Christmas breakfast is my favorite breakfast of the entire year. It is joyful, festive, laughter-filled, and of course-delicious. It is a tradition in my family that we all go to my parents' house for Christmas brunch and to exchange gifts between the "secret" names that were drawn. We usually do pretty well at keeping our recipient in the dark as to who is buying for them each year. For the most part. We aren't awesome secret-keepers, but we are most excellent breakfast-eaters. My Mom makes an impresssive spread without breaking a sweat. Decades of hosting Sunday lunch for a crowd every week lands you in the elite status of hostessing. Plus, she includes Christmas cookies on her pre-brunch appetizer platter. Yes, she's that awesome. We have a huge variety of dishes, from breakfast casseroles to homemade waffles made to order, and the pièce de résistance -her own, improved version of an Orange Julius. Someday I will snatch her recipe and share it with you all. For now, it remains Mom's untouchable signature Christmas morning specialty.
I want a Christmas-worthy breakfast tradition of my own, so Pecan Sticky Buns it is. Pecan Sticky Buns are the ultimate sort of marriage between cinnamon rolls and monkey bread. Truth be told, I was introduced to monkey bread by my darling husband while we were first dating. His family is pretty die-hard about their monkey bread. They looooove it. I like monkey bread, don't get me wrong, but it's not in my blood like it is for my husband. I can't see past the refrigerator biscuits anymore. I've seen the light that is from-scratch dough and there's no going back. I lean more toward cinnamon rolls if given the choice, but I like them best without the icing.That's where Pecan Sticky Buns come in. Cinnamon and sugar layered between the coils of homemade dough, topped with a brown-sugary caramel-y glaze studded with pecans. If I could sing, I would write a song about them. (Maybe to the tune of Phoebe's famous tune, Smelly Cat? "Sticky Buns, Sticky Buns, I sure love eating you...")
Whether you like my song or not, I think you'll like these sticky buns. Roll them, bake them, flip them, then eat them. The top of the buns are the side toward the bottom of the pan, soaking up all of the sweet, sticky, caramel-y goodness. You're going to want to lick the pan. It's Christmas, go for it. Just save room for dessert, and an Orange Julius.
You might wonder why the dough recipe calls for yeast AND baking powder AND baking soda. The purpose of this is to help the dough rise faster and turn out a bit lighter than it would with yeast alone, and it works really well in this instance because it's also nice not to have several hours of rising time before breakfast. I much preferred this version to my practice batches with yeast only.
Pecan Sticky Buns
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 12 buns 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 4 cups all-purpose flour + ½ cup additional
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups chopped pecans
- ¾ cup additional sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, combine the milk, vegetable oil, ½ cup sugar. Heat over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved and liquid is warm, about 110 degrees F.
- Add yeast and 4 cups of flour, stirring to combine.
- Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel for 1 hour.
- Stir in additional ½ cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cover and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a skillet or saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 stick of unsalted butter. Stir in brown sugar and light corn syrup. Simmer, stirring constantly, until sugar has dissolved and mixture has thickened and become syrupy. Add pecans and vanilla and stir to combine. Keep warm.
- Combine the remaining ¾ cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon in a small bowl.
- In a separate saucepan, melt remaining 1 stick of unsalted butter.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into a very large rectangle, about 15x30-inches. Spread melted butter on dough and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Roll up dough beginning with the long edge, forming a roll 30-inches in length.
- Spread pecan mixture into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Slice roll into 2-inch thick slices and arrange on top of pecan mixture. You should end up with about 12 rolls.
- Bake 25-30 minutes, until golden.
- To serve: Invert entire pan of buns onto a large serving platter, or individually onto serving plates. (The side of the bun on the bottom of the pan (pecan side) is the top of the bun.)
Notes
Adapted from Pioneer Woman
Do you have any favorite Christmas morning traditions?
Abbi
YUM!
marcella
These look beautiful and delicious! For years we used to have a breakfast cobbler - sort of a cross between a cobbler and a coffee cake for breakfast Christmas morning. So delicious but too much for two of us now. Maybe I'll have to play with the recipe to make it in a small size.
The first time I had monkey bread it was from scratch - I think the recipe was in that cookbook with the red and white check cover (Better Homes and Gardens I think) maybe the scratch version would satisfy everyone? I suspect someone tried the scratch version and thought hey it would be so speedy with canned biscuits...
Mandy
Marcella, Breakfast cobbler sounds divine! I hope you find a way to enjoy it again soon. I am not sure if Hubby's family has tried the from-scratch version of monkey bread, but I think I will soon. Thanks for visiting! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.