Vegan Cinnamon Buns with Vanilla & Chai

These super-soft, and easy-to-make, sticky Vegan Cinnamon Buns are damn delicious. They have a yummy holiday spin on them with the addition of vanilla and chai that seriously makes them so comforting and delicious. Whip these up for dessert this Thanksgiving or holiday season, or just make them for a sweet snack that your whole family will love. Nothing says the holidays like the smell of cinnamon coming from your oven!

Why you’ll love these sticky Vegan Cinnamon Buns:

• Easy: This recipe is so easy-to-make
• Comforting: They are ooey & gooey and have a twist of vanilla and chai that is so comforting
• Vegan-Friendly: This cinnamon rolls recipe, including the icing, is totally vegan friendly

Ingredient Notes:

Vanilla: There is nothing I could emphasize more than the importance of using a good quality, pure vanilla in your baking. You CAN taste the difference between the real thing and the cheap stuff. I like to use Simply Organic’s Pure Vanilla Extract because it’s high-quality and makes everything I put it in taste amazing. Their Vanilla Extract is made from premium Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans and has no GMOs, sugar, or fake color or flavor. In this recipe, the combination of the warming vanilla and chai tea really makes an earthy, comforting taste that can’t be beaten.

How do you make Vegan Cinnamon Buns?

These directions look like a lot, but I promise this recipe is fairly easy to pull off, AND it’ll be worth it. These ooey gooey cinnamon buns scream “THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS HERE!!!”. And if you need anything to get you in the mood this year, these are it.

For the buns:

1. Into a small bowl add 1 cup flour and yeast. Stir and set aside
2. To a small pot, add almond milk and teabag.  Heat for 5 or so minutes or until warm
3. Into a large bowl whisk together the warm milk tea infusion, brown sugar, egg replacement, salt and melted butter till well combined
4. Into the large bowl add the flour and yeast mixture. Whisk for around 2-3 minutes or until everything is well combined and lots of bubbles have developed
5. Now stir in the remainder of the flour, slowly, and add more as you need. You want it to be pliable but not too sticky. Knead for 5-10 minutes and add flour to the surface area to make the process easy
6. Grease the sides of a large bowl and add in your dough. Add oil to the top of your dough and place a damp cloth over the top of the bowl. Place in a warm place for around 15-30 minutes
7. While your dough recipes prepare your sticky sauce by adding all your ingredients into a pot and simmer on low heat till completely melted. Whisk/stir constantly to avoid burning
8. Once ready remove from heat and let it cool. This should only take a few minutes
9. You can now preheat your oven to 350F and grab a baking dish – I used a 16″L x 9″W x 2.50″H.
10. Once your sticky sauce has cooled add it to the base of this baking dish and make sure it’s spread around evenly
11. Once your dough has risen punch a hole into the middle of the dough (this is very satisfying) and let it rise by double once again
12. Using a rolling pin roll out the dough into a large rectangle, around 20 X 14 X 1 but use whichever dimensions work best for you and your baking dish
13. Once you have flattened the dough, sprinkle with some brown sugar and cinnamon (add as much or as little as you’d like). Roll the dough width-wise, keeping it tight and cut into around 12-14 rolls. Place them onto the sticky sauce and set them aside to rise till doubled in size.
14. Once ready, bake for 25-35 minutes

For the icing:

To make your icing, simply add your ingredients into a deep bowl and blend using hand mixer for around 1-2 minutes. Once your cinnamon buns are ready then spread over the icing and enjoy these babies hot!

Expert Tips & FAQ:

How long will this recipe take me? In total, 1.5 hours but don’t let that scare you, I promise this vegan cinnamon roll recipe is easy to follow.

Do I need to add the vanilla and chai? Nope, you can keep them classic and simple if you’d like!

How do I store these? Store in a tight container for up to 5 days on the counter. If you want to freeze them I’d suggest freezing without the icing and making the icing fresh when you are ready-to-eat them.

What are your favorite holiday desserts to make? Share below in the comments & let me know what you think of these cinnamon buns!

Other sweet recipes you’ll love:

• Vegan Banoffee Pie
• Fried Bananas 5 Ways
• Strawberry Crumble Bars
• Dark Chocolate Strawberry Chia Jam Cheesecake

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Vegan Cinnamon Buns

5 from 12 votes

These Vegan Cinnamon Buns are so delicious with the vanilla chai twist. They're ooey, they're gooey, and you're going to love them!

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course Vegan Comfort Food, Vegan Breakfast, Vegan Desserts

Servings 14

Ingredients

  

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For the Dough:

• 2 packets of fast-rising or active yeast 8g each
• 4.5 cups all-purpose flour + some till you reach a non-sticky consistency
• 1.5 cups almond milk
• 1 chai tea bag
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg replacement or regular egg
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 cup vegan butter melted

For the Sticky Sugar Syrup:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp Simply Organic Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup vegan butter cold or room temperature

For dusting:

• 1/2 cup brown or white sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

For the Cinnamon Icing:

• 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese or regular cream cheese
• 1/4 cup vegan butter softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp Simply Organic Vanilla Extract

Instructions

 

• Into a small bowl add 1 cup flour and yeast. Stir and set aside.
• To a small pot, add almond milk and teabag.  Heat for 5 or so minutes or until warm.
• Into a large bowl whisk together the warm milk tea infusion, brown sugar, egg replacement, salt and melted butter till well combined.
• Into the large bowl add the flour and yeast mixture. Whisk for around 2-3 minutes or until everything is well combined and lots of bubbles have developed. Now stir in the remainder of the flour, slowly, and add more as you need. You want it to be pliable but not too sticky. Knead for 5-10 minutes and add flour to the surface area to make the process easy.
• Grease the sides of a large bowl and add in your dough. Add oil to the top of your dough and place a damp cloth over the top of the bowl. Place in a warm place for around 15-30 minutes.
• While your dough recipes prepare your sticky sauce by adding all your ingredients into a pot and simmer on low heat till completely melted. Whisk/stir constantly to avoid burning. Once ready remove from heat and let it cool. This should only take a few minutes.
• You can now preheat your oven to 350F and grab a baking dish – I used a 16″L x 9″W x 2.50″H.
• Once your sticky sauce has cooled add it to the base of this baking dish and make sure it’s spread around evenly.
• Once your dough has risen punch a hole into the middle of the dough (this is very satisfying) and let it rise by double once again.
• Using a rolling pin roll out the dough into a large rectangle, around 20 X 14 X 1 but use whichever dimensions work best for you and your baking dish!
• Once you have flattened the dough, sprinkle with some brown sugar and cinnamon (add as much or as little as you’d like). Roll the dough width-wise, keeping it tight and cut into around 12-14 rolls. Place them onto the sticky sauce and set them aside to rise till doubled in size.
• Once ready, bake for 25-35 minutes.
• To make your icing, simply add your ingredients into a deep bowl and blend using hand mixer for around 1-2 minutes.
• Once your cinnamon buns are ready then spread over the icing and enjoy these babies hot!
• They last for one week in a tightly sealed container, keep at room temperature.

Review This Recipe Let us know how it was!

5 from 12 votes