Sticky Buns!

Sticky buns are one of my very favorite dessert breakfasts! They are diabetes in a roll, which makes them very delicious. I've never entered anything in the county fair, but I took a salsa canning class on Friday. The teacher had a lot of information about the fair and it turns out that there are many baked goods categories. I decided to enter into pecan roll (sticky buns) because I didn't think it would be as widely entered. Also, it is really hard to ruin a dish with that much sugar. 

My recipe came from the Joy of Cooking, which my brother gave me for my birthday one year. It requires 6 1/2 to 18 1/2 hours in rising time, making them a great dish to make the night before. We usually make them on Christmas Eve for Christmas morning. 

The recipe starts with making the dough. A yeast coffee cake is used for this recipe. It is made kind of like a bread, but it is much sweeter and contains a lot more butter. The dough seems much too dry to come together, but it is smooth and elastic after kneaded. You can either knead by hand or with a stand mixer. It is kind of an oily dough after the butter is added, but that makes it all the more delicious. This time, I only let the dough rise for three hours in the fridge instead of four to twelve, but I think they will be fine. 

Just before the dough is taken out of the fridge, the topping is made. It is just butter, dark brown sugar (it doesn't really matter if you use dark or light brown sugar, but the dark brown sugar contains more molasses, so that flavor will be more prevalent), and honey. Then the pecans are added. While they are technically optional, sticky buns just aren't sticky buns without pecans.        

After the topping is set to cool in the pan, the dough needs to be rolled out. Because I cut a hour off the rising time, I couldn't get the desired 16" by 12" rectangle. This was okay, I still made eight rolls that would rise well. I just pored the melted butter into the center of the rectangle and spread it with a brush. I sprinkled the brown sugar with my hands, but used a mini sifter to ensure the cinnamon was spread evenly.  

 The last roll looks a little sad, but hopefully it will rise to be larger. I accidentally had one of the burners on low on the stove, so the middle of the topping didn't cool. It was just a little harder to put the rolls into the pan. 

They should be golden brown when finished and cooked. My sticky buns probably would have filled up slightly more of the pan had I let them rise more in the fridge. After I let them cool for five minutes, I lined with aluminum foil and flipped the sticky buns out. You don't want to wait too long to turn them out because the topping will harden very quickly. 

 All ready for the fair!!

Finally, here's the actual recipe:

 Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup Warm Water
• 1 Package Active Dry Yeast (2 1/4 Teaspoons)
• 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 Cup Bread or All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 Cup White Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Milk
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Sticks of Butter (1 Cup)
• 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 Cups Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Honey
• 2 1/2 Cups Chopped Pecans
• 2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Dissolve the yeast into the water. Add a 1/2 cup flour, the white sugar, the milk, the eggs, the vanilla, and the salt. Gradually add the remainder of the flour (2 to 2 1/4 cups). 
2. Knead by hand for ten minutes or for six to seven minutes with a mixer. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Add six tablespoons of very soft butter and knead vigorously until it is again smooth. Cover and place in a greased bowl in a warm place. Let rise until double(1 1/2 hours). 
3. Punch down and slightly knead. Let rise in the fridge until doubled again (4-12 hours). 
4. Combine a stick of butter, one cup of brown sugar and the honey in a saucepan over meduim heat, cooking till the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the pecans. 
5. Pour into a buttered 13" by 9" pan and let cool. 
6. Roll out the dough into a 16" by 12" rectangle with a rolling pin. Spread with the remaining butter and sprinkle with the remaining sugar and cinnamon. 
7. Roll into a log and cut into eight slices.
8. Place over the topping cut side down and place in a warm spot and let rise for a final hour. 
9. Preheat the oven to 350 and cook the rolls for 30 minutes or until golden brown and the topping is bubbling hot. 
10. Let rest in the pan for five minutes and then turn out onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Serve and enjoy!