I’m excited to share with you another one of my favorite bun recipes! I have always loved the comfort that a cup of chai brings, and find myself turning towards these flavors as the weather cools. These masala chai cinnamon rolls pair the rich, warming spices of masala chai with a light and fluffy bun dough and a spiced, milky frosting. Each bite is bursting with flavor from the spices and offers a caramelized sweetness from the brown sugar balanced with a silky creaminess from the frosting.
I have never been a huge fan of cinnamon buns, as I find them cloyingly sweet and oftentimes overwhelmingly heavy. This recipe is meant for both cinnamon roll lovers and those who are not a fan. These are not too sweet (including the icing, which tastes more milky than sugary), have a very light texture, and offer a depth of flavor which leaves you wanting to try more vs burning out on too much of one strong flavor. I also have to admit that these are primarily masala chai rolls–but since “rolls” can mean many different things, I’ve called them masala chai cinnamon rolls. If you’re looking for a dominant cinnamon flavor, you can bump up the cinnamon in the recipe to make them taste more like traditional cinnamon rolls.
These rolls follow a similar technique to my Earl Grey Latte buns. To maximize flavor, masala chai is incorporated into every component of the bun (I’m using the word roll and bun interchangeably here): the dough contains milk steeped with black tea and masala chai spice mix, the filling contains masala chai mix, and the frosting contains a small amount of milk tea for an added hint of chai flavor. For a light and fluffy texture, I used the tangzhong technique, where a small portion of the recipe’s flour is mixed with a combination of milk and water and heated together to form a paste. Heating the recipe’s flour in advance allows it to better retain liquid, meaning that this dough dries out less quickly than other cinnamon roll or bun doughs. The base of the cinnamon roll recipe is adapted from King Arthur Baking’s Perfectly Pillowy Cinnamon Roll recipe.
I can’t help but add in a brief PSA that these buns can be made without a stand mixer. I don’t personally own a stand mixer, so make all of my bun dough by hand. While it is a more labor intensive process, it is 100% doable without any special equipment so if you’re on the fence, I encourage you to give it a try!
Tweaks and Variations
I have included a masala chai blend that I like to use, but feel free to use your own blend or play around with the proportions based on the flavors you prefer. You can also add about 1/8-1/4 pinch of turmeric to the milk, which will give your dough a nice golden hue.
If you prefer, you can substitute the mascarpone in the frosting for cream cheese, although this will give you more of a tangy flavor and less of a milky flavor. I personally prefer the milky icing with the chai, as it adds a bit of a latte flavor, but use whichever you like best!
Masala Chai Cinnamon Rolls
Course: BreadDifficulty: Weekend baking project12
buns3
hours15
minutesThese masala chai cinnamon rolls pair the rich, warming spices of masala chai with a light and fluffy bun dough and a spiced, milky frosting. Each bite is bursting with flavor from the spices and offers a caramelized sweetness from the brown sugar balanced with a silky creaminess from the frosting. The recipe can be made either with or without a stand mixer, although requires a little extra love and attention if making by hand. The predominant flavor here is definitely masala chai (but if you google masala chai roll it’s not really a thing), so if you’re looking for more of a classic cinnamon roll flavor, you can amp up the cinnamon in your masala chai spice or simply add some to the filling separately.
Ingredients
- Dough
1/4 cup (54g) + scant 1/2 cup (108g) whole milk
1/4 cup (59g) water
1/4 tsp masala chai mix (see recipe notes)
1 bag of strong black tea or about 1-2 tsp of loose leaf black tea
3 Tbsp (24g) + 325g (2 2/3 cup) bread flour or all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp (25g) granulated sugar
2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) instant yeast
1 egg, cold
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- Filling
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp masala chai spice mix
1/2 cup (100g) tightly packed light brown sugar
- Frosting
3/4 cup (90g) powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp milk steeped with tea
6 oz (168g) mascarpone cheese
Instructions
- Prepare the milk tea
- Since some liquid will evaporate, we’ll start with a bit more milk than the recipe calls for. Add approximately 2 cups of whole milk (216g) to a small saucepan and add the teabag and the 1/4 tsp of masala chai mix. Cook over medium low heat, swirling the pan occasionally until the milk begins to steam and slightly simmer. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and steep for 10 minutes. Pour the milk tea into a mug or container, pressing the back of a spoon against the tea bag to extract the last bit of flavor, and place in the fridge to cool to at least room temperature. This step can be done in advance.
- Make the dough.
- Start by making the tangzhong. In a small saucepan (you can quickly rinse out the one you used for the tea and make it in there if you’d like), mix together 3 Tbsp (24g) of flour, 1/4 cup (54g) of the milk tea, and 1/4 cup (59g) of water. Whisk constantly over medium low heat until the mixture turns into a thick paste. Immediately remove from the heat and transfer to the bottom of a large mixing bowl.
- To the tangzhong, add a scant 1/2 cup (108g) of milk tea and whisk together. Then add in 1 cold egg and whisk until combined. If the mixture at this point feels warm, chill for about 5-10 minutes until the mixture is room temperature or cooler. Add in the salt, sugar, instant yeast, vanilla, and flour. Mix together until fully combined. If kneading by hand in the next step, let rest, covered with a towel for about 20 minutes. If using a stand mixer, continue directly to the next step.
- In a stand mixer or by hand, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Then, 1 tablespoon at a time, add in the butter and knead until each piece is well-incorporated. This dough is quite sticky at first, so if you’re having difficulty with kneading with your hands, you may want to try the slap and fold technique, where you place the dough on the counter, pick it up with two hands, flip it over, and lightly slap it down onto the counter. While holding on to the dough the entire time, you then pull the ends of the dough towards you and then fold it over itself away from you and out (like two little wings widening), and tuck those wings back under the dough, and repeat. When you work relatively quickly, the dough shouldn’t stick as much, and if it becomes messy, you can use a bowl scraper to bring it back together. Knead until the dough is smooth and tacky to the touch, but does not stick to your fingers, about 15 minutes total (may only take about 10 minutes in a stand mixer)
- Shape the dough into a ball with a domed top, tucking the ends under the dough to hold a bit of tension. Cover with a towel and let rise for about 60-90 minutes until it’s between 1.5 and 2 times its original size.
- Fill and shape the buns
- While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. In a small bowl, blend up the butter with a fork and stir in the masala chai mix and brown sugar.
- Place the dough on a very lightly floured surface and roughly pat into a rectangle with your hands. Gently roll the dough into a 10″ x 12″ rectangle. You can use your hands as needed to help square off the corners.
- Using a knife or offset spatula, spread the filling across the dough, covering everything except a thin strip on one long side of the dough.
- Starting with the long end that does have filling, gently roll the dough into a log, resting the final log on the seam. You can use your hands to help correct the shape of the log or squidge it together a little bit until you have a log of relatively even thickness.
- Cut off the very ends of the log by taking a long piece of floss under the dough, and bringing the two ends around the encircle the dough, cross each other, and then pull in opposite directions. Then, using a knife, lightly score the center of the dough, then again at the center of the two halves. Then score each portion into halves or thirds, depending on if you want 8 large or 12 medium rolls. Use your floss to cut the rolls at each mark you have scored.
- Place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and let rest for about 30-60 minutes until they have puffed up some and when you press the dough with your finger, it does not instantly spring back.
- Preheat the oven to 375F, brush the tops with a little bit of milk, and bake on the center rack for about 14-16 minutes, or until lightly golden.
- Make the frosting
- In a bowl, using a fork or a spatula, mix together the mascarpone, vanilla, milk tea, and powdered sugar until smooth. Ice the rolls when they have cooled at least 15 minutes. I recommend icing individual buns as they are ready to eat rather than icing in advance.
- Leftover buns can be stored in an airtight container for several days. They can be reheated briefly in the microwave or oven to get their soft, fluffy texture back.
Notes
- Feel free to use your favorite spice blend for masala chai. I like my chai quite peppery, which I feel also works well to balance out the sweetness of the bun. This chai mix is adapted from The Hathi Cooks. 2 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 2 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 1/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1/2 Tbsp ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp ground clove, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg. The extra spice mix can be kept in a glass container and used to make chai.
- For the filling, you may want to start out with slightly less chai spice mix and taste the filling before adding more. If your spices are quite old, the flavor may be a bit weaker than with fresher spices.
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