Toffee Covered Cinnamon Buns

Cinnamon Buns anyone? Cinnamon buns  have an intoxicating scent, and are always a crowd pleaser.
I've  been making this recipe for years occasionally making adjustments just to see what happens. One noticeable thing missing from my cinnamon buns is the cream cheese icing. To some that might be a ridiculous thing to skip, but when the buttery sweet toffee hits your tastebuds you'll forget all about the missing icing.

These take some time to make, mainly rising time for the dough, but definitely worth the wait. The rising time is something best not rushed. The result of your patience is fluffy melt in your mouth cinnamon buns.

Have I convinced you it's  worth the effort yet?

Cinnamon Buns

1 tsp white sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast ( 1- 0.25 oz package))
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (or 1/2 cup applesauce)
4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp  cinnamon

Toffee
3/4 cup  butter
3/4 cup brown sugar

In a large bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let it bloom. While the yeast mixture is doing its thing, heat your milk  in a small pot over low heat, when it starts to bubble, remove from heat. Stir in 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 cup of butter. Let cool until lukewarm.

Add milk mixture and eggs (applesauce) to the yeast mixture along with 2 cups of flour. Mix until combined, and gradually add remainder of flour 1/2 cup at a time. When dough comes together, turn out on to lightly floured surface and knead for 6 minutes. When finished kneading,  place dough into a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with  a cloth or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size(about an hour).

While the dough is rising, melt 3/4 cup of butter over medium heat, whisk in brown sugar and stir for a couple of minutes while it comes together and thickens. This become the most delicious toffee(try not give into the temptation to try it... at least until it's cooled a bit). Remove from heat and pour into a greased 9x13 pan, set aside.

When your dough has doubled in size, turn it out on to a lightly floured surface. Roll into the shape of a rectangle (or as close to one as you can), until the dough is 1/4 inch thick. It should be approximately 14 x 18. Brush surface with 1/4 cup of melted butter leaving about a finger width gap from the edge and  sprinkle the buttered surface with the cinnamon brown sugar mixture. Aim for as even as possible with the mixture, as it will result in an even distribution of delicious in the final bun.

Starting from the shorter side of  the rectangle, tightly roll up the dough. When completed, brush the seal with butter. Divide into 12 ( i mark them to count it out before actually cutting the dough just to be safe). Place the pieces into the toffee lined baking pan, cover, and let rise for approximately 30-45 minutes and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

When they've risen to about 2-3 times their size and have pretty much crowded the pan, they're good to be baked. Remove cover and pop into the oven for 28 minutes.

The scent of cinnamon and brown sugar will take over the surrounding area and likely cause salivation. Once that timer goes off, pull them out of the oven. Let them sit for 2 minutes  then turn the pan onto a serving platter (or  cutting bored you can then use to slide them back into the pam for transport), the amazing toffee will be showing itself and covering the top of the bun and even running down the sides.

Time to grab a fork!

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

xo Jenn