Who doesn’t love a sticky bun. Soft, flakey dough, spiraled with cinnamon kissed brown sugar, topped with lightly toasted pecans, then drenched is a gooey, sticky caramel that runs down the side. I mean, if you can’t get into that, I’m not sure we could be friends (says the girl who married the boy who hates sticky buns, sigh).
The time to make sticky buns though? That’s what we don’t usually have. Unless, you know, you have puff pastry. Yep, that’s it, the key to trimming a day long process down to a five minute one: puff pastry. So, the texture of the dough won’t be exactly what you typically have with sticky buns. Instead it will be light and a little bit flaky – neither of which do I see as a problem (oh no, flaky dough, how could she…)
For me, these are one of the things I do Christmas morning for us. I switch between these, because they’re easy, and yeasted cinnamon buns that I let rise in the fridge over night to bake up first thing in the morning (because, as noted, crazy Bo is not a fan of the sticky bun; seriously, who doesn’t like caramel and pecans).
Don’t let the time fool you, these are delicious little bites of crunchy, gooey, awesomeness. Yes, they probably aren’t waist friendly; but it’s Friday, it’s gorgeous out here, and I’m walking the kids to school then heading to the park, so, no guilt for me! One more SURPRISE: this is a post I’m re-sharing from three years ago. Because it’s great for #EffortlessApril, and because it means I have more time out with the girls this morning to have some fun. The original post is here, and you can see some step by step photos of making these buns if you’d like.
Go on, get crazy this weekend. ENJOY!!
Sticky Buns in 5 Minutes
Ingredients
Topping
- 12 tbsp butter, softened (1½ sticks)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup pecan pieces
Buns
- 1 package (17oz / 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, thawed
- 3 tbsp butter, melted
- 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 3 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400ºF with a rack in the middle position. Get out a 12-cup muffin tin
Topping
- Beat together the butter and brown sugar. Place 1 tablespoon in the bottom of each of the 12 muffin cups. Top with a sprinkle of pecans.
Buns
- Roll out the two sheets of puff pastry, overlapping one edge to make one long piece. You want roughly 18"w x 12"h
- Brush on the melted butter, going from edge to edge. Evenly sprinkle on the brown sugar, then the cinnamon. Smooth out the sugar with a spatula, or your hand, to make rolling it up easier.
- Roll it up as tightly as you can, from the top down. Slice off the misshapen ends and discard, then slice the log into 12 equal pieces.
- Place each roll, cut side down, into the muffin tin.
- Place the muffin tin onto a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 30 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown and puffy. The baking sheet will catch and caramel that bubbles over. Line it with foil for less cleanup.
- Flip out onto a rimmed baking sheet, and let cool for 5 minutes before eating.
And, because my computer decided it needed eleventy-trillion updates this morning, I took the girls to the park first, so the post is a little late. But look at these faces… TOTALLY worth it!
