Holiday Sticky Buns!

I've been seriously missing around the blog world. I miss writing posts, but even more than that, I miss reading yours. I can only imagine all of the Christmas fun I've been missing. I have fun stuff of my own in store - a secret santa swap, pumpkin pancakes, and cinnamon sticky buns!

Tonight, cinnamon sticky buns! I was watching Barefoot Contessa today with Dan, specifically her Christmas special "Barefoot in London." I enjoyed. I have actually never watched her show before, but she has taught Dan a few things previous to today - which are apparently top secret. I was going to tell you, and then he looked over to see what I had written and said "you can't publish my secret. How am I going to be the best if everyone knows?" He was serious. haha

You may have watched the special, but if not, she made some sticky buns with puff pastry. They looked amazing and reminded me of some cinnamon buns we had at our employee appreciation last month. These needed to be made.

Dan is very sick right now, so I went to the store to get ingredients for grilled cheese and soup for dinner (delish!) and knew I just had to buy the few ingredients I needed for the sticky buns. We were both excited after dinner and were watching the clock to see how much time had passed in anticipation of the thawing puff pastry.

Well, friends, they are as good as they look! I made 6 with raisins (not a fan, but someone else in the house is) and 6 with dark chocolate chunks. I should have put the chocolate on the top after baking, but you live and you learn. I baked it into the sticky buns and most of it crisped up on the top, but there are a few chunks baked in between the rolls which make them even more delicious.

Holiday Sticky Buns

Adapted from: Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:

12 Tbsp unsalted organic butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 package frozen puff pastry, defrosted

For the filling:

2 Tbsp. unsalted organic butter, melted and cooled

2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine 12 Tbsp. of butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 Tbsp. of the mixture in each section of a 12 muffin cup pan.

Lightly flour a wooden board surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry. Brush the whole sheet with 1 Tbsp. of the melted butter. Sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, and a 1/4 cup of raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly. Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2 inch and discard to even edges. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, about 1 1/2 inch each. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second shed of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 30 minutes (or less, keep an eye on them!), until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes only, then invert the buns onto a non-stick surface, and cool completely.