Consisting of pillowy soft cinnamon buns covered in a rich maple caramel sauce and buttery pecans, these overnight maple pecan sticky buns are simply divine.
I have always been a fan of sticky buns, especially ones made with nuts. As a child, I have fond memories of ordering the cinnamon bun that came with pecans when my parents would treat me with a trip to Cinnabon. Yes, I was that weird kid who loved nuts in her desserts. I really love the contrast of a soft, sweet cinnamon bun and the crunch from the nuts. Yum, my mouth is watering just thinking about a nutty sticky bun. After years of telling myself that I will make sticky buns from scratch one day, I decided to finally just do it! Based on how delicious these overnight maple pecan sticky buns came out, I foresee myself making this cozy recipe frequently!
(NOTE: The full recipe with exact measurements is down at the bottom of this post in the recipe card.)
How to Make Overnight Maple Pecan Sticky Buns
Sticky Buns Dough
Key Ingredients
- Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- Actice Dry Yeast – may use instant dry yeast just follow the instruction on back of package.
- Raw Cane/Granulated Sugar
- Salt
- Unsalted Butter
- Egg
- Whole Milk
- Whisk – in a large mixing bowl, add the flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, and salt. Whisk ingredients together to combine. In a small mixing bowl, add the egg and melted butter. Whisk ingredients to combine.
- Warm – in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, warm up milk until an instant-read thermometer register between 110-115F(43-46C). Alternatively, milk may be warmed in the microwave at 30 seconds intervals until it reaches temperature of 110-115F(43-46C). Take care to not overheat the milk as this will kill the yeast.
- Dissolve – pour warmed milk and 1/2 Tablespoon sugar into the bowl of a standmixer and whisk to combine. Next, sprinkle yeast on top of milk mixture and gently whisk. Allow yeast mixture to sit untouched for 8-10 minutes. It is ready to use once it appears foamy and takes on a fermented fragrance.
- Mix – with the dough hook attached to stand mixer, add the whisked egg and melted butter to yeast mixture and mix on low to combine. Next, add the dry ingredients into wet mixture and continue to mix until a shaggy looking dough forms.
- Knead – increase mixer speed to medium and knead dough for 6 minutes. The resulting dough should be soft, smooth and slight tacky to touch.
- Rest and Rise – transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Grease a large mixing bowl with 1 teaspoon of oil. Place dough in greased bowl and gently swirl and flip it around the bowl so that all sides of the dough including the top and bottom are coated with some of the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise for at least 1 hour in a warm area of kitchen or until it has doubled in size.
Maple Pecan Caramel Sauce
Key Ingredients
- Maple Syrup – for the best maple flavor in these overnight maple pecan sticky buns use high quality maple syrup, preferably grade B.
- Heavy Cream
- Brown Sugar – I used a combination of dark and light brown sugar but you may used all dark brown or all light brown sugar.
- Unsalted Butter
- Whole Pecans
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt
How To Make Maple Caramel Sauce
- Add – heavy cream, maple syrup, salt, dark and light brown sugar to a medium-sized saucepan. Whisk to combine.
- Cook – under medium heat, cook sauce ingredients for 5-6 minutes while whisking intermittently until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
- Whisk – vanilla extract and butter into sauce until butter is completely melted and incorporated into sauce.
- Cool – maple caramel sauce to room temperature before using.
Bringing It All Together – Overnight Maple Pecan Sticky Buns
- Prepare Baking Pan – lightly grease a 9 x 9 inch square baking pan. Place whole pecans in an even layer and pour cooled maple caramel sauce over the top. Set pan aside.
- Mix – in small mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup sugar and ground cinnamon. Mix ingredients together to combine.
- Deflate dough – gently knock down risen dough and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Lightly cover the top of dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
- Roll out dough – remove plastic wrap. Sprinkle top of dough with some flour and roll into roughly a 16 x 12 inch rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick with the longest side of dough facing you.
- Add filling – with a pastry brush, spread softened butter over the surface of rolled dough. Next, evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over butter taking care to leave a 1/2 inch border from the side dough furthest from you.
- Shape into Log – starting at the long side of dough facing you, tightly roll dough onto itself until you reach the opposite end. Pinch the joining sides of dough to seal. You will end up with a log shape, about 16 inches long.
- Cut, Transfer and Refrigerate – with a sharp knife, cut log into 9 equal pieces and arrange evenly spaced out on top of maple pecan sauce with the cut side facing upward. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate buns overnight, about 8-12 hours.
- Bake – preheat oven to 350F (180C) and bake overnight maple pecan sticky buns straight from the fridge for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through bake time. Buns are ready when a toothpick inserted into the center of one them comes out clean. If buns starts to brown too quickly before they are done, place a piece of aluminum foil on top to prevent overbrowning.
- Invert and Serve – allow overnight maple pecan sticky buns to cool in pan for at least 5 minutes before flipping buns over onto a serving platter/cooling rack. Serve warm.
How to Store Overnight Maple Pecan Sticky Buns
- Baked overnight maple pecan sticky buns are best eaten the day it is baked. However, leftover buns stored in an airtight container will last up to 2-3 days in the refrigerator or 1 month in the freezer. When ready to eat frozen overnight maple pecan sticky buns, simply thaw in the refrigerator until no longer frozen and warm up in a toaster oven of microwave to serve warm.
Looking for More Tasty Recipes, Checkout the Links Below:
- Maple Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Brown Sugar Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Baked Maple Donuts
If you make this recipe, please make sure to let me know by tagging me @nourishedendeavors on Instagram or by leaving a comment in the comment section down below so I can find out how this recipe turned out for you! If you have any questions, ask away! I would love to answer your questions! Happy baking!
PrintOvernight Maple Pecan Sticky Buns
Consisting of pillowy soft cinnamon buns covered in a rich maple caramel sauce and buttery pecans, these overnight maple pecan sticky buns are simply divine.
- Prep Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
- Cook Time: 40 Minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 9 Buns 1x
Ingredients
Sticky Buns Dough
- 3 Cups (375 g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, Spooned and Leveled, Plus More For Dusting and Rolling Dough
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons (19 g) Granulated Sugar, Divided
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Active/Instant Dry Yeast
- 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Large Egg, Room Temperature
- 3/4 Cup (177 ml) Whole Milk, Warmed to 110-115F (43-46C)
- 3 Tablespoons (1.5 oz) Unsalted Butter, Melted, Cooled to Room Temperature
- 1 Teaspoon Neural Flavored Oil
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 1/2 Cup (100 g) Granulated Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (1.5 oz) Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
Maple Caramel Sauce
- 1/4 Cup + 2 Tablespoons (90 ml) Heavy Cream
- 1/4 Cup (52 g) Light Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup (52 g) Dark Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup (60 ml) Pure Maple Syrup
- 3 Tablespoons (1.5 oz) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature, Cubed
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 3/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 Cup (4 oz) Whole Pecans
Instructions
Sticky Buns Dough
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, and salt. Whisk ingredients together to combine. In a small mixing bowl, add the egg and melted butter. Whisk ingredients to combine.
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, warm up milk until an instant-read thermometer registers between 110-115F(43-46C). Alternatively, milk may be warmed in the microwave at 30 seconds intervals until it reaches the temperature of 110-115F(43-46C). Take care to not overheat the milk as this will kill the yeast.
- Pour warmed milk into the bowl of a stand mixer. Next, add 1/2 tablespoon sugar and yeast into bowl with milk and whisk to combine. Allow yeast mixture to sit untouched for 8-10 minutes. It is ready to use once it appears foamy and takes on a fermented fragrance.
- With the dough hook attached to stand mixer, add the whisked egg and melted butter to yeast mixture and mix on low to combine. Next, add the dry ingredients into wet mixture and continue to mix until a shaggy looking dough forms.
- Increase mixer speed to medium and knead dough for 6 minutes. The resulting dough should be soft, smooth and slight tacky to touch. (If you find dough is not holding its shape and is too difficult to handle, mix in additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time. Just enough that dough can hold its shape. Dough should still be soft and slightly tacky to tough.)
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball.
- Grease a large mixing bowl with 1 teaspoon of oil. Place dough in greased bowl and gently swirl and flip it around the bowl so that all sides of the dough including the top and bottom are coated with some of the oil.
- Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise for at least 1 hour in a warm area of kitchen or until it has doubled in size.
Maple Caramel Sauce
- In a medium-sized saucepan, add heavy cream, maple syrup, salt, dark and light brown sugar. Whisk to combine.
- Under medium heat, cook sauce ingredients for 5-6 minutes while whisking intermittently until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
- Whisk vanilla extract and butter into sauce until butter is completely melted and incorporated into sauce.
- Cool maple caramel sauce to room temperature before using.
Assembly
- Lightly grease a 9 x 9 inch square baking pan. Place whole pecans in an even layer and pour cooled maple caramel sauce over the top. Set pan aside.
- In small mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup sugar and ground cinnamon. Mix ingredients together to combine.
- Gently knock down risen dough and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Lightly cover the top of dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
- Remove plastic wrap. Sprinkle top of dough with some flour and roll into roughly a 16 x 12 inch rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick with the longest side of dough facing you.
- With a pastry brush, spread softened butter over the surface of rolled dough. Next, evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over butter taking care to leave a 1/2 inch border from the side dough furthest from you.
- Starting at the long side of dough facing you, tightly roll dough onto itself until you reach the opposite end. Pinch the joining sides of dough to seal. You will end up with a log shape, about 16 inches long.
- With a sharp knife, cut log into 9 equal pieces and arrange evenly spaced out on top of maple pecan sauce with the cut side facing upward. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate buns overnight, about 8-12 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and bake overnight maple pecan sticky buns straight from the fridge for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through bake time. Buns are ready when a toothpick inserted into the center of one them comes out clean. If buns starts to brown too quickly before they are done, place a piece of aluminum foil on top to prevent overbrowning.
- Allow overnight maple pecan sticky buns to cool in pan for 5 -10 minutes before flipping buns over onto a serving platter/cooling rack. Serve warm.
Notes
- To bake overnight maple pecan sticky buns the day it is made instead of the next day, arrange cut buns in prepared baking pan and place in a warm area of kitchen to rise for a second time, at least 30-45 minutes or until buns have doubled in size.
- Baked overnight maple pecan sticky buns are best eaten the day it is baked. However, leftover buns stored in an airtight container will last up to 2-3 days in the refrigerator or 1 month in the freezer. When ready to eat frozen overnight maple pecan sticky buns, simply thaw in the refrigerator until no longer frozen and warm up in a toaster oven of microwave to serve warm.
- Overnight maple pecan sticky buns may be baked straight from the fridge the next day; there is no need to bring to room temperature before baking.
- If buns start to brown too quickly before they are done, place a piece of aluminum foil on top to prevent overbrowning.
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