These coffee cinnamon rolls are irresistibly soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls swirled with coffee, cinnamon and crunchy pecans then finished with a rich, silky coffee icing. The perfect sweet breakfast or brunch, they’re a coffee lovers dream.
If you love cinnamon rolls, you’ll love these Strawberry-iced Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls or maybe these Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls too.
❤️ Why you’ll love them
- A total treat – sweet, gooey, nutty, warming and comforting.
- Coffee lovers’ dream – fluffy cinnamon rolls infused with coffe in every bite.
- Make ahead friendly – prep the rolls the night before and bake fresh in the morning.
- Customisable – swap the frosting for cream cheese frosting, use decaf coffee, add cocoa…
- Made from scratch – no cans, no shortcuts, just bakery-worthy cinnamon rolls at home.
This recipe was first published here October 2nd, 2017 and has been updated with new tips and variations.
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Not to be confused with pecan sticky buns (which are covered in gooey caramel sauce and no icing), these coffee cinnamon rolls are just that – wonderfully fluffy cinnamon rolls, filled with coffee, little pecan morsels and topped with a simple coffee icing.
Coffee is our favourite waker-uperer and convenient hand warmer and now you have a way to combine this with breakfast and fresh bread all into one sweet, delicious treat. If you don’t like coffee, don’t worry. I have some tips to easily swap it for vanilla or chocolate too.
I use the same dough for this gorgeous cinnamon star bread too.
Ingredients & substitutions
So if you’re ready to get started on baking up a batch of these gorgeous coffee sweet rolls, here are the ingredients you’ll need.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Dough: Butter, whole milk, plain flour (all-purpose flour), yeast, white sugar, salt and egg.
- Filling & topping: Cinnamon, instant coffee powder, brown sugar, pecans, maple syrup.
- Coffee icing: instant coffee powder, cream and icing sugar (powdered sugar).
The coffee flavor inside the rolls is quite subtle while the coffee icing is much stronger. Feel free to swap the instant coffee powder for instant espresso powder for a stronger flavour, or add a little more if you like it stronger. You can also use decaf instant coffee powder.
How to make coffee cinnamon rolls
If the thought of making bread sounds daunting or time-consuming, never fear. This is my tried and true sweet bread dough recipe and it never fails me. This recipe is an adaptation of my white chocolate cranberry hot cross buns and, later, these strawberry chocolate cinnamon rolls.
Hands on time: roughly 30 minutes and that includes you kneading by hand. And check out the list of simple ingredients.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Make the dough
Heat a little milk and butter until melted together, then combine with the remaining dough ingredients. Knead it in a stand mixer or by hand until smooth.
2. First rise
Place the coffee cinnamon rolls dough into a greased glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit to rise for 45 minutes – 1 hour (this will depend on the ambient temperature in your home) until doubled in size.
3. Roll, fill, shape
Roll the coffee cinnamon roll dough out into a large rectangle, then brush over melted butter and sprinkle over the filling of cinnamon, sugar, coffee* and pecans.
*The coffee flavour is subtle in the filling. For a stronger coffee flavour add a little more coffee powder or use instant espresso flavour.
Roll the dough up (from long side to long side) into a long log, then cut it into 12 even portions. Place them on a greased 9×13 baking sheet or baking dish and lay a tea towel over the top.
4. Second rise
Let the rolls rise until they look nice and puffy and nearly doubled in size again.
5. Finish and bake
Brush the rolls with an egg wash, then scatter over some pecans mixed with maple syrup. Bake for 22-25 minutes until golden brown. Take them out and let them cool in the tin.
6. The coffee icing
Heat together some cream and instant coffee powder (or instant espresso powder for a stronger flavour) in the microwave then mix through sifted icing sugar (powdered sugar). Pipe or spread it over coffee cinnamon rolls and they’re ready to serve.
Tips and tricks
- Weigh the flour as it’s the most accurate way to get the best results. Too much flour from scooping in cups can cause your cinnamon coffee rolls to be dry.
- Make sure you don’t use old yeast. Yeast is perishable, so keep it stored in your fridge and always use it by the use by date. If it’s been sitting around in your cupboard for 6 months, you’ll want to test it first by mixing some with a little warm (not hot) water. After 5-10 minutes it should look bubbly. If not, it’s probably dead and you’ll need to start with a new pack.
- Don’t add the salt directly on top of the yeast as it can kill it and the yeast may not work. I always put my dough ingredients into the bowl flour, yeast, sugar, salt, to keep them separate.
- Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not hot, to the touch. In my recipes, I start with cold milk and heat just ⅓ of it with the butter until melted. Adding the remaining cold milk once it comes off the stove is a simple way of achieving a tepid / warm temperature. Hot liquid will kill your yeast.
- Resting / rising is a must. When you knead and roll dough, gluten develops which stiffens up the dough. Letting the dough rest is crucial to let it relax and give you a softer bread with more volume. Imagine you get home from work and your muscles are tight and sore, then you relax and your muscles soften. Same thing. Kinda. Not really.
When it’s broken down into steps like this, you truly can see how simple the process is. I promise your home will be filled with the most wonderful, cosy aroma of cinnamon and bread all at once and just try not to eat one, still warm from the oven.
Variations and substitutions
- Coffee: Want to change that icing to another flavour? It’s easy. Swap the coffee for cocoa and make a chocolate version, or swap it for 2 teaspoons of vanilla and make a vanilla icing. You could even make a strawberry icing as on my strawberry chocolate cinnamon rolls.
- Mocha: Swap part of the cinnamon for cocoa powder for mocha cinnamon rolls.
- Cream cheese frosting: Such a classic with cinnamon buns, triple the cream cheese frosting from my small batch cinnamon rolls recipe. You can even add some coffee powder to make it a coffee cream cheese frosting.
- Nuts: The pecans work a treat but use whatever nuts you love – walnuts, almonds, macadamias – all would be lovely.
- Star bread: I recently turned this recipe into a Nutella star bread too. This showstopping dessert is a gorgeous sweet brunch.
- Jumbo: Make them jumbo sized like these jumbo Swedish cinnamon rolls.
- Giant: Whats bigger than jumbo? GIANT. Make this exact recipe but with the same rolling method of this giant chocolate scroll.
- Cookies: Try these Oreo cinnamon rolls.
- Serve with ice cream: For a dessert or extra decadent breakfast, skip the coffee icing and instead, serve them warm with a scoop of coffee crumble ice cream.
Serving and storage
These pecan coffee cinnamon rolls are best fresh. You can eat them warm from the oven but the icing will soften and run. The other option is to wait until they get to room temperature before icing and serving.
If you’re lucky enough to have any leftover, reheat them just slightly in the microwave for 10 seconds to fluff them back up.
FAQs
You could but you’ll need to leave out most or all of the cream or add more icing sugar to the icing to make it thick enough.
Yes. Make them the night before right up to the step where you place them on the baking tray. Cover the baking tray with plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to bake them, loosen the plastic wrap and let them sit at room temperature for an hour or so before baking. Then continue as per the recipe.
Yes. If they are iced, let them thaw and come to room temperature then give them 15-20 seconds in the microwave to fluff them up again. Uniced, you can warm them up in the oven again then add icing.
I think these are the absolute best cinnamon rolls (I may be biased) so please give them a try. With pecans strewn throughout and on top and a glorious soft coffee icing, I know you’ll love them too.
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Ingredients
FOR THE CINNAMON ROLLS
- 57 g unsalted butter (¼ cup / 2oz)
- 1 cup cold milk (250ml)
- 455 g plain flour (all-purpose flour) (3 ½ cups / 1lb)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast (1 sachet / 7g) (notes)
- ⅓ cup white granulated sugar (66g / ~2¼oz)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
FOR THE FILLING
- ½ cup, packed brown sugar (100g / 3 ½oz)
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
- ½ cup pecans, roughly chopped (60g / ~2oz)
- 57 g unsalted butter, melted (¼ cup / 2oz)
TOPPING
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon water
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- ¼ cup thickened cream (heavy cream) (60ml)
- 6 teaspoons finely ground instant coffee
- 2 ½ cups icing sugar (powdered sugar) (325g / ~11 ½oz) (notes)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- stand mixer with dough hook
- 9×13 inch baking tray
Instructions
- MAKING THE DOUGH:In a small saucepan over low heat, melt together the butter and roughly one third of the milk. Stir or swirl to melt without overheating. Add the remaining cold milk and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or see notes), add the flour, yeast, sugar and salt then give it a good mix around.
- Pour in the warm milk mixture, give it a quick stir then add the egg.
- Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and mix the dough for 6-7 minutes until smooth and elastic looking.
- Brush a clean bowl with a little oil then place the dough into it. flip it over so that has a coating of oil all over. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- ASSEMBLING THE CINNAMON ROLLS:Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a large rectangle, about 5-6mm thick.
- Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan forced) / 375F and grease a 9×13 inch baking tray.
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, 2 tsp instant coffee powder and most of the pecans (reserving a couple tablespoons)
- Brush the melted butter over the dough then scatter over the combined filling ingredients.
- Roll the dough up (from one long side to other) into a long log, then cut into 12 even pieces.
- Place the rolls evenly spaced onto the baking tray cut side up. Let them rest and rise for another 15 minutes.
- BAKING:Beat together the egg yolk and water then brush all over the exposed dough of the rolls.
- Mix the remaining pecan pieces with the maple syrup, then dot them all over the top of the rolls.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, turning the tray at the halfway mark, until deep golden. Let them cool before icing.
- FOR THE ICING:Place the cream and instant coffee in a medium microwave safe bowl and heat for 20-30 seconds until quite warm. Mix until the coffee has dissolved.
- Sift in the icing sugar and stir well. Make it thicker (more sugar) or thinner (more cream) to your liking, then pipe or spoon onto the top of your cinnamon rolls.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons worldwide)
- All ovens vary – always test for doneness 3-5 minutes before the recipe suggests
- For best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- Yeast: You can use instant or active dry yeast. If you use rapid rise, your dough may double in size quicker. If you use active dry yeast, you will need to activate it in warm milk before adding it to the dough.
- By hand: You can make the dough without a stand mixer, just make sure to knead until it is smooth and elastic – about 10-12 minutes.
- Cinnamon rolls are best eaten fresh but will keep in an airtight container 2-3 days. They can be warmed for 10-15 seconds in the microwave (even iced) to soften them if a little stale.
- Make ahead: The recipe can be made ahead up to step 11. Cover the trays with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge overnight. Let them come to room temperature before baking.
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8 Comments on “Coffee Cinnamon Rolls (with Coffee Icing)”
I will definitely be making these for family and friends for Christmas. They really like something yummy in the morning with their coffee.
Can’t wait to hear how they go down, Phyllis.
Hi… Could I use any other ingredient for the heavy cream instead? If possible pls let me know what.
Hi Tasleem, Yes you could use milk but you won’t need quite as much. Just add enough to get the consistency you like.
I can just imagine Sunday morning on the terrace with a lovely coffee and these. They look so delicious Marie. And at 410kCal they are not toooo high! Will be making these this weekend.
Cheers
Pamela
Thanks Pamela – just skip lunch 😜
Haha you’re like me and your husband is like mine. I love coffee, and hot drinks in general, and that cozy feeling of holding a warm mug in my hand. My husband doesn’t drink coffee at all! These buns look so soft, I can imagine sinking my teeth into them. Yum!
Thanks Trang. My hubby will go as far as a hot chocolate in Winter but thats about it. Yes, I love this bread. So easy and perfectly soft and fluffy 🙂