Chestnut Sticky Buns, Barrett? Why are you messing with perfection? It’s a reasonable question, I agree. I have a reasonable answer though. I really love a good sticky bun, I mean, really, who doesn’t? Despite that, I seldom order them out, because, so often they’re disappointing. And once you know how much butter and sugar goes into the darn things, well, one can’t afford to be disappointed. The sticky bun needs to be really fresh, as in made that day, because they dry out so quickly and the dough loses its tenderness and then you have to microwave it to eat it and then you have to wolf it down really quickly or it hardens back up because microwaving is terrible for heating things. True tragedy, I know. So of course, like so many things in life, I decided that if I wanted it done right, I had to do it myself. So I decided I’d learn to make the perfect sticky bun for Christmas Brunch. And then of course, since I was making it myself, I began tweaking the recipes, because if I have to make it myself, then it may as well be exactly how I want it. And since it was chestnut season, I set out to change the world by adding chestnuts instead of pecans. But like so many of my plans, of course, it didn’t pan out. The chestnuts didn’t crunch on top, they just sort of slowly dried out and became chewy. So not what I was going for which is why my Chestnut Sticky Buns became Valentine’s Day Brunch sticky buns. It was clear this wasn’t going to be a quick and easy tweak. Research was required. Because while the outside chestnuts didn’t work at all, the chestnuts inside the bun, with the cinnamon filling, those softened and made the center infinitely richer. It was obvious to me that the chestnuts should become the filling. With that settled, the concern was that the pecan flavor would overwhelm the chestnut flavor, so in came the almonds and out went the pecans and finally, Chestnut Sticky Buns came into existence. These Chestnut Sticky Buns have a lot of steps, but you can easily break it into a couple of days and none of the steps are that challenging. If you start tonight, you’ll have delicious and truly special Chestnut Sticky Buns for a very special Valentine’s Day Brunch.
- Master Sweet Dough
- Chestnut Filling
- Caramel Glaze with Slivered Almonds
- All-purpose flour (for dusting)
- Coarse sea salt (such as Maldon)
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it rise 1 ½ - 3 hours depending on how cold it was.
- Make the glaze and toast the nuts.
- Pour 1 cup of glaze into the baking pan, tilting to coat bottom and sides. Set aside remaining glaze.
- Sprinkle ½ cup toasted almonds over bottom of baking pan and let cool.
- Punch down dough; transfer to a floured work surface.
- Lightly dust top with flour. Roll out the dough into a 12”x18” rectangle that’s about ¼ inch thick.
- Spread the chestnut filling almost to the edge of the dough. Sprinkle ¾ cup of the toasted almonds on the dough.
- Roll it up into a log. Slice it into 9-12 rounds. (I do 12, but then they don’t fit into a 9”x9” pan anymore. But I think they’re just a little too big when you only make 9. It’s your call. If you like monster, restaurant sized buns, do 9, otherwise, 12 but you’ll need a bigger pan.)
- Set them so they’re not touching and evenly spaced in the prepared pan on their side so you can see the filling and they look like coils.
- At this point, you can either saran wrap them and put them in the fridge for the next day, or you can bake them same day. It’s all about timing and how far you’re planning ahead. If you refrigerated them they’ll need to rest at room temperature for about two hours. If you made them day of, then they will only need 45-60 minutes, but either way, they should double in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Bake for about 50 minutes. Check at the 25 minute mark. If they’re already looking golden cover them with foil. Either way, rotate the pan. When they’re finished baking, they internal temperature should read 185° F.
- Let cool for 5 minutes. Spoon most of the glaze over the buns and sprinkle most of the almonds over the top.
I like to save one spoonful of glaze for each one for when I serve them. Serve warm and sprinkled with sea salt if you like.
- Read through the entire before you begin. Make sure you have enough time. This is not difficult, or even that time consuming. But there are a lot of steps and there's a lot of rising time.
- Day 1. Make master sweet dough.
- Day 2. Make filling, glaze and toast the nuts while the dough rises. Assemble the buns, wrap and refrigerate.
- Day 3. Remove buns from oven 90 minutes before you want to bake them (3 hours before you want to serve them). Preheat oven. Bake. Glaze. Serve.
- I have don’t the whole thing in one day once. I got up early. I didn’t refrigerate the dough overnight. It wasn’t fun. You can easily do it in two days though.
- ⅔ cup milk**
- 5 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1 ¾ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature
- Heat milk in a medium bowl in the microwave until an instant-read thermometer registers 110°–115°. Stir in 1 tablespoon sugar. Sprinkle yeast over milk and whisk to blend. Let sit until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Add eggs; whisk until smooth.
- Combine remaining 4 tablespoons sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add milk mixture.
- With mixer running, add ½ cup room-temperature butter, 1 piece at a time, blending well between additions. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute.
- Knead on medium-high speed until dough is soft and silky, about 5 minutes.*
- Grease a medium bowl with butter; place dough in bowl. Brush top of dough with remaining melted butter; cover with plastic wrap and chill at least two hours, but overnight is best.
- *If you don't have a stand mixer, check out the original recipe for ideas on using a food processor instead. I haven’t tested their method, but I’m sure it would work fine too.
- **I’ve been happy with using anything from 1% to whole. If you use skim, substitute in a couple of tablespoons of cream
- 1 ¾ cups slivered almonds (about 8 ounces)
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup honey
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla paste (or 1 teaspoon extract if you don’t have it)
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spread out nuts on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast until fragrant and slightly darkened, 10–12 minutes. Let cool completely. Set 1 ¼ cups nuts aside for buns (store them in an airtight container if you’re not using them same day).
- Melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, cream, honey, and salt.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until glaze is golden brown and glossy, 3–4 minutes. The glaze should be warm when you’re ready to assemble, so either make it the day you’re assembling, or rewarm when you’re ready.
- ¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
- 5 ounces prepared chestnuts (roasted, peeled, etc.)
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- Using food processor pulse butter, chestnuts, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt until light and fluffy, 2–3 minutes.
Set filling aside (This can easily be don’t any day).
I don’t think I’ve ever used chestnuts before. I think I need to! And I totally agree, sticky buns just aren’t the same if they aren’t fresh. Fresh is key!
Oh man, I LOVE chestnuts. And you will too if you work with them. I have several other chestnut recipes on here, including a soup. Check them out once I’ve got you hooked.
Good lord these look fantastic!! I adore chestnuts and cannot wait to try this recipe. Thank you for sharing it!
I love them too. Such a special part about Winter cooking.
Loving this twist on sticky buns! Yum!
Chestnuts make everything better!
These look incredible. I want to reach through the screen and grab one. :-)There’s nothing like sticky buns to chase the winter blues away.
Agreed. With a big latte in a bowl. By the fire.
Sticky buns, MMMMMMMMMMMM! I used to adore those things! ADORE THEM! 🙂 But sadly, I cannot eat them anymore which stinks but I would love to just SMELL THEM as they bake!
The smell alone is tantalizing.
Yummy….my favorite chestnuts.