Ingredients:
Note: This recipe requires 28g of ground coffee. If you like to grind your own, this is a heads up to prep this altogether beforehand!
Tangzhong:
- 75g water
- 15g flour
Brewed coffee:
- 5g ground coffee
- 60g boiling water
Dough:
- 190g whole milk
- 25g fresh yeast
- 30g brewed coffee
- 485g plain flour + 20g
- 2 egg yolks
- 120g granulated sugar + 20g
- 5g ground coffee
- Pinch of salt
- 55g butter – softened
- 50g double cream (optional)
Cinnamon-Coffee Filling:
- 110g butter – softened
- 130g light brown sugar
- 7g cinnamon powder
- 15g ground coffee
Mascarpone Cream Icing:
- 120g mascarpone cheese
- 25g brewed coffee
- 40g icing sugar
- 3g ground coffee
- Cocoa for dusting
Instructions:
- Brew the coffee: place 5g of ground coffee in a small bowl and pour 60g of boiling water over it, stir a few times. You’ll need 30g of it for the dough and the rest for the mascarpone cream.
- Place the fresh yeast and 20g of sugar in a medium measuring jug. Stir these together using a spoon until a smooth paste is formed, leave aside for now. Place the milk in a small saucepan over a low heat until it reaches 38-39C. If you use milk that’s too hot/cold, the yeast will not activate. Take off the heat and pour about 80g of it into the yeast mixture, stir a few times to combine. Add 20g of flour and stir again. Cover the measuring jug with some cling film and leave to let the yeast activate/rise in a warm place for about 20mins – it should double in size. If the kitchen/room isn’t too warm, I tend to switch on the lightbulb (no temp, just the light) in my oven at the start of this step and then place the jug with yeast mixture inside, close the oven door and let it rise there.
- Add 30g of brewed coffee (through a sieve) into the leftover hot milk – this will be added to the dough soon.
- Prepare the tangzhong mixture (this helps the dough stay softer for longer): place water & flour in a small pan, stir until smooth, place over a low heat and cook whilst stirring until a thick paste forms – it will happen pretty quickly. Take off heat and let it cool a little.
- In the meantime place the rest of the ingredients – excluding the butter – in the bowl of your stand mixer (remember to add the rest of the milk combined with 30g of brewed coffee as well as the tangzhong mixture).
- Once the yeast mixture has doubled in size, add it to the mixing bowl and start mixing (on a low speed for the first minute then medium) everything using the dough hook for about 5minutes until all the ingredients are well combined.
- Add the softened butter and carry on mixing on a medium speed for about 10minutes until the dough becomes soft and elastic.
- Move your dough to a big bowl that is lightly greased with a little bit of oil. Cover the bowl with cling film and let it sit in a warm place for about 1.5-2hrs. If I am not baking anything else, I just let it rise in the oven with the lightbulb on. The dough should double in size.
- While you’re waiting, combine the softened butter for filling with cinnamon powder, ground coffee and light brown sugar and set aside for now.
- When the dough is ready, remove the cling film and ‘knock’ the dough down with your hand to let out the air. Move the dough onto a lightly floured surface and using a slightly floured rolling pin, roll it out into a rectangle around 45cm x 30cm. Try to make sure you roll it out as evenly as possible. Spread the cinnamon-coffee filling over the dough as evenly as possible using an off-set spatula, making sure you get it up to the edges. You might need to trim the edges on the short ends.
- Use a pizza slicer/knife to cut the dough into 12 strips (cutting parallel to the short side of the dough) and then roll each strip into a bun.
- Move each rolled bun onto a baking pan lined with baking paper – the one I usually use is 35cm x 24cm, leaving a little space between them. Cover with cling film and let them rise for about 35-40mins in a warm space. Half way through, preheat your oven to 180C – no fan.
- Before you place the rolls in the oven, heat up 50g of double cream in a small saucepan until it just starts to simmer and pour it over the cinnamon rolls. Bake for 20-22mins, you want the top to turn light golden brown. If they don’t, you can turn on the grill option in your oven for the last 2-3mins of the baking them – just make sure to keep an eye on them.
- Take the buns of the oven and let them cool for about 10-15 minutes.
- In the meantime combine together all the mascarpone cream ingredients (make sure to add the brewed coffee through a sieve) until smooth, spread on top of the slightly warm buns and dust with a lot of cocoa.
Happy Baking! 😀
