flour bakery’s sticky buns

sticky buns flour bakery

Sticky buns are like cinnamon roll’s edgier, fancier cousin. Brioche dough filled with cinnamon sugar, rolled tightly, then baked with a caramel glaze and toasted pecans.

Divine.

It’s really hard to justify consuming all of those calories for breakfast, which is why it’s OK that they take forever to make. Mine were done just in time for a post-lunch snack (or in-place-of-lunch snack… same thing). No worries, there are a number of shortcuts you can take to ensure yours are ready in time for breakfast.

I wasn’t particularly worried about spending my whole Saturday baking, though, so being in no rush I made my brioche dough the night before, left it in the fridge overnight, and proceeded to make my sticky buns the following morning. The dough makes enough for 2 sets of sticky buns or, in my case, a set of sticky buns and a loaf of brioche. A magical loaf of brioche.

I hope you were all very good in January, because diet time is over.

Over.

(PS – Thank you BF for my wonderful Christmas gift – my Flour Bakery cookbook) <3

Learn from my mistakes –

  • Don’t skimp on the pecans. You don’t want to see what the rolls look like under there
  • Make sure your “goo” thickens appropriately, but still be careful not to burn it. I was overly paranoid about burning it, which left my goo a little on the “runny” side. Still delicious, but thinner than it should have been.

Flour Bakery’s Sticky Buns

[ Printable Recipe ]

Goo:

  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 170 grams, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 cups (345 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (110 grams) honey
  • 1/3 cup (80 grams) heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup (80 grams) water
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Rolls:

  • Basic Brioche Dough
  • 1/4 cup (55 grams) light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup (100 grams) pecan halves, toasted and chopped

First, make the goo. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, to combine (it may look separated, that’s ok). Remove from the heat and whisk in the honey, cream, water, and salt. Strain to remove any undissolved lumps of brown sugar. Let cool for about 30 minutes, or until cooled to room temperature. You should have about 3 cups. (The mixture can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.)

Make brioche dough and divide in half. Use half for this recipe and reserve the other half for another use. Can be made up to 1 week in advance.

On a floured work surface, roll out the brioche into rectangle about 12 by 16 inches and 1/4-inch thick. It will have the consistency of cold, damp Play-Doh and should be fairly easy to roll. Position the rectangle so a short side is facing you.

In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and half of the pecans. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the entire surface of the dough. Starting from the short side farthest from you and working your way down, roll up the rectangle like a jelly roll. Try to roll tightly, so you have a nice round spiral. Trim off about 1/4- inch from each end of the roll to make them even.

Use a bench scraper or a chef’s knife to cut the roll into 8 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2-inches wide. **(At this point, the unbaked buns can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 1 week. When ready to bake, thaw them, still wrapped, in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours, then proceed as directed.)

Pour the goo into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish, covering the bottom evenly. Sprinkle the remaining pecans evenly over the surface. Don’t skimp on the pecans.

Arrange the buns, evenly spaced, in the baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm spot to proof until the dough is puffy, pillowy, and soft and the buns are touching-almost tripled in size, about 2 hours.

Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 350 degrees F.

Bake until golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool in the dish on a wire rack for 20 to 30 minutes. One at a time, invert the buns onto a serving platter, and spoon any extra goo and pecans from the bottom of the dish over the top.

The buns are best served warm or within 4 hours of baking. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, and then warmed in a 325 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes before serving.

praline pumpkin cake

dsc_4764

This is your new Thanksgiving dessert. You may not know it yet, but it is. Just try it out, just this once, you’ve got time. Two day to Thanksgiving? That’s plenty of time. Get the ingredients tonight, make the cake and whipped cream tomorrow, and assemble the day of. Like I said, plenty of time…

I made this for the first time on the last Thanksgiving I spent at home – three years ago. The following year, making something else wasn’t even an option, I think it was around September when requests for the cake started rolling in. When I mentioned that I might “try something new” last year, I was told that whatever I did, I was still required to make this cake. Required. Can you believe it? The nerve!

Then again, who could blame them?

This year, when I did try something new ( recipe coming soon ), I was sure to make this cake the very same day. Of course that meant we had two desserts for our pre-Thanksgiving meal, but who says that’s a bad thing?

I brought my boss a piece of this cake, I stuck it in the fridge with his name on it, and when I walked by at 7:30 am and he was devouring it, I was sure to make him feel the appropriate amount of shame. “Cake for breakfast?!? REALLY?!?” He confessed he couldn’t help himself. He just wanted to try “a bite”, but it was the best cake he’d ever eaten. Ever. Am I hyping it up too much? I don’t want you to be let down, but I do want you to be motivated enough to try it. Like, now.

This cake is the perfect alternative for those who aren’t into pie, or those who are into pie, but are also into cake. It just different enough from your standard pumpkin pie to be “new”, but still classic enough to not incite a Thanksgiving Day riot. Delicious layers of pumpkin cake, with praline pecan glazed tops, adorned with freshly-whipped cream. Drooling yet?

praline pumpkin cake

Yield: 1 2-layer Cake

Ingredients

    For the Cake
  • · 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • · 1/3 cup butter
  • · 3 tablespoons whipping cream
  • · 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • · 4 large eggs
  • · 1 2/3 cups sugar
  • · 1 cup vegetable oil
  • · 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
  • · ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • · 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • · 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • · 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • ( OR 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger, ¼ tsp nutmeg, pinch ( ? tsp) cloves or allspice)
  • · 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • · 1 teaspoon salt
  • Whipped topping:
  • · 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • · 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
  • · 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. 1 Cook first 3 ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour into 2 greased 9-inch round cake pans; sprinkle evenly with ½ cup pecans. Cool.
  2. 2 Beat eggs, sugar, and oil at medium speed with an electric mixer. Add pumpkin and vanilla; beat well.
  3. 3 Combine flour and next 4 ingredients; add to pumpkin mixture, beating until blended. Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans, starting first with the edges, and then filling the center. If you try to pour it all into the center, your praline topping will get pushed to the edge and boil over. (For this reason, it is a good idea to place your cake pans on a sheet pan, and also put a layer of foil on the rack underneath, just in case there is any spillage).
  4. 4 Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans on wire racks 5 minutes; remove from pans, and continue to cool on wire racks.
  5. 5 Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate, praline side up; spread evenly with Whipped cream. Top with remaining layer, praline side up, and spread with remaining whipped cream. Sprinkle cake with chopped pecans (or, if my praline boils over, I like to break up the bits and sprinkle those on top). Store in refrigerator.

Notes

- Line the bottoms of the cake pans with parchment, to ensure most of your praline remains on the cake (and not glued to the pans)

- Bake both cake pans on a sheet pan, and put foil on the rack below to catch any praline spillover.

- If you have spillover, keep the praline pieces and sprinkle them on top for a tasty decoration.

- You can make both items the day before, and store the cake layers, wrapped, at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Store the whipped cream in the fridge (obviously) and “frost” the cake immediately before serving. This will avoid taking up valuable refrigerator space on your special holiday.

- Line the bottoms of the cake pans with parchment, to ensure most of your praline remains on the cake (and not glued to the pans)

- The cake ends up so huge, I’m often tempted to make it into four, thinner layers instead of 2 giant layers... I haven’t done it yet, but if you do, let me know how it goes

https://wee-eats.com/2011/11/22/praline-pumpkin-cake/