Nothing takes me back to my early childhood like the warm, sweet, spicy aroma of baked cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. Using Bridgford Frozen Ready Dough, my mother would make pillow-like buns and serve them warm from the oven. The soft, yeasty dough, combined with the caramelized sweetness of the brown sugar filling, was pure comfort food.

Lorelei, my sister and baker, has upgraded this recipe to use homemade, from-scratch ingredients. This once-a-year treat remains a cherished Christmas tradition in my family.

King Arthur Flour – Makes 12 Cinnamon Buns

Ingredients for the dough

• 4 C Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 
• ¼ C Baker’s Special Dry Milk
• ¼ C Cornstarch
• 3 T King Arthur Easy-Roll Dough Improver, optional, but helpful for rolling
• 1 ¼ t Salt
• 2 ¼ t Instant yeast*
• ¼ C Granulated sugar
• ½ C Lukewarm water
• 1 C Sour cream
• 2 Large eggs2 t Vanilla extract

Ingredients for the filling:

• 8 T Softened butter
• 1 C Brown sugar, 4 t Ground cinnamon – mixed together until smooth.

Ingredients for the topping:

• 1/3 C Light corn syrup or maple syrup
• 1 T Rum, optional
• 6 T Butter, melted
• 1 C Brown sugar, packed1 C Chopped pecans

Directions

• To make the dough: Whisk the dry ingredients together, then stir in the water, sour cream, eggs, and flavor. Mix and knead — by hand, mixer or bread machine — until you’ve made a very soft, smooth dough.
• Allow the dough to rise, covered, for about 1 to 2 hours; it’ll become slightly puffy, but won’t double in bulk.
• While the dough is rising, prepare the 9” x 13” pan 
• To make the topping: Spread the melted butter in the bottom of the pan, and sprinkle the sugars over it. Spread the diced nuts over the sugars.
• To assemble the buns: Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and roll it into a 16″ x 20″ rectangle. 
• Spread it with the cinnamon filling, leaving an uncovered strip about 1″ wide along one short edge of the dough.
• Starting with the filling-covered short edge, roll the dough into a log, and slice it into 16 slices, each about 1″ wide.
• Place the buns in the prepared pan(s), leaving about 1/2″ between them. 
• Cover the pan(s), and let the buns rise for 90 minutes; again, they won’t rise much, they’ll just seem to spread a bit. 
• Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Bake the sticky buns for 35 to 40 minutes, tenting them lightly with aluminum foil for the final 5 minutes if they appear to be browning too quickly. 
• The finished buns will be golden brown.
• Remove the buns from the oven, loosen their edges with a knife, and carefully turn them out onto a rack or parchment-covered sheet pan to cool, scraping any glaze that may have stuck to the pan onto the warm buns.
• Serve warm, or at room temperature. 
• Tips 
• Want to prep buns the night before, and bake in the morning? Make the dough, shape the buns, and place them in the pan (with the glaze); don’t let them rise. Place the pan of buns in the refrigerator for up to 16 hours before you want to serve hot buns. Remove the buns from the fridge, and let them rest at room temperature for 1 hour. Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 minutes, until they’re golden brown and the filling is bubbly.