A fourth take on my cinnamon roll recipe... We just can't seem to get enough varieties! This one is sweet, sticky, caramelly, crunchy, soft, and utterly delicious.
INGREDIENTS
For the rolls:
Single batch of dough from my Special Occasion Cinnamon Roll recipe
For the cinnamon sugar filling:
1/4 cup softened or melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup packed light & brown sugar each or 1/2 cup of just light brown sugar (secret #1: a mixture of light and dark muscovado brown sugars puts an even more superior, delicious taste to your rolls)
1 ½ T cinnamon (secret #2: I use 2 different, high quality cinnamons-1 at least MUST be Saigon/Vietnamese)
1 T flour (secret #3: keeps the filling from liquifying and running out too much)
Caramel Topping:
3/4 salted butter, room temperature
3/4 light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1-1.5 cups chopped pecans (you can do as little or as much of these as you'd like)
DIRECTIONS
First, make sure you have your dough prepared and ready to go from the original, Special Occasion Cinnamon Roll recipe linked above. While the dough is rising, you can make the cinnamon sugar filling by mixing together all of the ingredients with a fork. Then, make the caramel topping by beating the ingredients with an electric mixer until it is all whipped and smooth.
Butter a 13x9 baking pan and spread the caramel topping evenly into it. Sprinkle as many of the copped pecans you would like over the caramel.
To assemble the rolls, follow the same method as in my regular cinnamon roll recipe: on a lightly floured surface (I usually use a large roll pat) roll the dough out to approximately 16 x 21 inches laying horizontally. With your hands or a pastry brush, evenly spread out the softened or melted butter across the entire rectangle as the recipe calls for. Sprinkle the filling mixture evenly over the butter.
Working carefully from the long edge, roll it up to the other side into one long roll. Using a bread knife or unflavored floss, cut off the uneven ends (about 1/2 inch each end). Also using a bread knife or the floss method, divide the dough in half, then 1/3rds for each half. Cut each ⅓ in half, so that you end with 12 even slices.
Place the rolls into the pan on top of the caramel topping. Allow buns to rise at room temperature for a couple of ours or overnight with a layer of plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel over top.
When ready to bake, remove plastic wrap. Preheat oven to 350 and place a large, foil lined baking sheet under the glass pan to catch all of the drippings so that your oven stays protected (otherwise you'll have a sticky, burnt mess on the bottom). Bake until golden brown on the edges but baked through in the middle (it will still be very soft), approximately 25-30 minutes. Take out of oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Then, using a large, rimmed cutting board, lay the rimmed side down on top of the baking pan/rolls. While holding the pan and board tightly in place (you may still need to use oven mitts), quickly flip over the pan so what was the bottom of the buns become the top with all of that sticky caramel you made over all of it.
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