Sticky Pecan Buns

Do you like cinnamon rolls? Do you like caramelized pecans? If so, you’ll love these Sticky Pecan Buns! I love cinnamon rolls and even had a small business making cinnamon rolls while we lived in Dominica. When we came back to the States, I was scrolling through Pinterest and saw these insanely delicious looking cinnamon rolls. But these cinnamon rolls were covered in delicious caramelized goo and pecan. I knew I had to give these sweets a try. I am SO glad that I did. I make them only once or twice a year during Christmas because these buns are delicious but also very sweet!

The cinnamon roll recipe that I share today is from Recipe.com, called “Clone of a Cinnabon” and boy, are they comparable to the real thing! Soft, fluffy with a delicious buttery and cinnamony taste. The topping is made up of some butter, honey, and brown butter caramelized together.

There are 3 important parts to making these delicious Sticky Pecan buns.

1. The Bun-This is just my regular cinnamon roll recipe.
2. Bun filling-butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
3. Pecan Glaze-brown sugar, pecans, butter, vanilla extract.

If you’ve never worked with dough before, here are some pivotal things you need to know. I’ve also included these tips in our “Amazingly Soft Dinner Rolls“, which are so good, in case you want to try it out!

Critical Points for making dough

1. When you put the yeast in a bowl, add a little sugar in with the yeast. The yeast needs some sugar to “feed on” in order for it to ferment.
2. Do not overheat the liquid that you will be adding to the yeast. If the liquid is too hot, it will kill the yeast and your dough will not rise properly. Use a candy thermometer to monitor the liquid, if you have one. You want to make sure the temperature doesn’t exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit. If you do not have a candy thermometer, the easiest way to check the temperature is to stick your finger in the liquid. If you can hold your finger in the liquid for 3-5 seconds without scalding it, it’s the right temperature! I would say it’s even better to have your liquid on the cooler side than on the hotter side.
3. After pouring the liquid into the bowl with the yeast, wait 5 minutes until the yeast is frothy or foamy. If the yeast isn’t frothy about 5 minutes after pouring the liquid in, your yeast may be old or you may have killed your yeast. If that is the case, you may want to start over.
4. Do not add too much flour. If you add too much flour, your final product will be dense! It will not be fluffy and soft like dinner rolls should be.
5. Lastly, be patient! Working with dough takes some patience.

Print Recipe

Sticky Pecan Buns

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Dessert

By Our Little Nook – Serves: 12

Prep Time: 2 hours – Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes – Total Time: 2 1/2-3 hours

You and your family will love these Sticky Pecan Buns! These soft buttery and cinnamon-y rolls topped off with some caramelized pecans will please your taste buds. We hope you give it a try!

Ingredients

• Cinnamon Buns
• 1 c warm milk
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 pkg yeast
• 1/3 c butter, softened
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 c flour, divided
• Bun filling
• 1/2 c light brown sugar
• 1/2 c dark brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 c butter, softened
• Pecan Glaze
• 1 c butter (2 sticks butter)
• 1½ cups packed light brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups pecan halves, roughly chopped

Instructions

1

Do not preheat the oven now, Preheat the oven to 350 degrees when letting your rolls rise a 2nd time.

Cinnamon Buns

2

Put yeast and 1 Tbsp of sugar in a mixing bowl. Pour warm milk into the bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is frothy.

3

Add the rest of 1/2 c of sugar, salt, butter, eggs, and 3 cups of flour into a bowl. Put the dough hook on and mix, add another 3/4 c of flour. Knead for 5-8 minutes. The rest of the flour will be used for sprinkling the dough or surface so it's not too sticky.

4

After 5-8 minutes, the dough should pull away from the side of the bowl but the bottom of the dough should still be sticky.

5

Sprinkle some flour on the dough and tuck it into a ball.

6

Put some olive oil into the bowl and spread it around. Put the dough in the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and a clean hand towel. (You can place the bowl in your oven and turn it to warm to speed up the rising process).

7

After about an hour or when the dough has doubled in size, take the dough out on a floured surface and roll it out into a rectangle about 24x12 inches.

Bun filling

8

Add both brown sugars into a bowl along with the cinnamon.

9

Make sure the 1/3 of butter is softened.

10

Spread the softened 1/3 butter onto rectangle dough.

11

Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly on top of the dough.

12

Gently roll and tuck the dough into a log.

13

Cut the roll/log into 12 equal pieces.

Pecan Glaze

14

Add the butter, light brown sugar, honey, and vanilla extract into a saucepan. Heat the ingredients until it makes a cohesive sticky sauce. You don't want to cook the ingredients, rather just warm it up. Add the pecans to the glaze. Pour the glaze into a 13x9 pan. Place the rolls on top of the glaze, cover the rolls for 30 minutes for a 2nd rise. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

15

After 30 minutes of the dough rising, place the pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.

16

**After Baking

17

Let your rolls rest and cool down for 15 minutes or so. During this time get a cookie sheet, cover it with some aluminum foil and parchment paper. After 15 minutes of cooling, place parchment paper over the rolls. Place cookie sheet facing down over the rolls. Carefully flip the rolls over onto the cookie sheet. Remove 13x9 baking sheet and there you go! You now have some delicious Sticky Pecan rolls.