Once upon a time there was a blogger who figured out that cake mix is for more than cake. That blogger is me! I always thought that cake mix in a box was for making quick cupcakes for the classroom birthday party. (When I have time – lots of times I just bought them premade! Shhhhhh!!) Anyway, recently I discovered how to make Easy Vanilla Cinnamon Buns with cake mix. Check it out.
Looks delicious, right? Here’s how to make them:
Ingredients for Easy Vanilla Cinnamon Buns:
1 box of vanilla cake mix
6 tsp instant yeast
5.5 cups of flour
2 ¼ cup of warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ cup of butter softened
Icing
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk
Directions for Easy Vanilla Cinnamon Buns
First, bloom yeast in water and vanilla. I just put it in a glass bowl on the counter for about five minutes.
Next, gently mix in the dry ingredients. You don’t want to overmix or you’ll damage the yeast and end up with flat buns.
Once you’ve formed a soft dough, gently knead for 2 minutes. Again, don’t rip it apart – just gently knead it.
Put the dough in a glass bowl on the counter and cover it with a linen napkin or hand towel. Let rise for about an hour – until the dough has doubled in size.
Next, roll out dough on a floured surface into a large rectangle. You’ll want your edges to be fairly straight.
Spread softened butter on the dough. (Tip: If your butter is too cold, put it in the microwave for 5 seconds at a time until it softens.)
Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle generously over the dough. This is where you’d also want to add any other fillings, like nuts or diced apples.
Roll up the cinnamon buns lengthwise like a jelly roll and cut into 2-inch segments. You don’t have to get out a ruler or anything, but you want the pieces to be relatively the same size so that they bake evenly.
Place in a baking tray (I line mine with parchment paper to save on mess!) and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
While the buns are baking, mix together your icing. You’ll want to drizzle it over top of the easy vanilla cinnamon buns when they are still warm.
Easy Vanilla Cinnamon Buns
This simple yet delicious cinnamon recipe is great for entertaining, a nice breakfast, or a simple sweet treat. Made with vanilla cake mix, you can't go wrong!
Ingredients
- 1 box of vanilla cake mix
- 6 tsp instant yeast
- 5.5 cups of flour
- 2 ¼ cup of warm water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ cup of butter softened
- Icing
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Bloom yeast in warm water and vanilla. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Mix dry ingredients with the yeast and water mixture.
- Knead dough for 2 minutes.
- Let dough rest and double in size for 1 hour.
- Roll out dough on a floured surface into a large rectangle.
- Spread softened butter on the dough.
- Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the dough.
- Roll up the cinnamon buns lengthwise and cut into 2-inch segments
- Place in a baking tray and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Mix powdered sugar and milk to create icing and drizzle over.
How to Store Easy Vanilla Cinnamon Buns
Because they’re made of cake mix, they will go stale quickly. You’ll want to store them in an airtight container. They don’t have to be refrigerated, but if you’ve got a nice airtight bread box or even a large plastic bag will do.
Can you freeze easy vanilla cinnamon buns?
Yes you can! To avoid stale freezer-burned flavor, I suggest storing in a food saver bag or at the very least, wrap in saran wrap before storing in a ziplock bag in the freezer. To thaw, leave them out on the counter. Don’t try to warm them up or you’ll get hard spots.
What kind of variations can I make to this recipe?
I touched on this before a bit, but there are lots of ways to make these cinnamon buns even tastier. The first is to add diced apples with the cinnamon and sugar filling. Don’t add too much or your buns won’t stick to each other.
The second is nuts. You can add nuts at the end with the icing or you can add them with the cinnamon and sugar. This recipe is great with the addition of pecans or walnuts.
Raisins are a favorite with cinnamon buns, and you can add them into the cinnamon sugar mixture too.
Another variation is to make easy vanilla cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing. I use this cream cheese icing recipe, but you can make your own easily as well.
Easy Vanilla Cinnamon Buns vs. Sticky Buns
The biggest difference between cinnamon buns and sticky buns is that sticky buns are made with caramel. They’re baked in caramel sauce and then turned upside down in the end, making the caramel coat the buns (in case you couldn’t guess, sticky buns are pretty sticky.) Could you turn this recipe into sticky buns? Sure!
Easy Vanilla Cinnamon Buns made with cake mix
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