A few weeks ago, my friend Diane sent me this recipe for sticky buns. She got the recipe from her sister.

When I was visiting my sister this week, Diane sent some updates to the recipe after she made them on Christmas Eve. When I mentioned it to Jane, she said “Yum” and asked me to make the sticky buns for breakfast.

We picked up a box of puff pastry the night before, and we all set because Jane had all the other ingredients in her pantry. I made the buns in the morning. The recipe is correctly named. The sticky buns were really easy to make. The next time, I will measure out the sugar and cinnamon the night before just to make it easier in the morning (I am NOT a morning person).

When my nephew Brett woke up, he said he could smell cinnamon buns from his bed. He liked them, even though he said he didn’t like the pecans (he picked them off). Everyone else enjoyed them, nuts and all.

Thanks for the recipe, Diane (and Diane’s sister)!

Easy Sticky Buns

1½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
½ cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces
1 package Pepperidge farm frozen puff pastry sheets, defrosted

FOR THE FILLING:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 c light brown sugar, lightly packed (divided)
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon (divided)

Take the puff pastry sheets out of the freezer. It will take 40 minutes at room temperature to defrost. There is no shortcut to this. Don’t leave it the refrigerator overnight. The pastry will be too soft to unfold.

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Place 12 cup standard muffin tin on a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine 1½ sticks of softened butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar.  I used a wooden spoon, but you could use an electric mixer. 

Place a dollop (approximately 1 tablespoon) of the mixture in each muffin cup. Distribute pecans evenly on top of sugar mixture in each cup.

Do the following for each sheet of puff pastry, one at a time:

• On a lightly floured surface, unfold one sheet of pastry with the short end towards you.
• Brush the pastry sheet with half the melted butter.
• Mix 1/3 cup of brown sugar with 1½ teaspoons of cinnamon. Sprinkle sugar mixture over buttered sheet, leaving a 1-inch border empty on all edges except the bottom. Use your fingers to distribute evenly.
• Starting at the short end nearest you, roll pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around filling, finishing the roll with seam side down.
• Trim ends ½ inch and discard. Slice the remaining roll in 6 equal pieces, about 1 ½ inch wide. Place each slice spiral side down in a muffin cup.

Bake for 20-30 minutes (watch them!), or until buns are golden to dark brown and firm to touch. This only took 20 minutes for me.

Allow to cool 5 minutes ONLY. (Otherwise, the topping will cool and harden in the pan.)

Remove buns onto parchment and scoop any filling from muffin cups onto top of bun. To remove, cover another baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper. If it looks like the buns might stick, use a non-stick scraper to loose each bun. Place over the muffin pan and flip it over. Let the topping fall naturally onto buns. Carefully lift up muffin tin. Scoop any topping that sticks to the pan onto the buns.

Enjoy!

You can make the sticky buns the day before and wrap them up in tin foil. Reheat in foil pouch at 350F for 7-10 minutes.