir it into the brown sugar sauce after taking the pan off the heat so I’m not cooking away its flavor.

How to Make Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

Find the complete printable recipe with measurements in the recipe card at the BOTTOM OF THE POST.

• Step One (get the apples ready)
  Spoon the apple pie filling into a bowl and use kitchen shears or a knife to cut the slices into roughly ½-inch pieces. Stir in the lemon juice, then transfer everything to a fine-mesh strainer and let the excess sauce drain for 5 minutes. I still want all of the apples in the monkey bread, but without all of the extra sauce hanging around the dough in the middle of the Bundt pan.
• Step Two (coat the cinnamon rolls)
  Stir the granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Open both cans of cinnamon rolls, set the icing aside for later, and cut each roll into four equal pieces. Toss the cut cinnamon rolls in the cinnamon sugar until they’re well coated, but don’t squeeze or mash them together. They should still look like cinnamon rolls, not dough blobs you’ve bullied into submission.
• Step Three (make the brown sugar sauce)
  Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, then add the dark brown sugar and salt. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often, until the butter and brown sugar have become a sauce and it’s bubbling around the edges. Take it off the heat and stir in the vanilla.
• Step Four (layer everything in the Bundt pan)
  Coat the Bundt pan thoroughly with baking spray with flour. Add a third of the cut cinnamon rolls, keeping them loosely arranged, then spoon half of the drained apples over them. Repeat with another third of the dough and the remaining apples, then finish with the remaining cinnamon rolls and pour the warm brown sugar sauce evenly over everything. Resist the urge to start packing it all down because you’re worried it won’t fit; the cinnamon rolls need room to expand while they bake.
• Step Five (bake until the middle is really done)
  Bake at 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes. A golden top and bubbling brown sugar sauce are both encouraging, but neither one tells me what’s happening in the middle, and I’ve been betrayed by monkey bread too many times to trust appearances. Check one of the thickest sections of cinnamon roll dough near the center with an instant-read thermometer; I want it between 195°F and 200°F. That’s the number I’m looking for.
• Step Six (turn it out and use all the icing)
  Let the monkey bread rest for about 5 minutes, then run a thin spatula around the outside and around the center tube to loosen any caramelized sugar. Place a serving plate that’s larger than the Bundt pan over the top, hold the plate and pan firmly together, invert the whole thing, and slowly lift away the Bundt pan. Warm both containers of reserved icing in 5-second intervals until smooth and pourable, then drizzle all of it over the warm monkey bread because we did not come this far to stop now.

Recipe Tips

• When you check the temperature, make sure the thermometer is in the cinnamon roll dough. If the tip slides into apple filling instead, move it and check again because the temperature won’t tell you whether the dough has finished baking.
• Don’t worry about filling every empty space as you add the cinnamon rolls to the Bundt pan. The small gaps give the dough a place to expand, and they’re better than pressing everything together to make the layers look even.
• Have your serving plate ready before the monkey bread comes out of the oven, and make sure it’s larger than the Bundt pan. Once the five-minute rest is over, you can loosen the bread and turn it out while the caramel is still warm enough to release.
• The cream cheese icing only needs a few seconds in the microwave to become pourable. Heat it in 5-second intervals and stir between each one so you don’t accidentally turn two good containers of icing into something boiling hot.
• If you want nuts, add about ½ cup of toasted pecans or walnuts with the apples as you layer the pan. Chop them small so large nuts aren’t making more obstacles for the dough as it expands.
• Don’t throw away the sauce you drained from the apple filling. Spoon it over vanilla ice cream so the part I deliberately kept out of the monkey bread still gets eaten. I really dislike food waste.

Storage and Reheating

• Apple pie cinnamon roll monkey bread is my favorite when it’s still warm. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
• Reheat individual portions in the microwave for about 15 to 25 seconds, depending on their size, until the dough is warm and the caramel has softened again.
• I haven’t tested freezing this one yet, and with the apple filling, icing and caramelized sauce all involved, I’m not going to guess what the texture might be like after thawing. My suspicion is goo.

FAQs

• Why is my monkey bread raw or gummy in the middle?
  I’d look at three things first. There may have been too much moisture from the apple filling, the cinnamon roll dough may have been packed too tightly into the Bundt pan, or the bread may have come out before the center finished baking. The frustrating part is that the outside can look completely done while the middle is still gummy, so appearance isn’t a reliable way to judge it.
• Can I use a different brand of refrigerated cinnamon rolls?
  I tested this with 17.5-ounce cans of Pillsbury Flaky Grands Cinnamon Rolls. Another refrigerated cinnamon roll may work, but smaller rolls or cans will change how much dough is in the Bundt pan and may change the baking time, so I’d stay as close to that size as possible.
• Can I use homemade apple pie filling?
  I haven’t tested it, so I can’t tell you that it will act the same way. Homemade apple pie fillings vary a lot in how much liquid they contain, and that is important in a recipe where getting the center completely baked is already the issue.
• Why does the monkey bread only rest for five minutes before I turn it out?
  Five minutes gives the bread time out of the oven while the caramel is still warm enough to release from the pan. If you wait too long the brown sugar sauce starts acting like glue, which is not when you want to discover how well you greased your Bundt pan.
• Can I assemble this ahead of time?
  I wouldn’t assemble it ahead of time. I haven’t tested refrigerated cinnamon roll dough sitting for hours with the apple filling and brown sugar sauce, and both the rise and the amount of moisture the dough absorbs could change while it waits.

From My Kitchen Notes

Small observations from the margins.

• There are times to act accordingly, and others to see what happens if I don’t.
• I’ve spent enough of my life being responsible to know how much fun irresponsibility can be.
• Monkeying around is only trouble when someone starts taking it seriously.
• Some things get better when I stop trying to make them respectable.
• I can have good judgment and still choose trouble on purpose.
• Holding back has its place. I’m unconvinced that place is everywhere.
• There are worse things than getting caught enjoying myself.
• Some decisions only look reckless because everyone was expecting me to keep saying no.
• There’s a definite difference between being careful and never finding out.

When Apple Pie Filling Has Other Plans

• Apple Pie Baked Beans – Bacon, barbecue sauce, mustard, apple filling.
• Snickerdoodle Apple Cobbler – Toffee, apple filling, snickerdoodle crust.
• Apple Pie French Toast Casserole – Apple filling, French toast, overnight prep.
• Easy Apple Crisp – Apple filling, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon.
• Apple Spice Dump Cake – Apple filling, warm spices, cake topping.