Apple-Pecan Sticky Buns


These Apple-Pecan Sticky Buns are the exact reason why I’m sitting here drinking vegetable juice right now. You see…I simply could not control myself. I ate half of the pan before they cooled.

When I regained consciousness I packed them up and left them with my friend.

Ooey gooey carbs are mixed with crunchy pecans and sweet cinnamony apples in this seasonal treat. It’s what dreams are made of, I’m sure.

You can see why I almost pulled a Miranda and doused them in dishwasher soap.

But that would be wasteful…so I just made the Apple Pecan Sticky Buns become someone else’s problem.

That’s what friends are for.

And we’re off!

It all starts with peeling & slicing up apples. We’re going to bake them first.

They go on a parchment lined baking sheet with butter & brown sugar. BAKE.

We need to make dough, glaze & pecan topping with these ingredients.

Dough first! In a stand mixer mix the sugar, baking powder, flour & butter together.

In a measuring cup, whisk half of the cream with the eggs.

Pour the cream mixture into the dry buttery mixture and process until dough comes together.

Topping time! Mix pecans with cinnamon & brown sugar. Get out a little butter too.

I could seriously eat this on its own.

The apples are done! We bake them so they are nice and soft.

Place the dough on a floured surface. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle.

Top the dough with the pecan topping.

Add the apples and then top with pats of butter. Now we roll it. Lengthwise!

And we cut slices. I started out using a 9×9 baking tin but my rolls were quite uneven.

So I put them in a 9inch cake pan. I ended up with more rolls than the recipe called for.

WHATEVER. I do what I want.

Now we make the caramel glaze for the top!

Cream, brown sugar, butter & honey go into a saucepan. We add salt at the end!

The rolls are baked. But WAIT. There’s more.

MMMM glazey!

Let the buns cool briefly and spoon the caramel glaze all over the top.

What’s nice about these sticky buns is that when you serve them up, the bottoms are crunchy and there’s a lot of glaze that pools on the bottom. I’m quite obsessed. I know that your family/overnight guests/friends will be in HEAVEN if you serve these warm.

One last shot.

Juice diet begins. NOW.

Apple-Pecan Sticky Buns

makes 9 servings

recipe adapted from Rachael Ray Magazine

  • 2 apples peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) butter, softened
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons honey

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees . Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Place the apples, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 tablespoon butter on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet; toss to coat. Cover loosely with foil and roast until tender, 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees .

Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, blend the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt at low speed. Add 5 tablespoons butter and mix until crumbly.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with 1/2 cup cream, then mix into the dry ingredients.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to form a 9-inch rectangle. In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup brown sugar, the pecans and cinnamon. Cut up 2 tablespoons butter and dot the dough. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top and cover evenly with the roasted apples. Roll up the dough, jelly roll-style, and cut crosswise into 9 slices; place the slices cut side down in the prepared baking pan. Bake until golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, bring the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the honey to a boil, stirring. Whisk until reduced, about 2 minutes. Let cool slightly. Drizzle the sauce over the warm buns.

  • Averie @ Averie Cooks

    The fact that these are yeast-free sticky buns, Tracy, amazing job! WOW

    I am so impressed! Pinning these babies b/c they look fabulous!

  • Clara

    Pinned. Tweeted. All of the above. Definitely making these over the holidays! xoxox

  • Christina

    Gaaaah, I’ve been waiting on these all my life! (or y’know, since you instagrammed them)

  • Abby@ Totes Delish

    I’m LOVING this serious apple crisp/cinnamon roll action happening here! I always give these kind of dishes to someone else, their problem now!!

  • rosygirl

    tracy. you’re a bad, bad lady.

  • Natalia

    When will I ever not be on a diet so I can bake this and eat them !!!! And Joy the Baker has done some serious stuff with apples and I feel like a baking animal!!! If it wasn’t because I don’t trust myself to have a tiny piece!!!!

  • Allyn

    These look SO good. We have been obsessed with apples all fall. I bet I could make this work with monkey bread too (http://lollingabout.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/foodie-friday-monkey-bread/)… yes please!
    These pictures are such a pretty start to a dreary Monday.

  • cindy

    OMGzzzz, TRACY! I made, exactly yesterday, an apple-walnut pull-apart bread. I love the way your food brain works. I already love everything abou these rolls!

  • jaime @ sweet road

    I trust you enough on this to see that these sticky buns are dangerous. I’ll have to make them for a friend or a party!

  • Susan

    Since it is not a yeast based dough, would it work to get it all ready the night before and just pop it in the oven in the morning? I am thinking that would. I just know my family is not patient enough to wait the time it would take for me to do the whole process in the morning.

    • Tracy

      I’m pretty sure they would. Some of the brown sugar would melt, but I’m sure after you bake it, they would be extra caramely.

      • Susan

        I’ll let you know how it works!

      • Susan

        It works quite nicely. I made the rolls last night, covered the pan with foil, and stuck them in the fridge. I did not notice any melting of hte sugar, but that may be because I stuck them in the fridge and it just did not have a chance before they got cold.

        This morning, I popped them in the oven. My husband was up earlier so he got the oven started for me. While they were baking, I made the caramel glaze. Let them cool a few minutes after baking, drizzled them with the glaze, and we ate!

        They were a hit. In fact, my son just got home from his morning soccer league and is finishing them off. (If I had just played three hours of soccer, I would be eating more of them too.)

        • Tracy

          That’s great news! Thank you for reporting back. I had a feeling it would work out fine!!!

  • tianna @suffocated bliss

    These look absolutely amazing!

    – tianna 🙂

  • Kate

    YUM. That is all.

  • Ashley

    These look insane!! I love the gooey glaze. YUM.

  • Carly

    Holy crap.

  • Karen

    The sticky buns look delicious!!! Can’t wait to get home and make them.

  • Theresa

    Confession. I’ve never had sticky buns! I meant to stop by tartine when I was in San Francisco to try theirs. I’d love to try your recipe! They look amazing!

  • yellow08

    OMG!!! These look amazing! I’m going to try them for Thanksgiving brunch. I have to eat clean from now until Thanksgiving so I can really enjoy them *puts down mini snickers bar*

  • Katie @ Blonde Ambition

    They have apples and nuts….so they’re… healthy? Right?

    (‘Tis the season for pulling a Miranda. For. SURE.)

  • Lucy

    Oh my these look amazing. I just bought a Christmas spice mix & was planning to use it in making cinnamon scrolls, scratch that idea I think I’ll use the spice mix to replace the cinnamon in these.

  • Kimberlee

    these look fantastic. I’ll have to put them on my weekend breakfast list.

  • jen @ the baked life

    my gawd woman.

    the ooey, gooey, glazy, looks totally drinkable.

  • Ruthy @ omeletta

    These.look.incredible! Have been thinking about making sticky buns for ages and this is just the push I need. Perfect for these now-cold Fall mornings! Plus, love the bracelets 🙂

  • Kelly Senyei (Just a Taste)

    There are no words (almost) to describe how tempting these look! I just found heaven in a single blog post and cannot wait to discover more of your culinary creations. You are seriously talented!

  • Liz

    Oh my goodness! I could just shove my face into that pan and eat these all up. They look too good for words! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  • Christine

    whoa…how does this work with no yeast??

    also, most sticky bun recipes that i’ve seen instruct the sticky stuff to be put on the bottom of the pan first (and then topped with the bread)before baking – is there a difference ?

    • Tracy

      It just works with no yeast. There’s no rising. They’re not as fluffy as yeasted sticky buns.

      Since there is so much glaze put on top of the buns the bottoms get gooey as well.

  • Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar

    Oh boy…I could eat these for every meal. YUM!

  • Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe

    Goodness gracious, these look hella dangerous. And can I tell you how wonderful I think it is that they are made without yeast?! Definitely giving these a shot in the VERY near future.

  • Leah

    Ohhh you had me at brown sugar and butter!! These sound amazing!!! I will definitely bookmark this to make in the future!

  • Vicky

    Oh wow! These look incredible!
    I’m going to feed these to some very carb-conscious gym junkie boys…mwuahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA

  • Katie

    WHOA that didn’t take much convincing. That last picture put me in a catatonic state. Still not sure what my next move is, but I know I need these in the near future. And could really use a couple of them right now during this election…

    • Caitlin

      seriously, Katie, this election needs to be over already, or stress eating will be at an all-time high (for me, at least)

  • Laura

    As a general rule, I LOVE sticky buns, but I always want more gooey sauce. These look like the clear solution to this life long problem of mine. So.much.sauce. !

  • Ashton

    I need this in my face.

  • Sha

    Tracy Shutterbean, if I wanted to lessen the sugar for the glaze, would you recommend it, and if so, how much should I use? And should I use less of the rest too? Too-sweet things just do not go down well with me and I absolutely would like for these buns to go down well. Halp?

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  • Mel

    My 12 yr old (going on 32)just made these. YUMMY! To quote her – Best thing I’ve made so far!- She also made your galette except with apples and your thumbprint cookies. They all turned out but these were…ooh, got to go seconds are calling my name.

  • Becky

    I made these tonight for a cinnamon-bun bake-off… and I won!!! They’d be a LOT too much for just my family, so I was happy to share with a crowd. THANK YOU!

  • Rachel

    I just made these for our Thanksgiving breakfast- SO TASTY! Thanks Tracy!

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  • Wanda

    I spent an hour looking for a perfect pecan breakfast bread for Christmas morning. This settled it. Thanks for the recipe. It’s Pinned and ready for tomorrow morning.

  • Wanda

    I spent an hour looking for a perfect “pecan breakfast bread” for Christmas morning. This settled it. Thanks for the recipe. It’s Pinned and ready for tomorrow morning.

  • Lisa

    I really should not have found this, it looks like trouble…. LOL. Love your pictures, they really are mouthwatering. Thanks for sharing. I’ve pinned. This was my first pin.

    I’ll be trying this soon.

    Lisa

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  • Marilin

    Wow these were amazing!! I loved that there was plenty of filling and gooey sauce but no messing with yeast, thanks for sharing 🙂

  • krissy

    I just made these to take to my bf’s parents while we were staying with them for the weekend and everyone RAVED about them nonstop. His mom ate one for breakfast and one for lunch the first day. Thanks so much for a major check in the win column for me. His family makes almost EVERYTHING from a box and it’s my mission to show them the work is worth it when it comes to food from scratch (or close to it). You rock Tracy Shutterbean!

    • Tracy

      WIN!!!!!! I’m so glad I could help you win brownie points. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • Dayna Mailach

    DYINGGGG to make these now!

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