Coffee Cinnamon Buns

Soft, pillowy sweet dough filled with cinnamon sugar and topped with a coffee glaze.

I felt like the biggest baking nerd creating this recipe last week. This was a completely unplanned recipe, born out of a serious cinnamon roll craving. I couldn’t get the idea of pillowy, soft sweet dough, filled with cinnamon sugar and twisted into delicate knots out of my head and so I found myself, sitting in front of my computer last week creating a sweet dough spreadsheet. I have a bunch of sweet dough recipes—you can check out my Browned Butter Spelt Cinnamon Buns, Tahini Orange Cinnamon Rolls, and Einkorn Pecan Sticky Buns if you don’t believe me—but they all vary slightly and I wanted to create the perfect sweet dough ratios. I compiled all of my sweet dough recipes into one very organized document, converted everything to baker’s percentages, and then decided what ratios I wanted to use for this recipe. Lo and behold, the perfect sweet dough was born.

The final dough has a fairly high enrichment percentage (milk, butter, and eggs) which makes it moist and soft, perfect for spinning and swirling and rolling into these coffee cinnamon buns.

the dough

This dough is a simple, enriched sweet dough with a high ratio of milk, eggs, and butter. It’s made brioche-style and we start by proofing the yeast in the warm milk. Then the eggs, flour, sugar, and salt, are added and mixed to form a thick dough. With the mixer running on a lower speed, softened butter is incorporated a little at a time, before the mixer speed increases and the dough kneads for a decent amount of time—until it’s smooth and elastic, with a strong network of gluten strands.

The dough rests at room temperature until doubled in size and then there are two options for shaping and the second proof. Option #1: Punch the dough down and transfer it to the refrigerator for an overnight cold proof. In the morning, let the dough warm up slightly, roll it, fill it, and shape it, and then let the buns proof for another 30 minutes or so before baking. Option #2: After the first proof, go ahead and roll, fill, and shape the dough and then transfer the cinnamon buns to the refrigerator for their overnight proof. Give them about an hour at room temperature before baking. You can adapt this recipe to fit your schedule.

the filling and frosting

Because I wanted the dough to be the star, we leaned into simplicity for this recipe. A very classic cinnamon, sugar, and butter filling is smeared over the dough before shaping and I topped them with a strong coffee glaze making them really perfect for lazy weekend mornings.

Yield 12

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

20 Min

Inactive time

13 Hour

Total time

13 H & 50 M

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Coffee Cinnamon Buns

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Soft, pillowy sweet dough filled with cinnamon sugar and topped with a coffee glaze.

IngredientsUSMetric

for the sweet dough

• 140 g (1/2 cup +3 tbsp) buttermilk, warmed
• 10 g (2 3/4 tsp) active dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 50 g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 345 g (2 3/4 cup) all purpose flour
• 3 g (1 tsp) kosher salt
• 100 g (7 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

for the filling

• 56 g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
• 100 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 of a nutmeg pod, grated
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

for the glaze

• 70 g (1/3 cup) heavy cream
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 120 g (about 1 cup) powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Combine warmed buttermilk and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment and let sit for about 5 minutes, until foamy.
2. While the yeast is proofing, combine sugar, flour, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. When the yeast is foamy, add the egg and egg yolk and whisk to incorporate. Add the dry ingredients and begin kneading on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until all of the flour has been incorporated and a dough begins to form.
4. With the mixer running, add the butter a tablespoon or so at a time. When all of the butter has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium high and knead for 5-6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover, and let proof at room temperature for an hour to an hour and a half, until the dough has doubled in size.
6. Punch the dough down and transfer to the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, just to make the dough a little easier to work with. **see notes for alternate proofing instructions**
7. While the dough is chilling, combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and salt and stir to form a smooth paste.
8. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and rolled into a 12x18” rectangle.
9. Smear the cinnamon butter mixture over the center and right two-thirds of the dough.
10. Fold the left third of the dough into the center and then fold the right third over the dough into the center as well (like folding a letter, but horizontally).
11. Turn the rectangle 90° and roll out a little, just to stretch it about an inch vertically.
12. Cut the dough into 12 strips. Roll each strip up like a snail and tuck the end under the center of the bun.
13. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator overnight, or about 12 hours.
14. When you’re ready to bake, preheat to the oven to 375° F and take the cinnamon buns out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap and cover loosely with a towel. Let rest for about an hour, until they come to room temperature.
15. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until deeply golden.
16. While the buns are baking, make the coffee glaze. Combine heavy cream and instant coffee in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer to dissolve the coffee. Transfer to a measuring cup and whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth.
17. Pour the glaze over the warm cinnamon buns and serve immediately.

Notes

**For alternative proofing instructions, see the blog post above!

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Tahini Orange Cinnamon Rolls with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

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Einkorn Pecan Sticky Buns

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Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it # gatheredatmytable

Cinnamon Swirl Brioche

A soft, buttery brioche bread filled with cinnamon sugar.

My mom makes great breakfast toasts. Growing up, I remember there being quite a variety of toast options in my house and there was just something about my mom’s toast that tasted better than all other toasts. Even today, just plain toast with butter tastes so much better when my mom makes it. I think that’s just a mom thing. But hands down, the top two toasts of my childhood were cheese toast and cinnamon toast. Cheese toast is fairly self explanatory- its toast that my mom would top with slices of cheese and slip under the broiler for a few minutes. The edges would crisp and then cheese would get all melty and delicious. For cinnamon toast, my mom would smear the toast with butter and sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar before tucking it into the heat of the oven. There were the extra toasty bites where the sugar had begun to caramelize and the soft squishy bites where the butter completely soaked the toast. It was a work of toast art. 

This is a traditional brioche dough swirled with softened butter and cinnamon sugar, reminiscent of those cinnamon toast mornings of my school years. Brioche is an enriched dough, which means that has sugar, eggs, and butter, all of which add flavor and richness to the dough, but slow down gluten development and yeast production. This means that brioche dough needs a longer mixing time and a longer proofing time than other yeasted doughs. For this, we tuck our dough into the fridge to cold proof for 6-12 hours (or overnight). Cold proofing slows fermentation and gives the butter a chance to re-solidify before shaping so that it doesn’t melt out of the dough when you begin working with it. This also means that you can mix your dough the night before and have freshly baked cinnamon brioche in the morning, which is never a bad thing in my opinion. 

After the dough has been filled, we slice it and braid to, similarly to a babka, mostly because I think it looks pretty and the swirls make sure that there is cinnamon sugar in every bite. After it rises one last time, the dough is baked until golden brown and then brushed with butter. In the words of the great Ina Garten, “How easy is that?”

Yield one 9x5" loaf

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

35 Min

Inactive time

8 Hour

Total time

9 H & 5 M

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Cinnamon Swirl Brioche

A soft, buttery brioche bread filled with cinnamon sugar.

Ingredients

for the brioche

• 125 g whole milk
• 7 g active dry yeast
• 260 g flour
• 30 g sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 65 g butter, at room temperature

for the cinnamon filling

• 113 g (1 stick) butter, soft
• 110 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Warm milk in the microwave to remove the chill. (Liquid should be between 110-115 degrees to proof yeast which means it should feel warm, but not too hot to the touch.) Add the yeast and a pinch of sugar to the milk. Stir to combine and then let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
3. Slowly add the yeast/milk mixture and mix on medium speed until combined. With the mixture running, add the eggs one at a time. When the eggs are combined, add butter piece by piece ensuring that it is mixed in before adding more. At this point, the dough will be very wet and sticky, that’s ok- just keep mixing!
4. Increase the speed to medium high and continue mixing for about 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth.
5. Place dough into a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
6. When the dough has proofed, punch it down and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Transfer to the refrigerator and allow to cold proof for 6-12 hours.
7. Take the brioche dough from the refrigerator and allow it to rest at room temperature for 15-20 minutes, just to take the chill off. While the dough is resting, make the cinnamon filling.
8. In a medium bowl, mix together all of the cinnamon filling ingredients until smooth and combined. Set aside.
9. Turn brioche dough out onto a clean surface. (The dough should not stick, but I always like to keep a small bowl of flour next to me as insurance in case the dough starts being temperamental). Roll the dough to a large rectangle, about 9x18 inches in size.
10. Use an small offset spatula (or a spoon) to spread the cinnamon filling over the surface of the rectangle, leaving about a 1/2 inch at the edges.
11. Beginning with the short side, roll brioche tightly to create a log. Trim 1” off of the ends of the log. Slice the long in half lengthwise, leaving the top 2 inches unsliced. At this point, you should have one piece of dough with two “legs”. The pieces should be facing up so that the layers of filling are visible. Begin to twist the two pieces over and under each other, to create something that resembles a braid. Pinch the ends and then place the braid in a greased loaf pan.
12. Cover the brioche with a towel and let rise again, about an hour, until it has almost doubled in size.
13. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Brush with melted butter and let cool in the pan 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to complete cooling before slicing and serving.

Notes

This recipe is so versatile--feel free to add nuts or spices to the cinnamon filling. You can also wrap the baked bread tightly in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for a later date.

Similar Recipes

Chocolate Tahini Brioche Babka

Pumpkin Brioche Swirls

Einkorn Pecan Sticky Buns

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Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it # gatheredatmytable