Sticky Buns (or Cinnamon Buns) - call them what you will

Recently when I was getting a few things at Woolworths I picked up the latest Feast magazine (Issue 11). I've seen it on the shelves over the past few months but never picked one up so decided to give it a try. Honestly, I wasn't overly impressed with the content but a few recipes interested me. I seem to harp on about this lately but truly, the weather has been bad in Sydney, with the past weekend rainy and no warmer than 11°C. I wanted to make something that would be warming and comforting so I chose the Feast Magazine one ingredient recipe for Sticky Buns, or as we like to call them in Australia, Cinnamon Scrolls. I've never really been a sticky bun liker but the desire to try something I've never done before and that was a little out of my comfort zone was my motivation. 


Be warned this is not a quick recipe. There is resting time in total of about 3 hours plus baking time of at least 45 minutes. Be prepared for a lot of waiting and a lot of washing up! But well worth the effort. 

Have a timer handy!

I have divided the recipe into sections (in different colours) to make it easier to navigate. 


What you will need for the Dough: 
7g sachet Dried Yeast
75g / ⅓ Cup Caster Sugar
124ml / ⅓ Cup luke warm Milk
3 Eggs
375g / 2½ Cups Plain flour
135g Unsalted Butter, separate into 125g and 10g, cut into cubes at room temperature

Dough Ingredients 

Put the yeast, 1 tablespoon of the sugar and all of the milk into a bowl and combine. Set aside in a warm area of the kitchen for about 5 minutes or until the yeast starts to bubble. Lightly beat 2 eggs in a bowl. Whisk together the yeast mixture and the eggs until smooth. 

Yeast mixture with eggs

Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or similar), combine the yeast mixture with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, the flour and 1 teaspoon of salt and mix on low speed until very soft and sticky. 

Dough with butter added

Keep the mixer running and add the butter in cubes, ensuring that each cube is mixed in before adding the next cube. You will notice the dough will look like it's really wet but the longer it's mixed, the more dough-like it will become. Mix for bout 8 minutes or until the dough is soft and silky. 

Dough completed & ready to rest

Transfer the dough into a lightly greased bowl (I greased mine with melted butter). Melt the remaining 10g of butter and brush over the dough. Cover with cling wrap and set aside in a warm place for 1½ hours or until the dough doubles in size. 


What you will need for the Caramel: 
125g Unsalted Butter
75g / ⅓ Cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
125ml Thickened Cream
60ml /  ¼ Cup Maple Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
180g Pecans, toasted and chopped

Caramel ingredients

To make the caramel, combine the butter, brown sugar, cream, maple syrup, vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of salt in a small saucepan over high heat. 

All ingredients in 

Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 8 minutes (careful not to burn the bottom or touch the caramel with your skin, it will be very hot). 

Caramel

When the mixture is glossy and reduced by a third, pour two thirds into a 35cm x 21cm x 5cm baking dish (or similar), tilting the dish to ensure that the bottom and sides are covered with caramel. 

Caramel in dish

Set aside the remaining caramel in a warm place. Sprinkle one third of the pecans over the caramel in the baking dish. 


What you will need for the Filling: 
125g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
165g / ¾ Cup firmly packed Brown Sugar
3 tsp Ground Cinnamon
¼ tsp Nutmeg (either freshly grated or ground)

Filling Ingredients

To make the filing beat with an electric mixer the butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ½ teaspoon of salt on medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy. 

All in to be mixed

Stir through half the remaining pecans and set aside. 

Filling complete

Press the dough down in to the bowl and then turn out onto a lightly flour bench top. Roll out to ½cm thick rectangle (about 30cm x 40cm). Spread the filling evenly over the dough, allowing a 2cm border around the edges.

Dough with filling

Tightly roll the dough like a swiss roll. 

Swiss rolling

Trim the edges and cut into 12cm even sized pieces. I lightly marked the dough before I cut right through to make sure I would get enough pieces. 

Dough cuts

Place cut-side up on top of the caramel in the baking disc. Loosely cover the baking dish and set aside in a warm place for about 1½ hours or until the dough doubles in size. 

Ready in the dish

Abut 30 minutes before your dough is ready preheat the oven to 180°C. Whisk the remaining egg with ½ teaspoon of water in a small bowl. Brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash and bake for about 45 minutes or until the buns are golden brown (remember that all ovens are different so it may take less or more time than the recipe states). If your buns are browning too quickly cover them with foil. Cool the buns for 5 minutes then spoon over the remaining caramel (if the caramel has gone hard reheat gently n the stove neil just reheated you don't want to burn or recook the ingredients too much). Scatter over the remaining pecans and allow to cool. 

Buns fresh out of the oven 

What you will need for the Glace Icing: 
160g / 1 Cup Pure Icing Sugar
15g Unsalted Butter, melted
2 Tbsp Milk

Glace Icing Ingredients

To make the icing combine all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth. 

Completed icing 

Drizzle the cooled buns with the icing and let stand for 10 minutes to set. 

Completed buns

Sticky Buns Cinnamon Scroll) 

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