maple sticky buns

Breakfast and brunch have never been more indulgent and delicious than with these make-ahead maple pecan sticky buns! For step-by-step photos, scroll down below the recipe.

Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

(240 milliliters) whole milk*

(135 grams) granulated sugar

eggs,

salt

(250 grams) chopped pecans

(1 stick; 115 grams) unsalted butter

(135 grams) packed light or dark brown sugar

(60 milliliters) whole milk

(80 milliliters) pure maple syrup

(100 grams) packed light or dark brown sugar

cinnamon

Make the dough

Heat milk to about 95°F (35°C)&#8211; use microwave or stovetop. Pour the warm milk into the bowl of a stand electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment (OR you can use a handheld mixer OR no mixer, but a stand mixer is ideal). Manually whisk in the sugar and yeast. Cover with a towel and let sit until the yeast is foamy, about 5-10 minutes. If the yeast does not dissolve and foam, start over with active yeast. On low speed, beat in the softened butter until it is slightly broken up. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the salt. The butter won&#8217;t really be mixing into the mixture, so don&#8217;t be alarmed if it stays in pieces. On low speed, gradually add the flour. Once it is all added, beat on medium speed until a soft dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is soft and supple, about 6 minutes longer. *If you do not have a stand-mixer with a hook attachment, knead the dough by hand in this step.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it with your hands for 1 minute. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)

Meanwhile, make the topping

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9&#215;13 inch baking dish. Spread pecans in an even layer in the pan. Set aside. Combine the rest of the topping ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted, then bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, give it a quick whisk, then pour over pecans. Set aside.

Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using a rolling pin, roll into a 12&#215;18 inch rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick.

Add the filling

Spread softened butter all over dough. Top evenly with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Tightly roll up the dough to form an 18-inch-long log. Cut into 12 even rolls. Arrange them on top of the pecan topping.

Cover the rolls with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm environment again for about 45-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°F (191°C). Bake rolls for 25 minutes or until they are golden brown. About halfway through the bake time, I like to cover the rolls loosely with aluminum foil so the tops don&#8217;t over-brown. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Cool for 5 minutes.

Using oven mitts, carefully invert the pan onto a large serving platter. The warm topping will deliciously melt down the sides. Serve warm.

I love ALL your recipes. You're godsend i swear.. quarantine life has forced me to get back into something I love and that's baking! Fortunately I found your site when covid hit and I cannot put my wish and flour down. 
This recipe was hands down amazing - followed it very closely with a few substitutions:
Subbed maple syrup with honey (1:1). Added a dash of allspice and nutmeg to the filling. Used 2% with a bit of leftover heavy cream because I didn't have whole milk around. I took a chance on my yeast mixture which wasn't fully foamy but the rolls still came out perfect. Baked it on convection 375° for 18 minutes, didn't cover with foil and it came out 10/10. Perfect amount of golden edges and gooey inside. Be sure to pack these rolls right next to each other prior to baking because they're fun to pull apart!
I've yet to turn my baking dish over and have the pecans at the top - I don't have the courage!!!

I am a huge fan of your recipes as well...nearly always turn out amazing.  A few things I did to modify...I used bread flour instead of all purpose.  I always use bread flour when making a brioche bread and this is a bit like a brioche.  It made the dough light, feathery and amazing.  Sadly, my topping seamed to have broken too.  I whisked it considerably as I stirred it on the stovetop as it boiled for the 2 minutes per recipe.  I did another vigorous whisk prior to pouring it into my pan.  I baked at 375 per recipe and have an internal thermometer in my oven to make sure it’s accurate.  I’m wondering if 2/3rd of a cup of dark brown sugar is too much?  Thinking of reducing that to 1/2 cup for the next time I try?  Definitively tented my rolls at 14 minutes in...otherwise they would be way too brown.  What else would you recommend to get the topping to stop breaking?  It came out party nice caramel and part clumpy.  Hmmm?

Hi Sally - I just made these for dessert tonight (because why wait until breakfast?) and they are oh so decadent and wonderful! Another winner from your site. I had made your cinnamon rolls once before so I was fairly confident about making the dough. I had to sub half and half for the milk since that’s all I had and that worked just fine. I made a note to toast the pecans (I use raw pecans) so that they will stand up to the liquid better and have a deeper flavor.

These were so great! I made with almond milk instead of whole milk because it's what I had and everything still turned out perfectly! It's cold here right now so the dough took longer to rise, and I had to do the second rise in the oven with a shallow dish of boiled water, but besides that everything worked exactly as expected and they're so yummy!

I made the recipe exactly as shown. There seems to be too much liquid for the topping. If I were to make this again, I would omit the milk or cut it in half.

Awesome.  Dough is very soft.  I used the overnight method.  I think I need to increase baking time by 3 minutes for my oven.   Thanks for a great recipe

Wanted to love this recipe! Followed it to the letter, but like other commenters, the topping mixture appeared to curdle when heating as per instructions. I thought it might just look a little funny, so went ahead with the recipe anyways. Unfortunately the topping was terrible, and almost smelt like cheese (no, my milk was not off!). Whole batch and Christmas morning breakfast ruined 

The amount of liquid for the topping seemed too much. I only used half of it. The tasted great and next time I will omit the milk in the topping all tighter.

(240 milliliters) whole milk, warmed to about 100°F (38°C)

(135 grams) granulated sugar, divided

(563 grams) all-purpose flour flour

(8 Tbsp; 113 grams) unsalted butter

(60 milliliters) pure maple syrup

(4 Tbsp; 56 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

Prepare the dough

Whisk the warm milk, 2 Tablespoons sugar, and the yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow mixture to sit for about 5 minutes or until foamy on top. *If you do not own a mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula is a better choice.*

On medium speed, beat in the remaining sugar (which should be 1/2 cup, or 100g) and the softened butter until it is slightly broken up. Add the eggs and salt and beat on medium speed until combined. The butter won&#8217;t really be mixing into the mixture, so don&#8217;t be alarmed if it stays in pieces. Switch the mixer down to low speed and with it running, add 1 cup of flour at a time, making sure it&#8217;s fully incorporated before adding the next. After 4 cups have been added, add the last 1/2 cup and beat until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes. Dough will be soft.

Knead the dough

 Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.

1st Rise

Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or use nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter and it takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9&#215;13-inch glass baking dish or metal baking dish. Spread chopped pecans in an even layer in the pan. Set aside. Combine the rest of the topping ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted, then bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, give it a quick whisk, then pour over pecans. Set aside.

Roll out the dough

Punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 12&#215;18-inch rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick. If the dough keeps shrinking as you roll it out, stop what you&#8217;re doing, cover it lightly, and let it rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten. When you return to the dough, it should stretch out much easier.

For the filling

Spread the softened butter all over the dough. The softer the butter is, the easier it is to spread in this step. (Microwave it for a few seconds to soften if needed.) In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle evenly over the butter. Tightly roll up the dough to form an 18-inch-long log. If some filling spills out, sprinkle it on top of the roll. With an extra sharp knife, cut into 12 even rolls, about 1.5 inches each. Arrange in the prepared baking pan, on top of the pecan topping.

2nd Rise

Cover the rolls tightly and allow to rise until puffy, about 90 minutes. (Or use the overnight option in the Notes below.)

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Bake for about 25–28 minutes or until they are lightly browned on top. About halfway through the bake time, loosely tent a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the pan to prevent the tops from browning too quickly.  Remove pan from the oven and place on a wire rack. Cool for 5 minutes.

Using oven mitts, carefully invert the pan onto a large serving platter. The warm topping will melt down the sides. Serve warm.

Sally, every recipe of yours that I have tried has turned out amazingly, and this one is no exception. This dough is the best I've ever made, I was a bit sceptical when I saw it in my mixer but when I pulled it out to rise, wow! I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into getting it right. And I love that you include the metric measurements too, which is just another detail that helps us readers get a consistently great outcome. Thanks for making such an awesome blog :)

These were amazing Sally! I just baked them this morning after preparing them last night using your instructions and my whole family was raving. The dough was so amazingly light and fluffy and the topping was delicious! I haven't ever tried it with maple and the flavor was perfect! Thanks for another perfect recipe!

LOVE THIS RECIPE! I just wanted to say that I make these in two separate pie dishes (6 in each) and it really helps to cook the buns evenly!

I made this today and it looked promising. I had read comments that the middle bun tended to be undercooked so I was watching for that, did end up having to tent with aluminum foil for last half of cooking and didn't pull until the middle also felt cooked and not doughy/springy. I cooled my pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. When I inverted the baking pan, all the yummy  caramel sauce, and the middle part of the roll, stayed stuck to the pan. What did I do wrong?

I just made these using the overnight fridge method. I was nervous, as I'm super new to baking with yeast, but they turned out wonderfully! I halved the recipe (since it's just me and my husband), and I had to use a bigger dish than I wanted to, but it turned out to be a good thing – those bad boys expanded a lot in the fridge and oven, and filled the whole dish. I'm saving this recipe for the next time I host a brunch!

I made these and the entire family loved them! We even shared them with our neighbours in the attached unit of our duplex. The only question I have is about the caramel sauce. I followed the instructions but I found the caramel sauces wasn’t creamy or sticky enough. If anything it was kind of crumbly with the pecans. Where did I go wrong? I was expecting to have it run down a little over the sides but it didn’t. It was more of a solid topping.

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Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

Top 2 maple sticky buns recipes from across the web

The most viewed maple sticky buns recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

The most viewed maple sticky buns recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine