Sticky Buns Recipe

This Sticky Buns Recipe makes the most perfect, soft, and gooey rolls! They are filled with a traditional Cinnamon Butter Filling, and the topping is a scrumptious pecan-caramel mixture that is sticky and decadent, perfectly complimenting the fluffy rolls.

These Sticky Buns can be enjoyed for breakfast, or as a treat in the afternoon, served alongside coffee or tea.

Sticky Buns Recipe

This Sticky Buns recipe is not hard to make, you will be impressed at how delicious the rolls will come out, even if you aren’t an experienced baker.

I will show you step-by-step how to make the sticky buns.

Find the list of ingredients on the bottom of the page. You can click the Jump to the Recipe button on top, and you will be directed straight to the full ingredients’ list and instructions.

To make the sticky buns, we will start by making a regular cinnamon roll recipe.

This brioche recipe makes a very soft and pillowy dough.

Brioche Dough Recipe

Start by mixing the all-purpose flour, salt, orange zest, and nutmeg together. The orange zest and nutmeg are both optional, but add delightful layers of flavor to the buns.

Set the dry ingredients aside.

Next up, warm the milk to 110ºF. The milk shouldn’t be too cold, or it won’t activate the yeast. And if the milk is too hot, it will kill the yeast. If you don’t have a thermometer, simply aim for lukewarm milk, that isn’t too hot to the touch.

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar, and the yeast to the milk. I am using active dry yeast, which means the mixture of sugar, yeast, and milk has to sit for about 5 to 10 minutes until foamy before you add the other ingredients.

If using instant yeast, there’s no need to let the milk/yeast mixture foam up before adding the rest.

Once the mixture foam up, add the room temperature butter to the bowl.

Add the eggs, lightly whisked, the rest of the sugar, and the vanilla to the bowl.

Mix with the paddle attachment or with a spatula just to combine. The mixture will be separated, that’s ok.

Add the flour mixture to the bowl, at once. Mix with the paddle attachment, or with a spatula until the ingredients are combined and a dough is formed.

Knead the dough

Switch to the dough hook, or use your hands to start kneading the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Knead the dough for about 8 minutes using a stand mixer, or 10 minutes by hand. The dough should be soft, tacky, but not sticky. It should be coming off the sides of the bowl, and just sticking lightly to the bottom.

Turn the dough onto the counter if you are kneading by machine, and form into a ball by rolling the dough towards you against the counter.

Place the dough in a large greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.

Time rising will depend on the temperature of your kitchen.

While the dough rises, make the topping and the filling.

Cinnamon Butter Filling

To make the Cinnamon Butter Filling, mix the room temperature butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar together in a small bowl. Set it aside.

Pecan Caramel Topping

To make the caramel sauce, mix together the butter, light brown sugar, maple syrup, salt, and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 3 minutes. Don’t forget to stir the mixture occasionally.

Instead of maple syrup, you could use honey. And the corn syrup is optional, it just helps the filling be stable and not crystallize or become hardened. I’ve made this recipe without the corn syrup and it was fine, but I liked the texture better of the sauce with the corn syrup.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the vanilla extract.

Pour the caramel on the bottom of a 9×13″ baking pan greased and lined with parchment paper.

Spread the chopped pecans on top of the caramel. Set it aside.

To assemble

To assemble the rolls, turn the dough over onto a floured surface.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a 20×12″ rectangle.

Spread the butter cinnamon filling on top of the dough. Alternatively, instead of mixing the room temperature butter with the brown sugar and cinnamon, you could brush melted butter on top of the dough, and sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon evenly on top. I personally much prefer to mix the ingredients together instead of using the melted butter method, but a lot of people make their cinnamon roll filling that way.

Roll the dough into a log, and use a piece of floss to cut the log into 12 even pieces.

Using floss is just much better to cut the rolls, because when using a knife, you squish the rolls, making them have sharp edges.

Place the rolls on top of the pecan caramel topping in the prepared baking dish.

Cover with plastic and let the rolls rise for a second time.

They should be puffed in 30 to 60 minutes.

While the rolls rise, pre-heat the oven.

Bake the rolls in the oven until they are golden brown all over.

Let the rolls cool down for about 20 minutes, then flip them over onto a tray or plate.

Serving options

You can serve the rolls with a cream cheese icing on top, a simple powdered sugar glaze, or with more caramel sauce. Even though I think the rolls are perfectly fine and sweet on their own.

These rolls can also be served with ice cream, or alongside a cup of hot cocoa.

They also pair so well with coffee or tea.

Make ahead

You can make the Sticky Buns Recipe ahead of time.

Make the rolls the day before, and leave them in the fridge assembled. Then bake the next day, after letting the rolls sit on the counter for about 1 to 2 hr to take the chill off.

Bake as instructed below, until the rolls are golden brown.

If you like this recipe, here are some more recipes you might enjoy:

• Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls
• Blueberry Coffee Cake
• Apple Crumb Cake
• Mini Cinnamon Rolls
• Lemon Raspberry Rolls
• Pecan Pie Bars
• Pecan Pie Pastry

Sticky Buns Recipe

Camila Hurst

This Sticky Buns Recipe makes the most perfect, soft, and gooey rolls! They are filled with a traditional Cinnamon Butter Filling, and the topping is a scrumptious pecan-caramel mixture that is sticky and decadent, perfectly complimenting the fluffy rolls.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Resting time 3 hours hrs

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12 rolls

Calories 310 kcal

Ingredients

  

Dough Recipe

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 574 grams
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp orange zest optional
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup whole milk 240 ml
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar divided (66 grams)
• 2 1/2 tsp active yeast 7 grams
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature 113 grams
• 2 large eggs whisked
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pecan Caramel Topping

• 1 3/4 cup chopped pecans 175 grams
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter 85 grams
• 1/3 cup maple syrup 78 ml
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 110 grams
• 2 tbsp corn syrup optional
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Butter Filling

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter 113 grams
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 55 grams
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Instructions

 

Dough Recipe

• Mix the flour, salt, nutmeg, and orange zest if using. Set aside.
• Warm the milk to 110ºF. Pour it into a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Add 2 tablespoons of sugar, and the yeast to the milk. Mix to combine.
• Let the mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes, until it becomes foamy.
• Add the rest of the sugar to the bowl, along with the butter and whisked eggs. Mix for about 30 seconds with the paddle attachment of the mixer, or use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix the ingredients.
• The mixture won’t look incorporated, that’s fine. Add the flour, and the salt, and continue to mix with the paddle attachment, until the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients are combined into a shaggy dough.
• Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough on low speed for 8 to 10 minutes. Alternatively, turn the dough into a floured surface, and knead by hand for about 10 minutes.
• You should knead the dough until it is barely sticking to the sides of the bowl. It can be sticking on the bottom of the bowl, but should come off the sides.
• The dough should be soft and smooth, tacky but not sticky.
• Shape it into a smooth ball.
• Place the dough in a large bowl greased with oil. Turn the dough over in the bowl to grease all around.
• Cover with plastic wrap, or aluminum foil, or a clean kitchen towel.
• First rise: Let the dough rise at room temperature (around 72ºF) for 1 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.
• While the dough rises, make the Cinnamon Butter Filling, and the Pecan Caramel Topping.

Cinnamon Butter Filling

• Right before you are ready to assemble the rolls, make the cinnamon butter. Mix the butter, sugar, cinnamon in a bowl. Use a spatula to incorporate the ingredients into a thick paste. Set aside.

Pecan Caramel Topping

• Grease a 9×13” pan with oil spray, or by brushing oil on the bottom and sides of the pan. Line with parchment paper, it will make it much easier to remove the rolls from the pan. Set it aside.
• In a medium saucepan, mix the butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, corn syrup if using, and salt.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, and let it simmer for about 3 minutes.
• Remove the caramel from the heat and pour on the bottom of the prepared pan.
• Scatter the chopped pecans on top of the caramel. Set it aside.

Assemble the rolls

• To know if the dough is done rising, do the poke test. Gently poke the dough, it should form a small indentation, that slowly springs back, but not fully.
• If the dough springs back too quickly, it needs more proofing time. And if the dough doesn’t spring back at all, and a deep indentation forms when you poke it, it’s been over proofed.
• Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Sprinkle a very small amount of flour over the dough.
• Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle.
• It should be about 1/2” thick, and the rectangle should measure about 20×12”.
• While rolling the dough, lift it off the counter gently a few times, to give it a chance to spring back and settle, which will ensure the dough is being properly rolled out.
• If the dough keeps shrinking, let it sit on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes to relax the gluten.
• Spread the Cinnamon Butter Filling all over the surface of the dough, on an even layer.
• Make a tight roll with the dough, by gently rolling it from the widest size onto itself, making an 20” dough log.
• Cut the ends of the dough. I always cut them off so I can have all the rolls be straight with the same height. I bake those two small rolls separately and eat them as a treat.
• Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. I like to cut the rolls by placing a piece of floss underneath the dough and crossing it at the top, which makes a neat cut. If you use a knife to slice the rolls, it squishes them, and makes them pointy at the edges.
• Place each roll on top of the pecan caramel mixture, in three rows of four rolls each.
• Cover the tray with plastic wrap.
• Second rise: Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes to 1 hour, until puffed up.

Baking

• While the dough rises, pre-heat the oven to 375ºF. (350ºF is using convection or fan-forced)
• Bake the rolls in the oven for about 25 minutes. It can take even up to 30 minutes, depending on the oven.
• The rolls should be browned around the edges and slightly browned in the center. Make sure the dough in the center is fully baked. If not, cover the rolls with foil and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes. Then check again, and repeat until they are baked through.
• It took me 25 minutes in my regular conventional oven to bake these rolls.
• Let the rolls cool down for 20 minutes.
Serving
• Flip the rolls onto a board, remove the parchment paper from the top, and serve.

Storage

• These rolls are best served the day they are made. If not, store them in the fridge for up to 4 days, heating up gently before serving.
• You can also freeze the baked rolls. Let them thaw in the fridge overnight, and heat them up before serving.

Notes

Orange zest: The orange zest is optional, as well as the nutmeg, but both add a very delicious flavor to the recipe that compliments the caramel and pecans.

Rising time: You can try speeding up the 1st rise, by placing the dough by a warm oven, or inside the turned off oven, since it’s always warmer in there. The rising time can be cut by half when doing this. Make sure to check constantly because the dough can easily over rise when doing this. And also be careful with the temperature of the environment. If the temperature is too high where you are rising the dough, it can make the rolls dense and not fluffy. I always prefer to take my time with rising the dough, and letting it rise a bit slower in a 72ºF to 77ºF environment. It makes a much fluffier baked good!

Yeast: You can use instant yeast instead of active. Instead of proofing the yeast for 5 to 10 minutes, simply add it along with all the ingredients to the milk, butter, eggs, and sugar mixture.

Make ahead: You can make the rolls a day before, assemble them, and place in the fridge. On the next day, remove them from the fridge, let them sit on the counter for about 1 to 2 hours. And then bake them normally as indicated above in the recipe.

Corn syrup: The corn syrup is optional, it helps to stabilize the caramel and doesn’t let it become too hard. But it’s not necessary, I have successfully made this recipe without it.

Maple Syrup: You can substitute the maple syrup for honey if you don’t have any maple syrup.

Keyword cinnamon rolls