Cardamom Cinnamon Brioche Rolls
Cinnamon rolls. A mall-shopping, Cinnabon classic. Road-trip, rest-stop staple. It’s time to take it up a notch with a warm filling, buttery bread, and a little too much frosting. Cardamom adds a surprise twist to your generic cinnamon core while the brioche provides a softer, pull-apart joy. Also, don’t skimp on the frosting. Perhaps you want to cut sugar, but really, what even are cinnamon rolls without a proper slathering of frosting? That said, this recipe isn’t overly saccharine and is otherworldly with a cup of earl grey tea.
This brioche recipe is halved from Bonnie Ohara’s Bread Baking for Beginners. It’s a super versatile base for any add-ins — in this case cardamom cinnamon!
Ingredients:
Dough:
78g whole milk
90g butter, softened at room temperature
128g eggs, room temperature
35g sugar
3g yeast
300g all-purpose flour
6g salt
Cardamom Cinnamon Filling:
125g brown sugar
100g granulated sugar
55g softened butter
15g cinnamon powder
20g cardamom powder
1 tbsp vanilla paste
1 tsp of salt
Frosting:
115g heavy cream
2 tsp butter, softened at room temperature
40g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla paste/extract
60g powdered sugar
Steps:
Whisk butter, sugar, milk, eggs, and yeast in a large bowl. Add in flour and salt, and mix with a spoon until smooth. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Using your hands (or a stand mixer) knead the dough for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. If kneading by hand, push the dough forward with the heels of your hands and folding the elongated dough back. Rotate by 90º and repeat. It should pass the window-pane test by now.
Place the dough in a clean large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm spot (75-80º F) for 1-2 hours, or doubled in size.
Grease a 8” x 8” baking tray or dish-ware with butter/oil. Preheat oven to 350º F.
Make filling. Mix all the ingredients together and set aside.
Punch down the dough in the bowl to let out excess gas. Roll the dough into a 3mm thick large rectangle with the long sides horizontal to you.
Using a spatula, spread the filling over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch margin of dough uncovered on the long side furthest from you.
Roll the dough up tightly and seal the seam by pressing and pinching the dough together.
Using a cotton string (or even unflavored floss), encircle the roll where you want to cut it and pull the ends of the string to snip into sections. Cut the log into it 9 equal sizes.
Place the roll cut-side up on the greased baking tray. Cover with plastic wrap and proof for another 1-2 hours at the warm spot until doubled.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
Make frosting. Whip heavy cream for 2 minutes on medium high. Add in butter, cream cheese, and vanilla, and whip for 2 minutes on medium high. Slowly pour in powdered sugar and continue whipping until soft peaks form.
Remove and cool for 30 minutes before serving or lathering on frosting.