I needed these Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns in my life so I developed this recipe to share. This may come as a huge shock (to nobody really), but I like sweets. If I am out to breakfast I will skip the omelettes and hash browns in favor of French Toast or pancakes loaded with strawberries and whipped cream. I have no interest in perfecting the perfect eggs Benedict here at home, but I’m all about a sweet roll!
There are two main camps for sweet rolls. The first is the camp for the classic cinnamon roll. I love a soft, fluffy cinnamon roll. Growing up, I would look at the school lunch calendar and I would mark the date with cinnamon rolls. These were made from scratch at the school, and they were big warm labors of love topped with icing. My aunt, Nita, worked in my school’s cafeteria when I was small, and I’m hoping that someday I can get that treasured recipe from her.
My mom, also, makes a cinnamon roll that is popular with my family. Her recipe is all about the butter, and just the right blend of sugars and cinnamon, and I will not try to step on the toes of my mom in an attempt to recreate or modify the cinnamon rolls she has been making for years. What sets my mom’s cinnamon rolls apart is their ease (using Rhodes Bread dough as a shortcut), and the lack of nuts: my mom does not like nuts in her sweets!
My recipe falls into the second camp: the gooey, sticky, nutty, caramely sweet roll. Needless to say, I do not share my mom’s aversion to nuts in sweets. In fact, I have a hard time keeping myself from nibbling just a few more caramel coated nuts…
How this recipe came about.
The best sticky buns I ever had were from a small bakery run by a commune a few miles from where I used to live. About 13 miles to be exact. On weekends that my husband wasn’t on call I would take off running in the morning and have him and the kids meet me at the bakery. I rewarded myself for the 13 miles of running on country roads with a warm sticky bun and some hot chocolate before catching a ride in the car home (because yes, I can run 26 miles, but I don’t do it often!). We no longer live in that area, but I still love sticky buns. So, I had to come up with a recipe that met my needs. Coincidentally, that bakery was also the home of my son’s favorite carrot cake which became the inspiration for my Fully Loaded Carrot Cake.
My Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns are made with a mix of cinnamon, brown sugar, and white sugar rolled into soft dough and baked in caramel and pecans. These are more caramel roll than a lot of recipes you will find, which can sometimes stick to your teeth. They have plenty of nuts, but not so many that your nut hating friends can’t pick them off, so win win. These are perfect for weekend baking to enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate or tea. And you don’t even have to run 13 miles to get some!
Pro Tips:
This project is perfect for a lazy Sunday morning. Plan for at least one hour for the first rise, and an additional 20-30 minute rise before baking.
If spending all morning waiting for dough to rise isn’t your idea of fun, you can mix the dough the night before. I have had success stopping before the first or second rise with these rolls. Option one: mix the dough, cover and refrigerate overnight. Option two: mix the dough and complete the first rise. Roll out the dough and prepare the sticky buns up to the second rise stage. Cover the pan of buns and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, allow the buns to come to room temperature before baking. Option two is my preferred method.
I think people stress about yeast too much. I’ve heard that salt will kill yeast, or temperatures will kill yeast, so we should be careful about timing the addition of ingredients… I suggest you use warm, and not hot water and milk in this recipe, and I would err on the side of too cool rather than too warm. Most importantly, give your yeast that 5 minutes in the sugar water to show you it’s working. If you don’t have any sign of life after 5 minutes, you aren’t too far into the process and can begin again without much loss. Yeast does grow old and tired, though, so try to use some that hasn’t been in storage for ages.
As I mentioned earlier, my mom’s cinnamon rolls are made with Rhodes dough. You can find it in your grocer’s freezer section, and it makes for very good rolls!
These are called Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns, and I prefer to use pecans. Walnuts would also work well in this recipe.
I generally bake in metal baking pans, but I like to cook breads and rolls in a glass dish. This allows me to see how the sides and bottoms are cooking and make sure I get a nice golden color.
A lot of people suggest using dental floss to cut your rolled dough into pieces. This works fine and helps keep the sugar and cinnamon from spilling out all over. I find that a small serrated knife works well too. The main idea is that you don’t want to press the sugar out by pushing down hard with a knife- use a sawing action.
These rolls keep well covered and stored at room temperature for up to three days (if they last that long!). I strongly recommend warming any leftovers in the microwave for a few seconds to restore the caramely goodness.
You may notice that all the yummy caramel is at the bottom of the pan when you remove it from the oven. It’s easiest if you just serve from there, but that lacks presentation. Find a platter that is just bigger than your 9×13 baking dish. Cover the dish with this platter and carefully invert the sticky buns (meaning flip the pan). All that yummy caramel goodness will then run back through the rolls, and the glorious sticky pecans will shine on top.
Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns
Gooey, caramely sticky buns with cinnamon and pecans make for a perfect lazy weekend breakfast or brunch treat.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes plus rising time
- Category: breakfast & brunch
- Cuisine: desserts
Ingredients
For the Dough:
1 cup warm water*
1/4 cup warm milk
1 package yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups flour
For the Filling:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
For the Caramel Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Plus 1 1/2 cups nuts
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350
Grease a 9 x13 glass baking dish with butter
For the Dough: Mix the water, milk, yeast and sugar together and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Bubbles should form indicating the yeast is active. Add the butter, flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. If using a stand mixer with a dough hook, continue mixing for an additional two to three minutes to knead the dough. You can also knead by hand for 3-5 minutes if you prefer. Cover the dough in a greased bowl and allow to rise until double in size, about one hour. Remove the dough from the bowl and roll out into a rectangle about 16″ x 10″. The 16″ dimension is most important to make sure you can get 12 rolls from the batch.
For the Filling: Spread the dough rectangle with the melted butter and cover with the sugars and cinnamon. With the 16″ side near you, begin rolling the dough into a spiral by rolling the dough away from you. Seal the sugars inside and cut the log into 12 equal pieces.
For the Caramel Sauce: In a small saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, cream, and salt. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Continue at a low boil for 3-4 minutes to make sure sugar is well caramelized. Pour the caramel into the bottom of the baking pan, and sprinkle broken pecan pieces over the top. Gently place the 12 rolls into the caramel sauce. Cover, and allow to rise for 20 minutes before placing in the oven to bake.
Bake the rolls for 30 minutes until rolls are golden brown and the caramel sauce will be bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to set for 5 minutes before turning out onto a platter which will allow all the gooey caramel from the bottom of the pan to become the tops of the rolls you will serve.
Notes
*water should be warm, but not hot. I don’t fuss about this much and it seems to turn out ok.
*I use whole milk in this recipe, but milk of your choice should work fine.
*as a make ahead option, you can pause in the process before the first or second rise by covering the dough and placing it in the refrigerator overnight.
Keywords: cinnamon, sticky buns, pecans, breakfast, brunch, caramel
Absolutely delicious! The dough came together so easily, was so soft to work with, and my cinnamon rolls turned out perfectly! Darla, your baking tips are spot on! You just seem to know where I will need advice to pull everything together like a pro. I will be making these (and many other of your recipes) again and again!
★★★★★