These rich and delicious Coffee Buns (also called RotiBoy, Kopi Roti, and Papparoti) are slightly sweet yeast buns with a crisp coffee cookie topping! The contrast of flavor and texture in these sweet buns is such a delight that they are a hugely popular take on the traditional Mexican concha!
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Instructions
Start out with cubing 6 tablespoons of cold butter into 8 pieces (one for each roll). Place them onto a dish or into a storage container then chill in your freezer while making the coffee buns.
Make the Dough
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, add the 2 ½ cups of bread flour with 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Whisk to combine. Sprinkle the 1 tablespoon of instant yeast over the dry ingredients, then whisk to combine again.
Add in the 1 cup of heated milk and the first portion of 1 beaten egg then mix until the flour is fully incorporated into the wet ingredients and you have a wet, sticky dough.Cube the second portion of softened butter and add it to the wet dough. Mix to combine, then knead for about 5 minutes in a stand mixer or 10 minutes by hand. The dough should go from sticky to smooth and elastic as you knead it.
Cover your bowl with plastic cling film wrap or a damp kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise for about one hour, or until doubled in size.
Make the Rolls
Using your fingertips, gently press into the dough about halfway to 'punch' it down. Roll the dough out onto a floured working surface then cut into 8 equal portions (approximately).
Take a piece of the divided dough and flatten it into a disc shape. Place one of the eight frozen cubes of butter into the center of the disc of dough, then pull the edges around the butter and seal the dough in a roll shape. Place the shaped rolls onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between the rolls (3-4 inches). Repeat until all of the rolls are ready.
Cover the shaped rolls again and allow them to proof. They should not quite double in size, usually between 30 minutes to an hour.
Coffee Topping
Dissolve the tablespoon of instant powdered coffee in an equal tablespoon portion of hot water. Set aside. *You can also use strong brewed coffee, but it needs to be STRONG and kind of thick (not runny or watery).
In a medium-size mixing bowl, cream together the ¼ cup softened butter and ¼ cup of granulated sugar. Add one beaten egg and whisk or mix until smooth. *You can add a tablespoon of the cake flour portion to keep the egg from curdling.
Add the dissolved coffee and mix until smooth again, then sift in the cake flour. Use a spatula and fold into the wet ingredients until just combined. *Move onto assembling the buns, or refrigerate the coffee cream topping if you need to set it aside.
Assemble & Bake
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Transfer the coffee cream topping to a piping bag or to a plastic storage bag and snip a small corner off for piping the buns. In a coiled pattern, start at the top center of each bun and pipe outward in rings. Continue until approximately ½ to ⅔rds of the bun is covered with the topping.
Bake the assembled coffee buns for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow the buns to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. The cookie topping will crisp up within about 10 minutes of cooling/removing from the oven.
You can serve the buns while still warm or once cooled.
Notes
*To make your own cake flour, remove 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour from 1 cup flour. Add in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and sift to combine the flour with cornstarch. It is best to sift twice, then measure your needed cake flour portion. Spoon and level.**To make your own bread flour, remove 1 ½ teaspoons of all-purpose flour from 1 cup flour. Add in 1 ½ teaspoons of vital wheat gluten and sift to combine the flour with the vital wheat gluten. Sift twice, then spoon and level your bread flour portion.