Coffee Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls are all the flavors of Middle Eastern coffee flavored with cardamom, but in a cinnamon roll! They are topped with an almond icing that brings it all together!

12 Cinnamon Rolls in white baking dish on white parchment paper background.

The idea for this recipe came from taking a baking course from Christina Tolsi. The idea was to come up with your own flavor story to make your own cookie recipe. My husband’s family is from the Middle East, and I really enjoy drinking Middle Eastern coffee, so I decided to draw inspiration from the coffee time that they share together.

The base of this cinnamon roll (shhh, it doesn’t have any cinnamon in it! 😉 ) is a mix of Middle Eastern coffee, cardamom, and brown sugar. Since almonds go naturally with these flavors, the icing is made with almond cardamom flavors.

What is Middle Eastern Coffee?

Middle Eastern coffee is AMAZING. It’s coffee that’s been ground into a super fine powder that’s boiled directly in the water and then poured into a small cup about the size of an espresso cup. Some people like to put cardamom in it and it is definitely one of my favorite ways to enjoy coffee! When I was visiting my husband’s family in Beirut I drank WAY too much of this because everywhere you would go people would always offer it!

Cafe Najjar is the brand of choice! 🙂

What’s Inside Coffee Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls:

For the dough-

Flour
Milk
Butter
Egg
Instant Yeast
Sugar
Salt

Making the filling-

Middle Eastern Coffee
Cardamom
Brown Sugar
Butter
Salt

For the icing-

Almond Extract
Powdered Sugar
Milk
Butter

How to make Coffee Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls:

Preparing the dough-

In a microwave safe bowl place the softened butter (cut into cubes) and milk into the microwave and in 30 second increments heat until butter has mostly melted. Make sure the mixture is not hot, only warm. If it is too hot, wait until it is warm until going to the next step.
In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Mix until combined.
Pour the butter/milk mixture over the dry ingredients and using a standing mixer with the dough hook attachment, start mixing on low speed and work up to a high speed, mix for roughly 2 minutes.
Add in 1 cup of flour and mix until it has combined.
Slowly add in the rest of the remaining flour (1.5 cups) and mix until a dough ball forms.
Turn out onto well floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes. The dough should be somewhat sticky, but not so much that it sticks to the surface or your hands.
Place in an oiled bowl and cover. Let sit for an hour until it has doubled in size.
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling by placing the coffee, sugar, cardamom, and salt into a bowl and whisking until combined.

Assembly-

After the dough has doubled, turn out onto a well floured surface and, using a rolling pin, roll out into a 20″x24″ rectangle.
Get the room temperature butter for the filling and spread it out over the rolled dough. Be sure to cover the entire surface of the dough, even the edges.
Get the mixture for the filling and evenly spread out across the surface of the buttered dough.
On the long side of the rectangle, roll the dough into a long roll as tight as possible.
The roll should be 24″ long. Make a mark at every 2 inch increment and using either dental floss (my preferred method) or a very sharp knife, cut into individual rolls.
Place the rolls onto a greased baking dish (or line with parchment paper).
Cover with a cloth and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, which should be about an hour. I like to place mine in the oven with the light turned on.
After the rolls have doubled preheat the oven (make sure the rolls are out!) to 350 degrees F.
Bake for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes is up, take out of the oven. Leave them in the baking dish until they have cooled.
While waiting on them to cool, make the icing.

For the icing-

In the bowl of standing mixer, place the room temperature butter and the powdered sugar.
Starting on low speed working up to a high speed, cream until smooth.
Mix in the almond extract.
Pour in 1 tbsp of milk and mix.
Slowly pour in the rest of the milk little by little until desired consistency has been reached. It’s ok if you don’t use all of the milk.
Add in 1/8 tsp of Cardamom and mix in. Taste to see if you would like more. If you do, add in the rest and mix.
Drizzle or spread on top of the cinnamon rolls.
Enjoy!!

Equipment Used: