Apple Cinnamon Rolls

process sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surfacein the bowl to make a soft slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your fingerif it slowly bounces back your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a windowpane test to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough tear off a small roughly golfballsize piece of dough and gently stretch it out until its thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test
1st Rise Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or use nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 2 hours or until double in size. I always let it rise on the counter and it takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.
Grease the bottom and sides of a metal or glass 913inch baking dish or line with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough Punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface and using a lightly floured rolling pin roll dough into a 1218inch rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick. If the dough keeps shrinking as you roll it out stop what youre doing cover it lightly and let it rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten. When you return to the dough it should stretch out much easier.
Fill the rolls Spread the softened butter all over the dough. In a small bowl toss the brown sugar and cinnamon together until combined and then sprinkle evenly over the dough. Top evenly with chopped apples. Tightly roll up the dough to form an 18inchlong log. Cut into 12 equal rolls. Arrange them in the prepared baking pan.
Cover the rolls very tightly with aluminum foil.
2nd rise Cover the rolls tightly and allow to rise until puffy about 4560 minutes Or use the overnight option in the Notes below.
Preheat the oven to 375F 191C.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until they lightly browned on top. About halfway through baking time tent a piece of aluminum foil over the pan to prevent the tops from browning too quickly. Remove pan from the oven and place pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes as you make the icing.
Make the icing Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm rolls. Serve warm.
Cover leftover frosted or unfrosted rolls tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.