The cutest little apple buns stuffed with apple pie filling for a sweet new year

Friends, I’m so in love! Not too long ago, I made unicorn challah, and while I was baking them, their shape reminded me a little of an apple. So I just had to try making an apple bun, and even more special, an apple bun stuffed with apple pie filling. These are the cutest little apple buns ever - and as of right now, my most favorite recipe for Rosh Hashanah.

how to make an apple bun — Hi little apple bun! I love you.

Just like my unicorn challah, I baked them in a muffin tin, which helped create the perfect apple shape. I’m not going to lie though. It took a couple of attempts to bake them just right since the pie filling exploded out of the sides of my first batch! With some tweaks and determination, the next couple of batches came out perfect.

If you want, you can make your own challah dough, but I used frozen bread dough rolls for easy prep! We share all the steps below (and you can watch a short demo too) if you’re ready to give them a go for Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot or Thanksgiving. So let’s go bake some apple buns!

Rosh Hashanah Apple Buns

Here’s what you’ll need to make one dozen apple buns:

12 frozen bread dough rolls (we used Rhodes Yeast Dinner Rolls)
One can of apple pie filling diced
Skinny breadsticks or pretzels
Egg mixed with 1 TBS of water

To garnish:

Mint leaves

Candy bumblebee decoration

Here’s how we made them:

1. Spray a plate with cooking spray. Take 12 rolls from the package and put them on the plate and let them defrost on your kitchen counter. Cover with plastic wrap until they become pliable, about 30 - 45 minutes depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

2. When they’re soft, dust your surface with a little flour, and use a rolling pin to roll the piece of dough to about 3.5 inches in diameter. The trick to not having the pie filling explode out of the sides while baking is to NOT roll your dough too thin.

3. Take a tablespoon of apple pie filling and place it in the center of the round of dough. It might be tempting to use more than a tablespoon, but don’t. The bun will explode (you’ll thank me later when they come out perfect)!

4. Bring the edges up and squish together like a little dumpling.

5. Turn your dough upside down and gently rock back and forth on the surface and roll on the sides of the dough in your hands to give it a nice round shape (demo here). Place your bun in a muffin tin that has been lightly greased and dusted with flour. Repeat 11 times!

6. Let your buns rise in the muffin tin for a couple of hours. When they’ve doubled in size, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

7. Make an egg wash of 1 beaten egg mixed with a 1 TBS of water, and gently brush over the top of the buns. This will give them a pretty and shiny glaze.

8. Next, it’s time for the apple stem. Gently poke a piece of a thin bread stick into the center of the dough.

9. Place your apple buns in the preheated oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are a lovely light golden color.

Take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.

These would be so cute for Thanksgiving or Sukkot.

We added a little mint leaf, and …

a sweet little bee. You can “glue” it on with a little frosting.

We had so much fun eating our apple buns with fresh picked apples!

apple bun for rosh hashanah the jewish new year

If you’d like, you can say a blessing before eating your apple bun. In Judaism, there are blessings you can say for almost every moment - when you taste honey or pick apples from the tree for the first time this season or when you eat yummy food - like an apple bun stuffed with pie filling for Rosh Hashanah!

Ba-Ruch A-tah A-do-noi, Elo-hai-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam, Ha-motzi Leh-chem Min Ha-aretz.

These are just too cute to not share! We wrapped some in a basket with a little bee tag, for a sweet Rosh Hashanah present for our friends. Giving a friend an unexpected present from your heart is the Jewish values G’milut Chasadim (acts of loving kindness) and Ahavah (love).