Pecan Sticky Buns

{photo taken on my phone....better photos coming -- once I make them again}

 

Drew's mom makes these amazing sticky buns.

I still don't have the recipe for them. So I searched, where else, pinterest!

I came across these Caramel Pecan Rolls

So I gave them a try...and they came out pretty good! There is some tweaking that I will post in my re-post of this recipe. It's just easier for me to find if I post it. Plus, I'm going to try like 2 other recipes and post them. New things coming....new things.

{like me actually, maybe having time to blog!! oh my!}

 

So first you need a dough.

You can use a frozen bread dough if you want. Or your own roll recipe. I just used this Yeast Bread recipe:

 

2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
1 1/2 Tablespoon shortening
1 package dry yeast
2 cups warm water
up to 6 cups flour

 

Soften yeast in warm water. (about five minutes.) It will go from 'grainy' looking to smooth once it is softened.

Add sugar and shortening.

{next time I want to add in some orange zest here......hmmm}

Add 2 cups flour. Whisk until well blended. Add salt. (Do not skip the salt. Salt strengthens the gluten protein.)
Add 2 cups more flour. Mix with spoon until sticky ball forms. Dough will be pretty sticky.

Get a place ready on your counter. Flour the counter with about 1/2 cup of flour. (Bringing your total flour to 4 1/2 cups now.)

Set a kitchen timer for 11 minutes. You're going to be kneading the bread for 10 minutes minimum and the extra minute is to turn the dough onto the floured surface and either wash your mixing bowl or find a clean one to put the kneaded dough into. Don't forget to wash your hands and take off your rings.

Turn out onto well floured counter. Knead for a minimum of 10 minutes adding only enough flour to keep dough from sticking. 

 

You will notice too that as you get close to the 10 minute mark your hands will be much cleaner. The dough is almost ready!

Place kneaded dough into greased bowl.

Cover with towel and let rise until double in size. Rising time will vary depending on the temperature where the dough is sitting.

Filling:
1/4 cup butter softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Caramel Sauce:

{everything but the nuts are doubled}

1 cup {chopped} pecans

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
4 Tablespoons corn syrup

After the first rise of bread dough, roll out on a well floured surface. You want it to be approximately 1/4 inch thick and rectangular in shape. 18x21 inch would be a good size. I don't get out a yard stick and measure. I also don't panic if the edges aren't perfect.

 

Let the dough rest while you make the caramel sauce.

Melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat until completely dissolved.
Add corn syrup.

 

Grease 9x13 pan and place pecans in bottom.

 

Pour syrup over pecans and using spoon rearrange pecans as desired.

Mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough to reshape and spread softened butter over entire piece. Sprinkle sugar mixture over margarine.

 

Grabbing the short end (18") start to roll into a log working your way up. After it is rolled make sure the seam side is facing down.

Cut the log into uniform pieces. An easy way to do this without measuring is to cut it in half, then cut the half in half and so on until you have approximately 1 inch rolls.
Place the rolls in a greased 9x13 inch cake pan on top of the caramel mixture. 

Let rise until double in size. This happens pretty fast because the sauce is warm and speeds up the process.
Preheat oven to 350F. Bake for 30 minutes until center looks like it is no longer doughy.

Set rolls on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Many like to remove the rolls right away but that is asking for burns. I know from experience. It's painful if the caramel splashes on you.

Place a serving plate over rolls and invert as quickly as you can. Let pan rest over rolls for a minute or two so any remaining caramel sauce can run down.

This is what her rolls looked like {1/2 the recipe}

Pull apart and enjoy!

 

I ate one immediately and didn't really like it too much.

seriously.

weird? yeah. it wasn't sweet enough {the dough part}

BUT

I went back after about an hour and it was YUMMY!!

very, very addicting. for some reason it just was better....

drew loved them and everyone was happy.

That's really all that matters.