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So, let me tell you about one of the best recipes ever.

Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

It’s easy…

Full of all the good things in the world…

And delicious… SO DELICIOUS… Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns!

WATCH HOW-TO VIDEO HERE:

And guys, these are sticky buns like no other. Plus, they only take about an hour from start to finish. Yep, I’m keeping things EASY all week-long, cause when it comes to the days leading up to Thanksgiving, all recipes need to be EASY. You know? You know.

When thinking about a breakfast/brunch for the holidays I always, always sway towards cinnamon rolls. If you just search cinnamon rolls on the blog here, you’ll see that’s pretty clear with this recipe, this recipe AND this recipe. What can I say, my family and I all love cinnamon rolls, I mean, who doesn’t???? They’re kind of the best. Does anyone remember being a kid and popping open the can of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls and being SO excited for the soft, buttery, doughy, cinnamony sweet rolls to come out of the oven in fifteen minutes? Cause I do.

Those rolls were our breakfast/any time snack during the week between Christmas and New Years. Good, delicious memories!

Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvestCheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Anyway, I have since discovered homemade cinnamon rolls, and I of course never looked back. But you know, sometimes you need something easy. No messing around with yeast, flour rising, mixing…hair pulling. Just easy!

That is these sticky buns. Hence the word “cheaters” in the title. The secret is puff pastry. Actually, I think puff pasty is THE secret to holiday recipes…you will see me using it a lot in the coming month (and it’s going to be so good). If you ask me puff pastry is magical.

I used puff pastry as the dough for these sticky buns, which basically takes out all the work. YES. But what really sets these buns apart is the maple “sticky sauce”. Oh my gosh, this sauce is everything. Like my dad called these the best sticky buns he ever had… and guys, he’s kind of picky about sticky buns.

I have to agree though, these buns are the best, and part of that is surely due to the fact that they are so easy to make… but mostly because they are just so flippin good!

Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvestCheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Random Question #1: what do you guys think of as a Thanksgiving/Christmas Breakfast?? Do you go sweet or savory? OR do you do both?!

These buns can also double a dessert or after dinner snack to serve with coffee. They are just an all day eating kind of thing, which when it comes to Thanksgiving, or any holiday gathering, is a “must have” treat to have around.

OKAY, so I wish I had more to say today, but I have to get my butt moving and get cooking. People arrive in T-minus two hours and well, I have tons and tons to do. Oddly none of my tasks involve Thanksgiving prep work or dinner prep for tonight.

Ugh. Deadlines are not my friend this week.

But hey, at least I have these sticky buns to keep me fueled (or on a sugar high?) for the next few hours. Yesss!

Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Random Question #2: what are you guys up to today? Are you stuck working? Traveling to family or friends for the holiday? Prepping for the feast?!?! I want to know. Yes, I’m nosy… tell me everything!

Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Cheat's Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns.

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Rest 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 12 Buns
Calories Per Serving: 579 kcal

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Ingredients

Sticky Sauce

Buns

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or butter.
  • In a medium sauce pot, combine the maple syrup, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 12 tablespoons butter. Cook over medium heat until the butter is melted and the sauce bubbling, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
  • Divide the pecans evenly among the bottom of 12 muffin cups. Now pour about 1-2 tablespoons of the sticky sauce over the pecans (reserve any remaining sauce for serving). The sticky sauce should come about 1/3 of the way up the muffin cup.
  • Add 6 tablespoons butter to saucepan. Allow the butter to brown lightly until it smells toasted, about 5 minutes. Stir often, butter will foam and then settle back down. Remove from the heat and let cool 10 minutes.
  • In a bowl, combine 2/3 cup brown sugar with the cinnamon.
  • Lightly flour a clean surface. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the sheet with half of the brown butter and then evenly sprinkle with half of the cinnamon sugar. Repeat with the remaining sheet of puff pastry.
  • Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up tightly like you would a cinnamon roll, finishing the roll with the seam side down. Cut about a 1/2-inch off the ends of each roll and discard. Slice each roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. This should make 12 rolls. Place each roll, spiral side up, in the prepared muffin cups (place the rolls snugly into the pecans/sticky sauce).
  • Place the muffin pan on a cookie sheet with sides. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper lined serving plate (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon). Rewarm the remaining sticky sauce and drizzle it over the buns. Sprinkle the buns with salt and serve warm.

Notes

*Method adapted from [Ina Garten | http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/easy-sticky-buns-recipe.html].
View Recipe Comments

Cheat’s Brown Butter and Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Umm, okay. Can’t wait to hear your answers!

Oh, and these Salted Maple Pecan Sticky Buns – I need…you need! Let’s make these! <–DO IT.

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Comments

  1. I clicked on a post that offered Ina’s top Christmas dishes.

    How did that get me to this site? Misleading and not cool.

  2. 4 stars
    Comes together quickly and very yummy, not too sweet. But would definitely cut the butter in the sticky sauce – it bubbled over in my oven and is so much that you taste mostly that if it’s not served hot.

  3. 1 star
    These did not turn out well, very gummy and dripping/oozing butter. Great idea, but didn’t work out well for me.

    1. Hi Pam,
      Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear you had some issues. Please let me know if there is anything that I can help with! xT

  4. Yikes, what a mess. Very delicious, but my caramel overflowed like crazy out of the muffin tins once they started to bake, pouring caramel all over my oven. Definitely put the muffin tin on a pan before putting in the oven.

    1. Hey Sara,
      Thanks so much for making the recipe, I am so glad it was enjoyed! Sorry, these are quite messy! Have a great week! xTieghan

  5. Half Baked to the rescue again! Delish and simple enough that I could pull off after years absent from the kitchen! I was surprised by the amount of butter in these… per recipe 1.5 tbs per roll! Mine left little puddles in the tin after removing. Making again I would cut the butter in half and it would probably be just right for chewy, syrupy goodness.

    1. Just made these on a snowed in day. Perfect! Followed the recipe exactly except just used 4T butter for the browned butter so I didn’t have to open another stick.
      One the best things I’ve ever made. Wish I could send a picture.
      Thank you!

      1. Hi Hannah,
        Awesome!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for making it! Happy Holidays!? xT

  6. This recipe looks awesome and SO easy! One question I have is whether you think it would work as well to use Pillsbury crescent dough instead of puff pastry for the rolls? Thank you!

    1. Hey Jordan, I am not familiar with those rolls so it is hard to say. I do think it might work, but I don’t think the textures will be very similar. I think you will have more of a roll like texture. I am sure still delicious. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much!! xTieghan ?

  7. Hi! I’ve made these several times for guests and they rave about them! Do you think I could make them and store them in the muffin pan the night before, then just bake in the morning?

    1. Hey Sarah!! So happy you love these! I have never tried making them the night before, but I do not see why that would not work. I’d let them sit on the counter while you preheat the oven to come to room temp. Let me know if you have questions, thanks!! 🙂

  8. Major warning to others … DO NOT put all the maple butter sauce in the muffin cups. Muffin pan should NOT be full to the rim with liquid when the rolls are placed in the pan. Right now my house is filled with the smoke from burning sugar on the bottom of my oven. Silly mistakes by an experienced cook: no baking sheet below the muffin pan (yes, this was in the instructions!) and overfilling the muffin cups. My eyes are burning even with every window in the house open, but at least I’ll have some sticky buns to enjoy while my oven is self-cleaning later!

      1. Lesson learned (again) … follow the directions! 🙂 And the sticky buns were amazing. Ridiculously over the top sticky gooey yummy-ness!

  9. Oh gosh, these look truly amazing! Brown butter+maple+pecans, you can’t beat that!
    Recipe saved on my to do list for this week!
    Thanks for your gorgeous and yummy recipes!