Maple Bourbon Glazed Cardamom Sweet Rolls
Drizzle the maple bourdon glaze over this orange cardamom sweet roll recipe and make 6 large soft & fluffy sweet rolls. An easy quick bread recipe so no yeast required! Perfect grab and go breakfast or a sweet dinner roll. Skip the maple bourbon glaze and drizzle some honey on these instead. An all-around great sweet roll recipe for any day of the week or addition to a holiday meal!
Santa’s getting one of these tonight with some hot chocolate and cookies.
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Disclaimer & Disclosure: There may be affiliate links in this post. Nothing here should be taken as medical advice. Please consult with a certified dietician or nutritionist about nutritional needs specific to you.
The Secret Ingredient For These Sweet Rolls Is Mayonnaise (No eggs, No Yeast Required)!
Yup. That’s right. This is a quick bread recipe, so that means there is no need to wait on the rolls to rise before baking. I use mayonnaise in this sweet roll recipe instead of eggs. Sounds crazy, but it’s a super easy way to use what’s already in the fridge and seriously delicious.
What I love about these Cardamom Sweet Rolls
Not only is this an easy quick bread recipe, these sweet rolls are a great way for anyone new to baking to use classic yet unique baking ingredients.
- Cardamom and orange is such an classic baking combination.
- Cardamom is easy to find in the international food aisle usually. Instead of orange zest, I make this sweet roll recipe even easier and use dried orange peel that is found right in the grocery store spice section.
- Maple bourbon glaze makes everything better in my opinion and is so easy to make. Bourbon infused maple syrup can be found in most grocery stores.
- Absolutely delicious sweet rolls for any day of the week or addition to a holiday spread.
- Not overly sweet on its own. Adding the maple bourbon glaze or brushing a brown butter while these rolls are hot is a must try.
What is a Quick Bread?
Quick breads are any type of bread that are leavened with baking soda and/or baking powder instead of yeast. A no-yeast dough naturally take less time before the oven. For this busy mom that’s a huge plus. Muffins, rolls, scones, biscuits, pancakes, fritters, and even cakes and breads fall into this category.
If you like this recipe, here’s more recipes from The Natural Foodie you should check out!
What is Cardamom?
Cardamom is a very aromatic spice that is part of the ginger family. It is great for baking anything from cookies, cakes, ice cream, and even makes phenomenal savory dishes like butternut squash or curries for example. Next time you marinade lamb, add some cardamom.
Cardamom has a complex flavor profile. You’ll find it in a green pod and when crushed in your mortar little black seeds come out of the cardamom pod. It’s citrusy, a little minty, and a great overall warm herbal spice flavor. A little goes a long way as it is very fragrant. It pairs well with other warm spices like cinnamon, orange, clove, ginger, coconut, pumpkin/squash, and other nuts. My favorite nut combination is pistachio.
Cardamom benefits
Cardamom has naturally high levels of magnesium and has been shown to lower blood pressure and manage blood sugar. A lot of us on a keto or low carb lifestyle have lower magnesium intake, and cardamom is a great way to add much needed magnesium into my daily nutrition. Check out this Master Class article to learn more about cardamom spice.
Cardamom is regularly used in Indian cuisine. One of my favorite combinations besides orange and cardamom is pistachio and cardamom. Soooooooooo good.
Recipe Variations For This Quick Bread Recipe
This sweet roll recipe isn’t overly sweet which is perfect for me. I like it with some honey drizzled over it. If you want the roll to be sweeter without a glaze or sweet butter, try adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste to the dough.
These rolls are also great in smaller sizes. Use a smaller muffin tin and the same recipe makes 10-12 small rolls. Bake for 16 minutes instead of 22 minutes as the same temperature.
Maple Bourbon Glaze Recipe
After cooling the sweet rolls for about 5 minutes, drizzle a spoonful or two of this glaze on each roll. Really easy recipe. Combine all ingredients and microwave for 15 seconds. Stir until combined once more.
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar (use a sieve to get the clumps out)
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup bourbon infused maple syrup
Honey Butter Recipe
Another easy recipe. I just add a tablespoon brown sugar to two tablespoons of room temperature butter. Mix well until incorporated. If you want it sweeter add more brown sugar.
Use this one of two ways. As is as a butter, or microwave for 15 seconds, stir, and brush over the rolls when as soon as they come out the oven.
Or just use some honey!
Recipe Notes + Tips to Make These Sweet Rolls An Even Easier Quick Bread Recipe
- A sieve is necessary to remove any clumps. The last thing you want is a big bite of brown sugar but none anywhere else. I use the sieve for the flour and brown sugar especially.
- Use a mortar and pestle and an electric spice grinder if you have both. I’ve used my blender on the induvial setting before to grind spices but it damaged the cup a little.
- I use the mortar to grind the cloves, dried orange peels (even though its already small in the spice jar), and the cardamom pod.
- When crushing the cardamom, remove the green husk as it comes off from the pestle and only incorporate the ground black cardamom seeds to the dry ingredients.
- After I fully incorporate all the dry ingredients, I put it through a sieve once more time and then whatever is left over add it to a spice grinder and make it even finer and more powder like. Add back to dry ingredients and whisk one last time before adding wet ingredients. This step is optional.
- This is a really sticky dough. Make sure hands are really wet and shape in a circle. Re-wet hands by washing off the dough in between each roll to avoid losing dough to a war with your hands. You will get six really nice large soft and fluffy sweet rolls this way.
Ready to make these deliciously soft and fluffy sweet rolls?
Maple Bourbon Glazed Orange & Cardamom Sweet Rolls
Equipment
- sieve
- whisk
- mortar and pestle
- electric spice grinder (optional)
- large mixing bowl
- 6 cup deep muffin baking tray (metal non-stick pan recommended)
Ingredients
Orange & Cardamom Sweet Rolls
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups brown sugar or light brown sugar (packed)
- 4 cardamom seeds (after ground is ¼tsp)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp dried orange peels
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 tbs Mayonnaise of choice ( I used avocado oil based mayo)
- 1 cup milk of choice (I used Fa'rlife fat free milk for higher protein), divided
Maple Bourbon Glaze
- ⅓ cup brown sugar or light brown sugar (packed)
- ⅓ cup bourbon infused maple syrup
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Orange & Cardamom Sweet Rolls
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease muffin baking tray or baking tray of choice.
- Use a sieve and introduce two cups of flour into a large mixing bowl
- Add the 2 teaspoons of baking powder to flour
- Use a mortar and pestle to grind 4 cardamom seeds and 1/4 tsp of dried orange peel (use a pre-made spice version from spices isle in grocery store) into a fine powder
- Add to flour mixture along with 1/4 teaspoon of ground clove and salt.
- Use a sieve and introduce the packed brown sugar into the dry ingredients by rubbing your hand around the bottom of the sieve and pushing the sugar through. This is to avoid a clumpy dough.
- Use a whisk and fully incorporate all dry ingredients.
- (optional) Sieve all dry ingredients once more and use an electric spice grinder to make any remaining pieces into a finer powder-like texture.
- Add 4 tbsp mayonnaise to your dry ingredients.
- Add ½ cup of milk and using a spoon mix the wet and dry ingredients together. It will be very crumbly with a lot of dry left over.
- Add remaining milk and continue to mix until fully incorporated. A very sticky dough is the result.
- Wash hands with water and with very wet hands scoop one section of dough, roll into a ball shape, and place onto greased baking tray (in this case in muffin tin).
- To avoid losing dough, repeat all steps above for each of the 6 rolls including washing excess dough from hands in between each individual roll.
- Bake at 350°F for 22 minutes. A toothpick will come out clean at this stage.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes and remove from muffin tin.
- Place on cooling rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes and add maple bourbon glaze.
Maple Bourbon Glaze
- Add all ingredients to mixing bowl.
- Stir
- Microwave 15 seconds
- Stir again
- Drizzle over hot sweet rolls immediately
- Serve immediately. Refrigerates well. Enjoy cold or warmed in microwave.
GOT QUESTIONS? I’m happy to help. Leave a comment and add some stars to let me know if you enjoyed this recipe. Let me know how you re-created it too. Also, please share it on social media. Tag #thenaturalfoodie. Thanks! -Salei
