Light and fluffy cinnamon rolls with the added ooey gooey-ness of caramel sauce and the crunch of pecans. 
I go to college thirty minutes from where my big sister, Kelly, lives. On Sunday mornings, we always get breakfast at this diner and then play golf. The diner serves sticky buns as big as your face, and they are oh so gooey! It has become our Sunday morning tradition to split one. As I am back home for the summer, we haven’t been able to get sticky buns for the last couple of weeks…so to celebrate my sister’s 24th birthday (yes Kelly, you are actually 24 now) I found a recipe that almost replicates the awesomeness of our diner’s sticky buns! Happy Birthday Kelly!
The best part about these sticky buns is that the recipe makes 10, so you can make them over the weekend and have sticky buns all week long! Just microwave them for 45 seconds and BAM it’s like they just came out of the oven!
These sticky buns do take time to make … I would suggest getting through the assembly stage the afternoon before you want them and then just pulling them out of the fridge and baking them the next morning. There are two waiting stages so it is unlikely you can get these ready for breakfast if you start that morning.
Here are some in process photos. Do not worry about getting a perfect rectangle when you roll the dough out. Also when you cut the log into 12 pieces the two end pieces will be really wimpy. They won’t cook the same as the others, and they won’t have as much filling…so I suggest taste testing those two pieces of dough…no one has to know!
This is what they look like when they come out of the oven. They look pretty good, right? 
But wait for it… You flippity, floppity, floop them onto a serving platter and then KABOOM! You got ooey-gooey, sticky yumminess!
SO much drooool….
…and one goes missing…
Oh man…here comes the drool again…so much saliva
Happy sticky bun inhaling! And happy birthday to Kelly! Love you so much!
… and voilà!
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 packet (2¼ teaspoons) instant yeast
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoon butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 3¾ cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Vegetable oil for the bowl
- ½ cup salted butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup honey
- 6 Tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 2 cups chopped pecans, divided
- Whisk milk, yeast, and granulated sugar together. No need to warm the milk since it is instant yeast and not active dry yeast.
- Whisk in butter, yolks, and the whole egg.
- Add half of the flour with a wooden spoon. It will be slightly lumpy.
- Add salt and then the rest of the flour. The dough will look shaggy and the flour will not be completely incorporated.
- Knead for 10 minutes on a lightly floured counter with floured hands. The dough should come together into after a few minutes into a ball.
- Lightly oil a bowl and roll the dough in the oil.
- Cover the bowl with a dish towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 1½ to 2 hours in a non-drafty place.
- Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat.
- Stir in brown sugar, cream, and honey.
- Cook on medium heat stirring occasionally until the mixture bubbles up to a boil, about 2 minutes. Reduce to low heat and cook at a simmer for another 3-5 minutes.
- Pour the sauce into the bottom of a baking dish that is about 9 x 13- inches. Put the dish in the fridge while you roll out the dough. I used a Le Creuset stoneware baking dish.
- Stir sugars and cinnamon together.
- Roll the risen dough out on a well floured surface into an 18 x 12 inch rectangle (it won't be a perfect rectangle).
- Brush the dough with the melted butter.
- Sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture and 1 cup of pecans.
- Roll the dough into an 18 inch tight log.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 12 pieces. The end pieces may be wimpy so you can eat the dough or cook them but they won't cook the same as the other normal sized buns.
- Remove the dish with the sauce from the fridge and sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of pecans on top of the sauce.
- Arrange the buns evenly in the dish.
- Cover the dish with plastic wrap and let the buns sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours or overnight in the fridge for up to 16 hours (if you are leaving them in the fridge, pull them out 1 hour before you are going to bake them). The buns will be slightly puffy.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Bake buns for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let the buns cool for 3-4 minutes in the pan before flipping them quickly onto a serving dish.
- Serve buns warm.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
These look really good!
I’ve also tried these and they are as good as they look!
The day they run out is so sad!