Easy Sticky Buns

I love homemade baked baked goods and am especially fond of sticky buns. Even more so than just cinnamon rolls. The sticky syrup on top and the pecans . . . heaven! But I like easy as well especially for breakfast. These sticky buns certainly fit the bill -- the hardest part of the recipe is remembering to thaw the puff pastry.

Since there were only four of us, I only made half the recipe and they were gone in a thrice -- I think we COULD have eaten twelve of them. They certainly are addictive. If you want to impress your family or your coworkers, these certainly would.

And if you want easy in the morning, these can be assembled the night before, covered and refrigerated. Then for breakfast, all you need to do is pop them in the oven.

The recipe came from my favorite, Ina Garten, and her latest cookbook, Back to Basics. It is definitely a keeper.

Easy Sticky Buns
(From Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics)

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces
1 package (17.3 ounces/ 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted

FOR THE FILLING:
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1½ teaspoons of the cinnamon, and ½ cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the roll about ½ inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1½ inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 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 (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon) and cool completely.

NOTE: Be sure to place muffin tins on a cookie sheet as some of the butter came out of mine -- without the cookie sheet I would have had a mess on the oven floor!