Sweet luscious caramel glaze with pecans on freshly baked soft cinnamon rolls and a hot cup of coffee is perfect anytime on a lazy weekend when you just want to unwind and relax and forget even for a short while that that the world we live in now is not the same anymore and there is no certainty of it going back to the normal that we’re used to.
Hope the second half of 2020 will be a lot better for everyone.
Anyways, these delicious sweet bread is good anytime of your worry-free day or weekend – have it for breakfasts, or an afternoon snack or late night snacking…
I just wish I could eat only ONE of these but I’m a weak person when it comes to something that makes me happy. They’re just too good. Besides, I knead dough by hands so I don’t feel that guilty because I already did my workout for the day. 😀
I’ve always wanted to make cinnamon pecan rolls but since cinnamon rolls are basically the same, and I’m already very comfortable making it, I don’t want to bother anymore with the caramel pecan rolls.
But one day I turned on the TV and saw a feature on giant cinnamon pecan rolls…OH MY! They looked so tempting. Mama wants it. Bad..ly.
I was disappointed on my first try, though. The caramel pecan on the bottom of the pan got stuck and half of the rolls didn’t get the delicious topping and I accidentally got a burn on my foot with the caramel dripping from the spatula. That was so careless of me.
I also didn’t like that the caramel hardened after a few minutes. But we finished it anyway because it’s still cinnamon rolls..without the yummy cream cheese glaze.
Anyway, I decided I’m not gonna make that ever again. Not that way. I thought I could just make caramel or butterscotch and add pecans and pour that gooey caramel over the hot rolls just like the cream cheese glaze on cinnamon rolls. I’m sure no one would mind.
It’s so much easier.
The thing with caramel it that it can be too cloying so don’t forget to add the salt. Adding flour de sel (if you have it) on top is even better.
For the cinnamon rolls dough, you can also use this dough recipe with sweet potato, it’s my favorite.
The recipe below is based on this old favorite. I added mashed boiled potato to make the dough softer.
it tastes just as good as it looks
Put the heated milk, melted butter, egg, sugar, yeast and salt in a big mixing bowl.
Add one cup of flour
add flour and ground cinnamon
Stir well until dough comes together, do this by hand using a wooden spoon or use a mixer
Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand until it becomes soft and elastic. Form into a ball (no picture)
Cover and let rise until double in size. Dough will be soft but it’s not sticky
Roll out into a big rectangle using a rolling pin. Brush with butter and sprinkle cinnamon pecan filling, leave a margin of less than an inch on all sides
Roll starting on the long side near you and pinch to seal the edge. Cut into 16, 12 or 8 equal pieces
Bake at 375F degrees preheated oven
While rolls are in the oven, make the glaze by melting brown sugar and butter in a saucepan, add chopped pecans
Then add cream cheese or heavy cream and turn off heat. Stir until mixture is smooth
Take out rolls out of the oven and put pan on a cooling rack
pour pecan caramel glaze on top of freshly baked rolls. Hmmmm..
These rolls are made with sweet potato dough and I added cream cheese on the caramel instead of heavy cream. It’s just as delicious! Top with more chopped pecans (optional)
Caramel Pecan Rolls (Easy)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- 3 tablespoons Butter salted or unsalted is fine
- 3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour or more cups unbleached / divided
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Potato mashed boiled or steamed
- 1 pc Egg large size
- 2 1/4 teaspoons Instant Yeast or rapid rise yeast
- 1 tablespoon Cinnamon Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
FILLING
- ¾ cup Packed Brown Sugar
- 3 Tbsps Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ cup Unsalted Butter melted or room temperature
- ⅓ -½ cup Pecans crushed or coarsely chopped
CARAMEL GLAZE
- ¼ cup Butter 2 oz
- ⅔ cup Brown Sugar
- ⅔ cup Heavy Cream or ½ cup cream cheese
- ⅛ tsp Fine Sea Salt
- ⅓ cup Pecans crushed or chopped into small pieces
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract optional
Instructions
FOR THE DOUGH:
- Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan or microwave on high until butter melts and mixture is just warmed to 120°F to 130°F, 30 to 45 seconds.
- Pour into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment.
- Add sugar, egg, yeast, and salt and 1 cup of flour, stir to mix. Add the mashed potato and mix.
- Next, add the rest of the flour and the ground cinnamon and with a wooden spoon (or your mixer) stir until it all comes together.
- Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for about 8-10 minutes or until it becomes soft and elastic.
- If dough is very sticky, add more flour by tablespoonfuls but do not add more than2 tablespoons ( use your mixer to knead the dough if you like)
- Form dough into a ball.
- Grease the bowl that you used for mixing with oil and transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat.
- Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume in about 1-2 hours.
- Gently punch down dough to release air.
- Transfer to floured work surface.
- Roll out to about 15×18-inch rectangle.
- Brush dough with softened or melted butter leaving ½-inch border.
- Combine cinnamon, sugar and pecans in a bowl and sprinkle evenly on the dough.
- Starting at the long side, roll dough into log, pinching gently to keep it rolled up.
- With seam side down, cut dough crosswise with thin sharp knife (or a dental floss or thread) into 18 equal slices (each about ½ to ¾ inch wide).
- Grease two 9×13 inch glass baking dishes with butter or spray with non-stick spray.
- Divide rolls between baking dishes, arranging cut side up (there will be almost no space between rolls).
- Cover and let rise until double in volume (30-45 minutes)
- Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F.
- Bake rolls until tops are golden, about 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and invert immediately onto rack.
- Cool 10 minutes.
- Turn rolls right side up.
FOR THE CARAMEL GLAZE:
- Heat a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over medium high heat.
- Add sugar and butter, stirl until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Lower heat and add heavy cream or cream cheese and stir until smooth.
- Turn off heat, add the vanilla if using.
- Pour on freshly baked pecan rolls.
- Take a lot of photos while waiting for the rolls to cool. Enjoy!
