A high altitude tested recipe for soft and fluffy cardamom morning buns. These pretty, cardamom scented rolls are baked in a muffin pan and then coated in cinnamon sugar for the most delicious sweet breakfast treat.
You might also love these high altitude tested recipes for almond sweet rolls, caramel rolls, and lemon poppy seed rolls.
This site contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links. This in no way affects my opinion of those products and services. All opinions expressed on this site are my own.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Tastes Like Doughnuts. These buns are so fun to eat, by uncurling the crisp edges coated in cinnamon sugar that taste like churros or donuts to reveal the soft, chewy centers.
Prep the Dough at Night, Bake in the Morning. The yeast dough benefits from a few hours of chilling, but I prefer to simply make the dough at night, let it chill in the refrigerator overnight, and then shape and bake the rolls in the morning.
Perfect for the Holidays. If you enjoy making cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving or Christmas morning, these cardamom morning buns are a wonderful alternative to the sweet breakfast roll that everyone knows and loves.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Cinnamon Roll Dough. This is my go to yeast dough for all of my cinnamon roll and breakfast roll recipes. It’s soft, pillowy, fluffy, and easy to work with.
- Cardamom. Ground cardamom is a wonderful spice that’s common in Scandinavian pastries. If you prefer the flavor a little less strong, you can use half the amount.
- Butter. You’ll be using melted butter to brush into the pan, as well as for the filling in the rolls. You’ll also save a little butter to brush over the hot rolls, to give the cinnamon sugar coating something to stick to.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar and light brown sugar add sweetness, and help to caramelize the edges of the rolls as they bake. There’s quite a lot of sugar in this recipe, and unlike cinnamon rolls where the majority of the sugar is in the filling and in the icing, most of the sugar in morning buns is in the exterior cinnamon sugar coating.
- Cinnamon.
Instructions
Dough
- Prepare the Cinnamon Roll Dough, as instructed, adding the ground cardamom to the dough.
- Follow the instructions to let the dough rise to double in size, then refrigerate the covered bowl of dough overnight.
Filling
- Lightly brush the muffin pan cups with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter.
- In a bowl, combine the granulated sugar with the cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar into the buttered pan, turning the pan to coat all the sides, then dump the excess cinnamon sugar out onto a clean work surface so you can scoop it back up to use later. By buttering and sugaring the muffin pan, the sugar will slightly caramelize around the sides of the buns as they bake, creating a lovely crisp, golden brown crust.
- On a lightly floured surface, scrape the chilled dough out of the bowl, lightly flour the top of the dough, and gently press the air out. Roll out the chilled dough into a rectangle measuring approximately 12×18 inches. Brush 3 tablespoons of the melted butter over the cold dough.
- Combine 1/4 cup of the cinnamon sugar with the 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and sprinkle it over the buttered dough. Lightly press the sugar into the dough.
Shaping
- Using a rolling wheel pastry cutter or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 strips. Then roll up each of the strips to form 12 rolls.
- Place the rolls into the prepared muffin pan. Set in a warm place for just 20 minutes to rest, until slightly puffed.
Bake
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the rolls on the center oven rack for about 18-20 minutes. The rolls should be puffed, and the color will be a pale golden brown. Carefully remove the hot rolls from the pan and set them on a cooling rack to cool for several minutes.
- When the rolls are cool enough to handle, brush them lightly with the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter, then coat them generously in the remaining cinnamon sugar.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover rolls in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Reheat individual rolls in the microwave at 50% power for about 30 seconds for a soft, just-baked texture.
You Might Also Like
Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!
Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Cardamom Morning Buns
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
- 12-Cup Muffin Pan (or a 9×13 Baking Dish)
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 recipe Cinnamon Roll Dough
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
Filling and Sugar Coating
- 7 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, divided
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar
Instructions
Dough
- Prepare the Cinnamon Roll Dough, as instructed, adding the ground cardamom to the dough.
- Follow the instructions to let the dough rise to double in size, then refrigerate the covered bowl of dough overnight.
Filling
- Lightly brush the muffin pan cups with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter.
- In a bowl, combine the granulated sugar with the cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar into the buttered pan, turning the pan to coat all the sides, then dump the excess cinnamon sugar out onto a clean work surface so you can scoop it back up to use later. By buttering and sugaring the muffin pan, the sugar will slightly caramelize around the sides of the buns as they bake, creating a lovely crisp, golden brown crust.
- On a lightly floured surface, scrape the chilled dough out of the bowl, lightly flour the top of the dough, and gently press the air out. Roll out the chilled dough into a rectangle measuring approximately 12×18 inches. Brush 3 tablespoons of the melted butter over the cold dough.
- Combine 1/4 cup of the cinnamon sugar with the 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and sprinkle it over the buttered dough. Lightly press the sugar into the dough.
Shaping
- Using a rolling wheel pastry cutter or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 strips. Then roll up each of the strips to form 12 rolls.
- Place the rolls into the prepared muffin pan. Set in a warm place for just 20 minutes to rest, until slightly puffed.
Bake
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the rolls on the center oven rack for about 18-20 minutes. The rolls should be puffed, and the color will be a pale golden brown. Carefully remove the hot rolls from the pan and set them on a cooling rack to cool for several minutes.
- When the rolls are cool enough to handle, brush them lightly with the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter, then coat them generously in the remaining cinnamon sugar.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Leave a Reply