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No better way to welcome the weekend than with this sweet maple glazed apple pull-apart bread.
You guys?
I wish I had words for just how delicious this apple bread is. It’s one of those recipes you just crave on cool fall mornings, or at least I do anyway!
This bread is all things sweet, ooey, gooey, applely, cinnamony, and basically so amazing…especially when warm out of the oven. It’s currently my go-to bread recipe when entertaining or just needing something sweet to bake up on Saturday or Sunday morning.
Speaking of mornings, I spent the past two and a half days in very sunny and very warm LA, where fall has not quite hit yet. This was ok by me though, as I loved the warm air on my skin. Sadly I was inside most of the time, but the breaks outside where greatly enjoyed.
I was in town filming for Hallmark Home and Family, which if you missed it, can be seen online here. I also did some work with my friends at My Domaine. I’m headed home today, and totally looking forward to some weekend baking.
It was short but fun trip. I got to see my brother Malachi’s new house and spend some time with him before he heads off to Europe to do some filming with my youngest brother Red for the upcoming winter Olympics. Not gonna lie, a little jealous of my three brothers all romping around Europe. Red is there training now, but Kai is meeting him in two weeks.
And that’s my snippet of life happenings today…
On to this yummy apple cinnamon pull-apart bread.
The base of the bread is an extra soft brioche dough. It’s a simple dough with a good amount of eggs…and butter. It’s my favorite base dough recipe to use when baking up sweeter breads. I used this base dough for the cinnamon roll recipe I have in the cookbook…you should probably try that recipe too. YUM!
The dough is a quick mix up, then you’ll need to let it rise for a bit. The key to this recipe is the filling, and that oh so sweet glaze. The filling is made with cinnamon sugar and studded with crisp Honeycrisp apples. Very similar to a cinnamon roll, but just with apples, and I might even like it better. I mean, don’t apples make everything better?
Roll the dough up into a log, cut pieces off into rounds, and then layer them into a loaf pan. Bake until golden brown and top with a sweet maple bourbon glaze. Yes, yes, yes.
Maple bourbon…how delicious does that sounds. It’s the secret to the warm and cozy fall vibe this bread gives off. It’s delicious when generously drizzled over top of this bread.
The only way to make this pull-apart bread even better? Serve it alongside a steaming cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate (whichever is your favorite) and enjoy it on a crisp and cool weekend morning.
It really doesn’t get better…or more on point for fall.
Meaning this bread needs to be on your weekend baking list.
Maple Glazed Apple Pull-Apart Bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 3 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 1/2 - 4 cups all-purpose flour
Filling
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Honeycrisp apples, diced
Glaze
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon bourbon, optional
- 1 vanilla extract
Instructions
- 1. To make the dough: Combine milk, yeast, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix on low speed until incorporated. 2. Add the salt, eggs, and melted butter and mix until combined. Gradually mix in the flour until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the bowl. The dough will be sticky. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Kneed into a smooth ball. Grease a large bowl and add the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 45 minutes-1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.3. Meanwhile, make the filling. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon to a bowl and mix well.4. Lightly dust a surface with flour. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch the dough down and roll the dough into a rectangle (about 9x24 inches). Drizzle half the butter evenly over the dough. Sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar. Arrange the apples over the cinnamon sugar, then sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar and drizzle with the remaining butter. Starting with the long edge closest to you, pull the edge up and over the filling and carefully roll the dough into a log, keeping it fairly tight as you go. When you reach the edge, pinch along the edges to seal.5. Place the log seam side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. With a pair of sharp kitchen scissors cut diagonal slices almost to the bottom of the log. Arrange the cut sections so that they lean to alternating sides. Use your hands to gently push the dough together to almost the size of you bread pan. The dough will zigzag slightly. Using the parchment paper, lift the dough up and into the bread pan. If using a bread pan smaller than 9x5 inches, divide the dough among 2 bread pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour.6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the bread on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 45-50 minutes or until lightly browned on top, do not over bake, this bread is best when still doughy. 7. To make the glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, powdered sugar, and bourbon, if using, and vanilla. If needed, add water to thin the glaze, 1 tablespoon at a time. 8. Serve the bread warm, drizzled with the glaze. Leftovers are great the next day!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
But then you knew that, because how could you resist all that deliciousness up there? So so good!
I’m so excited to try this recipe, but I only have regular yeast, rather than instant. I think that needs to sit and bloom, so if I mixed the sugar and warm milk and then put the yeast on top and let it sit for five minutes, it should work, right? I’m sorry, it seems like everybody else uses instant, but I find the regular yeast much easier to work with.
Hey Laurie,
You bet, that will work nicely for you! I hope you love this bread, let me know how it turns out! xx
This is one of the best recipes I’ve tried! The apple bread and icing are SO good. I think the author may have accidentally doubled the recipe though, because this definitely isn’t just for one loaf. I ended up having to turn the oven down to 320, cover it with aluminum foil, and bake it for about 2 hours so it got done all the way without burning.
I’ll definitely try this one again though because it tasted really good. I think next time I’ll put a little cinnamon & maple syrup in the dough too!
Thank you so much, Peyton:) So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, I appreciate you making it! Happy Friday! xx
I have to admit.. I’m a bit disappointed with the directions of this recipe! Super confused on exactly how much flour…. How exactly to roll/cut the bread… the spreading butter. I kinda just winged it. This recipe made 2 loafs for sure. My log was way too large. Delicious bread, jusr a bit confusing!
Hi Tieghan,
I’m excited to try this recipe but am a bit confused. The instructions say to roll out the dough to 9×24 inches. Then to roll up the dough, the instructions say to start with the long side closest to you. That would mean after it’s rolled up you have a 24 inch long roll of dough. But there’s no way that could be squished into a 9×5 pan.
Are you supposed to roll it up starting with one of the 9 inch sides? So you roll up the length of the dough and you end up with something closer to 9×5.
If you start rolling with the long side, you’d end up with a skinny 24 inch log.
Talking it out, I’m pretty sure that’s what you meant, but wanted to double check!
Also, I love coming to your website to drool over all you beautiful food photos! It always gets me in the right seasonal mood!
Hi Elizabeth,
Yes, that is correct! You are going to split this into 2 loaf pans though, so it should workout just fine! I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
The difference between the header’s total time and the instruction’s time notations means I don’t have dessert for dinner this evening. I had intended for this to be made and served warm for dessert following dinner. However, the dough rising twice for 45 minutes to an hour each time and then baking for 50 minutes, in addition to prep time does not add up to 1 hour and 30 minutes. This is really unfortunate.
Hi Stephanie,
So very sorry to hear this…unfortunately the rise time is not part of the cook time which is why it wasn’t included. Again, my apologies! xx
Liked this recipe but had a lot of trouble with the instructions. Usually when there is yeast, you let it sit for a few minutes to activate but there was no instruction to do so. Does it make a difference if you wait before incorporating step 2? I also think adding a picture of the dough rolled up before putting it into the loaf pan would be helpful. Finally, one more confusing place was in step 5, you said to place with parchment into a loaf pan, but in step 6, you said to put it on a rimmed baking sheet to bake. I left it in the loaf pan because the images at the top look like it was cooked in a loaf pan and I assumed step 6 was a typo?
Hey Elana! Thank you for the feedback. I’ll have to look over this recipe again as its been a few years!
Tasted good and was simple enough to make.
However I did have some issues with this recipe/instructions. The vanilla amount wasn’t stated. It also wasn’t clear to me how to roll the dough up – to me it read as fold the dough in half over the filling but I assume it means roll it up like a cinnamon roll. The dough absolutely did not fit in the recommended loaf pan size which resulted in needing to bake longer and the outside was overdone. This recipe also took about double the time stated with the rises.
Hi Kate,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback! Sorry to hear you had some confusion! The vanilla is 1 tablespoon:) I really encourage to look at the photos for the folding process, again, sorry for any trouble! xx
Hi,
Was reading reviews in anticipation of making this bread but the amount of vanilla extract still isn’t clear because your response in this comment is 1 tablespoon but in another question about this you said 1 teaspoon. Can you please confirm which it is.
Thanks
Hi Debra,
If you like vanilla like me, I would use 1 tablespoon otherwise just use 1 teaspoon:) I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xx
Hi,
Did you mean roll the dough out to 9×12 inches? It doesn’t fit in my 9×5 pan
Thanks
Hi Cheryl,
It should be 9×24 because once you pull the pieces it will be able to fit into the loaf pan. I hope this helps! xx
Can I go through to step 5 and leave it in the fridge over night and then bake it in the morning?
Hey Marie,
Yes, that will work well for you! I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
I accidentally made all the diagonal cuts going the same way, is this okay?
Hey Colleen,
No worries, you can just slice the bread once it’s baked. I hope you love the recipe. Happy Thanksgiving! xTieghan
Am i baking it in the bread pan or taking it out to put on cookie sheet?
Hi Amy,
You are going to bake in the bread pan but on top of the baking sheet, just to catch any run off juices:) Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Making this now! For the filling, it says softened butter. But then it says to drizzle over the Rectangle dough? And it says make the filling. I assumed I’d put the cinnamon sugar on the apples and stir? But directions say to sprinkle sugar and cinnamo on dough, then top with apples. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter too much but just wondering the right way. Thanks!
Hey Andrea,
I just sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the apples and use the softened butter to spread over the dough. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Oh my goodness. Going to make this for my family for Thanksgiving. Want to know about storing…how long it will stay? Curious if I can make a couple days prior or best made day before/day of. Thank you!
Hey Lisa,
I like to store in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. You could assemble and keep in the fridge until you are ready to bake if you want to make it ahead of time. xTieghan
Hi there,
Yes the recipe just states “1 Vanilla extract”.
Looking forward to making this!
Sorry, that should say teaspoon! xTieghan
Confused. Do you keep the bread in the bread pans to bake or bake it on a baking sheet?
Bake in bread pans! xTieghan
I’m making this and hoping to send to a friend. Do you know if it can be frozen?
Thanks!
Hey Damian,
Sure, I would make through step 5 just before allowing the dough to rise and then freeze. When you want to bake, allow the loaf to thaw and rise in a warm spot in the kitchen and then continue with the recipe. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
I just rolled this out to 9×24 like the directions stated. So I am supposed to roll the 24 inch side up, correct? When I did, it was wayyyyy to long for my bread pan, even after I squished it together like the directions stated. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks!
Hi Cheryl,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try! What size pan are you using? You may need to use 2 loaf pans. Let me know how it turns out! xT
Made this one today — it was delicious. My husband said it is his new favourite fall dessert. I broke it into two loaf pans with the intention of giving the other away but I’m not sure it will make it to my mom’s house ?.
The only thing I was confused about was the butter while assembling. I did spread the softened butter and then added the cinnamon mixture and apples. But then it is hard to “drizzle” softened butter so I just kind of did pats of butter randomly over the entire thing. It turned out great so that’s how I’ll do it but not sure if that is the intended way.
Anyways, thanks again!!
Hi there! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I hope you enjoyed it! I’m so sorry for the confusion with the assembling! Let me know how I can help. Happy Weekend 🙂 xTieghan
I made this and added maple glazed walnuts from your winter salad recipe and I have zero regrets. Thanks for the delicious recipes