Sweet Rolls take time.

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.

Yes, there are shortcuts.

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.

Use the right baking dish.

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 9x13 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 - Just Desserts Bakehouse

Name: Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: PT-489050H15M50S
Cuisine: desserts
Ingredients: 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; 1/4 cup butter, melted; 1/2 cup brown sugar; 1/4 cup sugar; 2 teaspoons cinnamon; 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

Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Gooey, caramely sticky buns with cinnamon and pecans make for a perfect lazy weekend breakfast or brunch treat.

Author: Darla McVay
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes plus rising time
Category: breakfast & brunch
Cuisine: desserts

Ingredients

Scale

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

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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

Find it online: https://justdessertsbakehouse.com/caramel-pecan-sticky-buns/