The Stickiest Sticky Buns- a Foolproof Recipe

As we enter another week of the new normal- that is, quarantining and social distancing- I figured now would be the right time to introduce the best sticky buns ever. Though sometimes considered the cinnamon bun’s less popular sibling, I have always had a love for sticky buns and their decadent caramel gooeyness for as long as I can remember. This recipe in particular has the most buttery puffy dough, and then takes caramel, pecans and brown sugar, and stuffs them all inside. While I would say be careful how many you eat, because they are intensely addictive, we all know being in quarantine has completely wiped out any sense of normal willpower.

With that, we will commence part 1 one of the sticky bun journey. I began looking at recipes with my lovely older sister, who loves to bake and is stuck here in MA with our family while her home in NYC has been dubbed “corona central.” We settled on a recipe posted by the infamous Crumbs and Nibbles, otherwise known as Alaina Chou, my younger cousin who actually has baking blog clout. The recipe was quite straightforward, make the dough, proof the dough, roll the dough, make the caramel and the sugar topping, put it all together in a baking dish, proof overnight, let rest for an hour and stick it in the oven! My sister and I did all of that, but hit a few bumps along the way… namely… overdoing the caramel. This, I must admit, was mostly my fault because I looked up the wrong temperature for caramel and we basically took it 20 degrees farther than it should have gone and so it set up super hard. Despite this, we kept going and went along with the rest of the recipe anyway. The next day, the buns came out at about a 6/10. The caramel set very fast and left a hard coating on the buns that didn’t allow for any gooey or oozy action that you want in a sticky bun. They tasted buttery and sweet despite the caramel fiasco, but we decided we wanted to make some tweaks and try again.

The thing about baking is that trial and error is usually a part of the process, something that can be frustrating at times but necessary. Yes, baking is precise, but it also requires a certain level of patience to test out new ideas and get things right. I am no expert when it comes to baking and certainly not what many would consider a very patient person, but making a new batch was completely worth the extra labor. Not everything can be perfect the first time, or second, or third, but I’ve realized it’s important to keep pushing and working until you’re satisfied, it’s how you learn. The journey continued the following week where we took stock of what worked the first time and what we wanted to continue working on. I should start by saying if we hadn’t burned the caramel the first time, these would have come out amazing without any tweaks. But we figured, since we were giving it another go, we might as well experiment a little. We decided to keep the dough exactly the same, because it was perfectly airy the first time. First on the list was cooking the caramel at the proper temperature (about 230 degrees). We both agreed that we wanted more sugary filling than the first time because, so we went a little off book and followed a different recipe, but doubled the entire mixture. We also opted for a slightly smaller baking dish so that the buns were squished together allowing the caramel to seep into every crack and crevice. The tweaks made a huge difference, producing buns with perfectly sticky and rich caramel, crunchy sugared nuts and dough as light as air. They were impossible to stop eating… don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The recipe rundown- adapted from Crumbs and Nibbles!! (Follow measurements from the original recipe for dough and caramel)

For the dough: Bloom your yeast in a stand mixer with lukewarm milk and sugar, let stand for five minutes. Switching to the the dough hook, add eggs, melted butter, then flour in small increments. Then add your salt. Knead for several minutes (5-7) until your dough is stretchy and springy. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic and let proof for at least an hour (we kept ours going for about two).

For the caramel: When your dough is just about ready, start your caramel. Combine butter, heavy cream and honey until melted, then add your sugar. Whisking constantly, monitor the temperature until you hit 230 degrees and pour your caramel into a baking dish (about 8×12), letting it coat the sides and bottom. Sprinkle a generous amount of pecans directly onto the caramel and set aside.

For the sugar mixture (adapted from Baker by Nature): Mix 2/3 cup of brown sugar and 2/3 cup of granulated sugar in a small bowl with 3 teaspoons of cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Melt about half a stick of butter.

Assembly: Roll your dough out on a floured surface, aiming for about 18×12. Brush with melted butter until coated evenly and sprinkle the sugar mixture all over. Add the remaining pecans and roll up into a tight log. Cut 12 even rolls and place in the prepared baking dish. Cover lightly with plastic and rest for about two hours or put in the fridge overnight. Let rest an hour if in the fridge and then bake in a 350 degree oven for about thirty minutes. Flip onto a plate and let the caramel do its magic!