Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Buns

It is Monday, hailing, and not exactly pretty outside. What happened!? The weekend was so nice here, with no rain and lots (by Vancouver standards) of sunshine. My grandma Judi came out Thursday afternoon to visit me from Calgary, and I swear I have never had a such a good weekend. We packed it full of shopping, good food, spa massages, more good food, great wine, and some fun times at the art deco exhibit at the Vancouver Museum. (Also, why is the Vancouver Museum tucked away in the middle of no where?! I swear that there were maybe three or four other dudes in the whole building whilst we were there. Shouldn’t a museum be kind of a popular place to hang out? Vancouver needs to get its’ act together.) Anywho, I hugged the gran good-bye on Saturday night, and then all of the roomies were off to join in the St. Patty’s Celebrations. Sigh.

Legend. We be poundin' guiness.

In order to make this Monday ten times better, I decided to make cinnamon buns! Is it weird that I call them cinnamon buns and not rolls? Is there really a difference? I think calling them buns is cute. Wittle buns. Anywho, I made these lovely caramel drenched cinnamon buns and I’m in love with them! I usually don’t pour in a layer of caramel before they bake- instead I cover them in a creamy icing after they are cooked. But these are so much better! I love how toasty and flavourful the pecans get.

 

Warm, fluffy, and buttery

I adapted the recipe from The Catalyst: Cupcakes. I have been missing cinnamon buns and this was such a great recipe. Do you ever get serious cravings for particular foods? I had a huge craving for cabanera a couple days ago, and wanted to eat cheese all weekend (which I did).

 

Make these because they are very easy and people will love you and tell you that you’d make an excellent wife (true story).

 

Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Buns

Buns

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp + 1/8 tsp yeast
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 heaping cups all purpose flour

Sugary-Cinnamon Filling

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature

Caramel

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

 

Mix together the milk, sugar, and butter and microwave for thirty seconds. Whisk until the butter and sugar is evenly

Toasted, candied pecans are the best

melted. Cool until mixture is slightly warm (not hot) and add yeast. Whisk a few times and then let sit with a cloth over bowl for ten minutes. When yeast smell is apparent and bubbles have formed in the mixture, whisk in egg and salt. Slowly stir in flour in 1/3 cup portions, until all flour is incorporated. Dough should be elastic but not sticky! If it is still sticky, add a tablespoon at a time of flour to the dough, and kneed it till it is desired texture.

Kneed dough on a floured surface until all flour is incorporated. Shape into a ball and place in a different bowl, covered, and let rise in a preheated (but then quickly turned off!) oven for 40 minutes. When dough has risen, punch it back down and let rise for 15 minutes more.

While you wait, make caramel. On high heat, stir like crazy the cream and sugar in a small sauce pan. When mixture comes to boil, whisk for a minutes more until a deep caramel colour forms and mixture thickens. Remove sauce from heat and pour into a greased baking pan- 11x11x4 or similar dimensions will work perfectly. Cover the caramel with all the chopped pecans.

Roll dough out on a floured surface into a long rectangle. Spread butter up to all the edges, and sprinkle on the sugars and cinnamon, evenly. Roll up dough length-wise and cut into 20 inch pieces (you’ll get about 12 little buns or you can make them bigger/smaller and lave less/more). Place buns in baking pan on top of caramel and pecan layer. Cook for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. When golden and bubbling, remove buns and let cool for five minutes. Carefully, using oven mitts, flip buns from dish and onto a large serving dish. Let cool for 20 minutes longer. Then DIVE IN!!

 

Best served warm and gooey with a honkin’ big glass of cold milk.

Happy baking!

xx.