The dream dessert crossover !

Mexican coffee buns, also known as papparoti, kopi roti, or rotiboy are soft and fluffy brioche buns topped with a crunchy coffee cookie crust. Despite their name they actually originate in Malaysia but they are inspired by Mexican conchas and thus the name. The homemade brioche makes all the difference since it’s incredibly fluffy and flavourful compared to store bought. And the coffee crust adds a wonderful flavour and aroma, makin these bins perfect to have with some warm coffee or tea

Mexican buns are typically filled with butter but I decided to give them my own spin by pipping them with a tiramisu cream instead and adding some cocoa powder into the coffee crust. 

While making your own brioche dough can sound a bit intimidating this recipe is completely fool proof! You don’t require any fancy equipment and just 10 minutes of manual kneading will do the job! After that there are 2 proofs of 1h each to help the dough rise while yeast does its magic. So I recommend this recipe for a weekend when you have more time and don’t mind expending some extra time in the kitchen for making these buns that are absolutely worth it!

🌱Vegetarian

🍽️ 4 buns

Ingredients

Brioche dough

• 220g bread flour

• 95g milk

• 1 egg

• 3.5g yeast

• 1 tsp salt

• 25g sugar

• 25 g butter

• Filling: 5g butter each

Mocha topping

• 60g butter

• 50g caster sugar

• 1 egg

• 70g plain wheat flour

• 4g cocoa powder

• 4g instant coffee

• 1/2 tbsp water

Tiramisu filling

• 100g cream cheese

• 100g mascarpone

• 60g powdered sugar

• 1 pinch salt

Method

• Make the dough by mixing lukewarm milk, yeast, sugar and finally egg in a bowl. Then add the flour and salt and mix with a wooden spoon. Leave to rest for 10min.

• Add the butter at room temperature in cubes and knead with your hands for 10min until the dough becomes elastic and less sticky. If the dough is too sticky you can add a bit more flour. Cover the dough with a cloth and leave to proof for 60min ideally in a wam place to help it rise (close to a radiator or the sun).

• After 1 h take the dough and divide it into 4 equal portions, and shape these into balls by rolling them with the palms of your hands. Rest the balls for 10min.

• Using a rolling pin flatten the dough on a floured surface and add the cube of butter in the middle. Wrapp the dough around the butter and shape it into a ball again. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls. Transfer the balls to a baking tray covered with parchment paper and proof for 1h.

• Meanwhile make your coffee chocolate topping by sequentially mixing the butter, sugar, egg and flour. Finally add the coffee and cocoa dissolved into 1/2tbsp hot water. Transfer to a piping bag and leave to cool in the fridge while the dough proofs. Then pipe the mix over the buns with a circular motion until they are completely covered

• Bake the buns at 180C for 20min. Meanwhile make the tiramisu filling by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle

• Once baked remove buns from the oven and leave them to cool completely. Make a whole with a knife at the bottom and use your index finger to create some space to pipe the filling inside the bun. Then pipe in the tiramisu mix until the bun is completely filled

FAQS and Tips

• Using bread flour is highly desirable as it has a higher protein content than regular flour so it gives it more structure, allowing the buns to grow taller and fluffier.