My aunt first made these years and years ago and I loved them.
I was surprised that she made them because she is more of a savory-food cook, not a baker. I asked her for the recipe and she told me that she had seen Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) make them on “Good Morning America” and that they were super easy to make.
Ina Garten? You know it’s going to be good!
Super easy to make? This recipe is a must!
I kept a mental note and stored these yummies away with several other ideas in my pile of good intentions and there they remained. Until today.
Let’s get started!
Start by taking out 1 box of frozen pastry to thaw according to your brand’s directions.
This is what makes the recipe so easy. Normally, you would start out by making a homemade yeast rising dough (like we did for our “ree-ally good cinnamon rolls”) but puff pastry replaces that here.
Never worked with puff pastry before? Trust me, this is great stuff. They turn out flakey and buttery, much like a fresh french croissant. You can use it for savories and sweets. I’ve wrapped them around chicken with herbed cheese, used them for chicken pot pie, and have made quick desserts like nutella & banana pockets. They turn simple food into fancy food.
Now preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Put 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter and 1/3 cup of brown sugar in a bowl
Why does my picture show a lot more butter? Because Ina’s recipe calls for 1 1/2 sticks but this is a LOT of butter for it’s purpose. I would definitely only use 6 tablespoons next time and possibly add some corn syrup to help coat things better.
and cream together.
Place about 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture into 12 muffin tins that have been sprayed with non-stick spray.
It’s really important to spray because these will bubble up in the oven and after you’re done inhaling these melt-in-your-mouth treats, you won’t want to have to spend a lot of time scrubbing your tins.
There. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
If you like nuts, this is where you can rough chop up 1/4 cup of pecans (do you notice I make hubby do all of the work?)
and sprinkle them evenly over the butter/sugar mixture. Or leave them out if nuts aren’t your thing.
Now lay your first sheet of unfolded puff pastry (fold lines going left to right) down on a lightly floured surface
and brush it with a little bit of melted butter.
Sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of brown sugar and a 1.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to taste.
Roll the pastry dough towards you like a jelly roll.
If you have some thread laying around (we never do, but we have dental floss! No comments about that please, sometimes you just gotta improvise), bring it just under the rolled dough like so
and trim off both of the ends and discard. Then proceed to slice 6 equal pieces
and gently push each piece down on top of the pecan/butter/sugar mixture, spiral side up.
Halfway done! Now repeat those steps for your second sheet of puff pastry.
Then put the muffin tin on top of a baking tray – because there WILL be ooozing – and throw them into your oven for about 20 minutes. (Note – Ina’s recipe says 3o minutes, but ours started to scorch at 25, so watch them closely!)
Carefully invert the buns onto the baking tray while they are still hot.
And there you have it!
If you think they look mouth-watering in the pictures, wait till you taste them! They melt in your mouth.
But do not wait to eat them…
…these treats are designed for you to eat them right away while they’re warm – or you’ll regret it!
Enjoy!
