Sticky Buns!

Brace yourself. I am about to drop a million calories on you. Sorry about that, but really, it’s worth it. Do you need a good excuse for trying this recipe? How about Easter Brunch? House guests? A house-bound friend? How about I’m going to taste one and only one and give the rest to a skinny friend? I chose the latter- and carried through with it too. I simply had to give these a try- thinking I would serve them next Christmas. Don’t laugh, I am the mother of all organizers; ask anyone.

This is another of Ina Garten’s recipes. Shame on her. And on me for downloading it. I’m not going to enter it in my food program because across the bottom of the page it lists list calories, plus a nutritional analysis. (Hah- that’s a good one.) I don’t want to know how bad these buns are for me; I don’t want anyone to ask me either. The only thing anyone needs to know is this: they are to die for.

Another thing, as if taste isn’t enough incentive, they only take about 10 minutes to put together and 30 to bake. These are nothing like the old fashioned sticky buns- which used to take all day because they used a yeast dough. This recipe uses puff pastry. Which makes the calorie count worse, but let's not talk about that.

In the photos below it looks as though there are way too many raisins. As it happened, the only raisins I had on hand were some Monucca raisins, those extra big ones, which I had purchased at a speciality store a couple weeks ago. You will want to use Thompson raisins-the regular kind that come in a box at the grocery store. Also- I sprayed my muffin tins briefly with Pam which Ina does not suggest but I think it helped ease the buns from the pan. If any buns needed extra help, I used a spoon; there was a little of the brown sugar mixture and a small amount of pecans left in some of the muffin cups, so I scooped that up with the spoon and dumped it on top of the each bun. It had not hardened yet so it was easy. No doubt that’s why Ina Garten suggests cooling five minutes and no more.

If you are trying to stick to a diet, I apologize in advance; you could always do what I did- give 11 of these little gems away. Immediately. Before you have a chance to reconsider. But I just had to share the recipe with you because you will love them for Sunday breakfast or brunch for guests. And frankly, two of you could eat the entire bunch in no time flat. After all, they are small. Or so you can tell yourself.

Sticky Buns
(Adapted from Barefoot Contessa , Back to Basics)

Ingredients:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped in large pieces
1 package (17.3 ounces- 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted in the refrigerator

Ingredients for the filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup raisins

Method:
Preheat your oven to 400°. Place a 12 cup standard muffin tin on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil. (I used two 6 cup muffin tins.)
Using an electric hand mixer beat together the 12 tablespoons butter and the 1/2 cup brown sugar. Place one rounded tablespoon of this mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans on top of the butter/sugar mixture.
Be sure to have your filling ingredients all ready to go.
Lightly flour your counter. Unfold 1 sheet (leave the other in the refrigerator) with the folds horizontal. Brush with the melted and cooled butter. Leaving a 1 inch border all around, sprinkle half the brown sugar and half the raisins on the puff pastry. Starting at the bottom, roll up the puff pastry, fairly snugly, like a jelly roll. Trim each end of the roll and then carefully cut the roll into 6 equal pieces. Place each piece, spiral side up in 6 of the muffin tins. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry.


Bake for 30 minutes until the buns are golden to dark brown on top. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 5 minutes- no more-no less. Invert the pan on a piece of parchment paper. You may have to use a spoon to ease the filling and pecans onto the buns. Cool completely.