Lazy Chai Cinnamon Rolls
By: Jocelyn Delk Adams
Published: Friday, September 28, 2012 - 5:09pm

Ingredients




1 pack of frozen puff pastry with two sheets that has thawed out in the refrigerator for at least two hours.  Trader Joe's has an amazing and reasonable option that is made with all butter.
2/3 cup light brown sugar
3 teaspoons of the chai spice mix (NOTE: I used my favorite chai spice from The Spice House to save time but if you would like, you can make your own! Recipe below)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted butter
For the chai spice mix
1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
For the icing:1/2 stick of butter at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 teaspoon chai spice
small sprinkle which ends up being 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1-2 tablespoons of milk or chai black tea if you want to amp up the chai flavor

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly flour your surface and roll out one sheet of puff pastry until about 1/4 inch thick (leave the other sheet in the refrigerator).  Brush puff pastry with melted butter, leaving 1 inch of space around the edges. Evenly sprinkle puff pastry with half of brown sugar, chai spice mix and cinnamon just over buttered area.   Tightly but gently roll the dough up. Use a little melted butter on the open edge of the roll to seal the seam.  Using a sharp knife, slice the roll into six pieces. Place each roll inside a parchment paper lined baking dish. Place the dish in the refrigerator as you repeat the above steps with the last sheet of puff pastry.  Bake the cinnamon rolls in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden (watch carefully!). 2 While rolls are baking, make the icing.  Beat butter until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, then add milk or tea and flavorings. Increase amount of spice, or sugar until desired consistency and flavor are reached.  Then place in the microwave for 10-20 seconds until it melts down and is pourable.  Drizzle over cinnamon rolls when they are fresh out of the oven and enjoy.  Happy Baking!

About

I recently watched an episode of my fave show Barefoot Contessa where she used puff pastry to create sticky buns.  I thought it was such a genius idea.  Cutting down on the cumbersome yeast dough step sounded so promising considering how busy I am.  I figured I would experiment with a concept for quick and easy cinnamon rolls with a twist since sticky buns and cinnamon rolls are first cousins.   
These cinnamon rolls are not just ordinary cinnamon rolls.  Oh no!  These are chai spiced cinnamon rolls which literally made me say "yum" out loud.  The best part was my taste testers thinking I spent the whole weekend slaving in the kitchen over these while I knew I was just a lazy bum who whipped these up in 30 minutes.  Enjoy!  I certainly did.