It might be a bit of a tongue twister, but trust me these Chai Cinnamon Rolls are the BEST thing. I was brainstorming ideas for blog posts and incorporating Chai flavours into something was one of them. I figured just amping up the spices in something that already featured one of them would work, and this did!

These rolls are fluffy, feathery, deeply spiced and topped with a rich creamy sweetened condensed milk glaze that isn’t too sweet, but enough to balance everything.
It seems like a lot of ingredients, but trust me it’s not too difficult and the pay off is more than worth it.

What you need:

Dough:

• 3/4 cup warm milk
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active yeast (1/4-ounce package yeast)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2/3 cup brown sugar

Glaze:

• 2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tsp dark brewed black tea
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground all spice

1. Begin by prepping the dough. In a large bowl activate yeast in warm milk. Once it begins to foam, mix in sugar, egg, egg yolk, unsalted butter. Add flour and salt and knead either in an electric mixer, or by hand, until it forms a soft ball of dough, slightly sticky to the touch.
2. Transfer to a bowl and let rise for 1 – 1 1/2 hrs.
3. Once dough has risen, dust your work space with flour and roll dough into a 14 X 9 rectangle. It’ll be about 1/2″ thick.
4. Start with the unsalted butter for the filling, and gently spread it over the dough, leaving about 1/2″ space at the very top, furthest from you. Mix remaining spices with brown sugar and sprinkle over butter layer. Press down lightly on the spice mixture just to help it stick a little.
5. Starting from the long side facing you, begin to roll dough as tightly as possible. When you get to the end, pinch together the end with the cylinder of dough to seal.
6. Using a piece of string or unflavoured floss, cinch string around roll and pull to cut. You can also use a knife for this as you wish. Using string prevents the dough from being crushed and losing its shape. Cut into 8 pieces. You can trim the ends if you feel like they’re misshapen or uneven.
   

   How to use floss to cut your rolls.

7. Place in a parchment lined 9″ round baking pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another 30-45 minutes.
8. In the last few minutes of rising time, preheat oven to 375. Bake for 25 minutes, or until rolls are risen and dark golden brown.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool (as long as you can wait without going crazy)
10. Combine all glaze ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. This will thicken slightly if you let it sit a few.
11. Spoon or drizzle glaze over buns and enjoy!