When I was in high school, I fell in love with baking. This was largely due to a gift; a cookbook. Flour, by Joanne Chang, a beloved Boston baker with a few locations of a bakery by the same name. It has a light blue cover and pages of cookies, cakes, tarts, breakfast pastries, and French desserts. It’s my absolute favorite cookbook. It taught me how to make banana bread. The “Midnight Chocolate Cake” I made for my 14th birthday. My go-to tart dough recipe. Incredible raspberry lemon muffins. And pecan brioche sticky buns.

Prepping for Christmas

There are few recipes I haven’t made from Flour. On page 84, you will find my favorite recipe, “Flour’s Famous Sticky Sticky Buns” with pecans and homemade brioche. I make them every Christmas in the morning’s twinkling lights and quiet kitchen. This year was no different. I add a dash of fresh orange zest to the dough and the “goo” for extra flavor. These pecan brioche sticky buns are my favorite part of Christmas and are the king of my family’s food traditions.

Christmas snuck up on me this year. I was working on a few things, deep in sugar cookie land and teaching a painting class. Then, I realized I hadn’t bought many Christmas gifts. So I trekked around my local Maine towns and picked out a few bits and bobs. I ordered some things online. The two days before Christmas were spent cooking and baking to my heart’s content. For my mom, I made homemade bagels. Which I’ve never made before. They were magical, but took two days of muscle, patience, boiling, and scattered sesame seeds. I also made a favorite coconut treat for my dad. And, I ventured into our basement wood shop to create recipe stand for my mom.

Christmas Eve Baking

On the morning of Christmas Eve, I woke up to a to-do list of over 10 things. I picked up Chinese food for Christmas dinner. I also made spinach and artichoke dip for lunch on the big day. Then I drove to the post office bright and early to check for last minute gifts. Then, at 9am, I threw on my black apron like I was going to battle. My heart was racing with the anticipation of my favorite holiday. With a lack of sleep. Anxiety about ticking off all of my tasks before my parents arrived. I boiled and baked bagels with black sesame seed topping and started my brioche sticky buns simultaneously. Like a stressed octopus.

Immediately I was transported back to the past years. The rhythm and tradition. I thought of the year when I made the sticky bun dough after getting home from college. When I got stuck in traffic and the weather was dark. When I messed up one step and had an anxiety attack. I always start by hoisting my favorite stand mixer out of storage (my closet). I don’t use it on a regular basis because it’s huge and the motor is old. But once a year she hums for me and kneads my brioche sticky buns with a fierce determination. The dough starts with a hodgepodge of bread flour, AP flour, sugar, salt, yeast, eggs, and cold water. I also add fresh orange zest. This year, my parents gifted me a subscription box of Cara Cara oranges from California, which came early. So, I used them.

Mixing the Buns for My Brioche Sticky Buns

I snapped my metal mixing bowl in place on my black Kitchen Aid and plugged it in. I remembered the groaning, aged churn of the motor when it kneads the pile of dough. Brioche takes a lot of butter, which emulsifies into the bread dough as you mix it. You add one tablespoon at a time of nearly 3 sticks of softened butter. And after nearly 15 minutes of standing around and listening to the Christmas song of my mixer, it turns into a snappy, stretchy, beautiful dough. I’m always tempted to bake it right then and there. Make the world’s most beautiful French toast, or sandwich bread. But this is just the beginning.

After a lot of kneading I give my mixer a break for another 365 days and transfer my dough to the fridge to slow proof. At this point the dough is super warm, which activates the yeast. In order to slow down its rise, and to develop flavor, it rests for 6 hours. This year, like always, I thought of those Christmas morning brioche sticky buns while I worked on my other projects. One minute I’m wearing a mask and swatting off sawdust in the basement. Then I’m hoisting rings of dough into boiling molasses water. The house filled with the most gorgeous fresh bread scent when the bagels came out. I took a five minute break to eat one. To taste one at its peak, but also to make sure I didn’t pass out.

The Night Before Christmas

Then, just like that, 6 hours flew by. My list was sliced and diced into a manageable couple of things left. Wrap presents. Finish the pecan sticky buns. So, I popped my dough out of the fridge and waited for it to come to temperature. One of the things I love about Christmas Eve is going to bed early and getting up before the sun rises. You could almost mistake me for a morning person.

The night before, I gleefully rolled my brioche into a large rectangle and sprinkled it with a mixture of white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. You may be tempted to glue it all down with butter, but it’ll just melt out as they cook. I also make a “goo”, which is probably the most important component. A couple years ago it split and I miraculously fixed it by frantically googling temperatures of cream and caramel troubleshooting. It’s a simple sauce made by cooking brown sugar in butter. Then, you add cream, water, honey, and salt. I add orange zest, of course.

Once it cools you pour it into a glass baking dish and sprinkle over a generous amount of pecans. Then, the fun part. You roll your beautiful brioche into a log. Trim off the edges and save them in a sandwich bag for another day. Cut them into 8-10 equal thick sticky buns. There they sit on top of the goo and pecans until Christmas morning. When I put them to bed we scan my old copy of The Night Before Christmas and watch It’s a Wonderful Life. Then, I’m off to bed, with visions of pecan sticky buns dancing in my head. I can hardly sleep with all the excitement.

Christmas Morning

My alarm sounded around 6:00. People are shocked when they hear I still get up that early on Christmas, but it’s my favorite part. I secretly love tired, lazy, dark mornings. When you can go back to bed. I always pull my pan of pecan sticky buns out of the fridge and let them sit on the counter to warm up while my dad comes downstairs. He makes coffee and we watch Christmas movies. My mom gets her beauty sleep and joins us by 7 or so. I preheat the oven and the kitchen is illuminated by a pilot light over the stove. The living room is filled with a rainbow of Christmas light colors reflecting off of shiny silver-wrapped gifts. The pecan sticky buns proof in a warm spot for an hour or two until puffy. While we open our stockings.

I always get some kind of chocolate. Sour patch kids. Useful small things for my car, a candle, baking and cooking gadgets. I gifted my mom a blue ornament I found in Portugal. My dad sardines. Then, we start to smell faint traces of cinnamon in the kitchen and my parents practically beg me to get cooking. So, I set a timer and they bake. But it seems like each year they take a different amount of time. But after an agonizing wait and the most beautiful scent of caramel and spice and butter-filled brioche sticky buns fills the house, I take them out to eat. Any focus we have on opening gifts or watching movies is interrupted by the sheer magnificence of the pecan sticky buns.

Serving my Pecan Brioche Sticky Buns

After a few minutes I flip them onto a serving tray. I spoon the goo onto each plump boulder of pillowy, buttery dough and top them with warm, toasted pecans. We each grab a plate, a napkin, and a fork and knife, and we eat in silence. It’s the kind of delicious where you can’t speak or open your eyes. When you drift off into some familiar comforting world where nothing matters but the heavenly sauce. Orange zest. A pop of salt. Tender, sweet buns. Crunchy pecans.

You can unravel them with your fingers like a child with a cinnamon roll. They go on forever. Until all of a sudden it’s gone, and you’re scraping the plate with your fork for any last bit of sauce. Sometimes we split another one and feel sick until lunch. We fade into the beautiful peaceful haze of ripping wrapping paper. Sharing inside jokes and thank you’s and excited child-like widening eyes. We remember how much we care for each other. My mom loved her bagels. My dad is a stubborn old Maine man who is always cold now. So I got him some new, warmer clothes. I got more amazing gifts than I could ever wish for. And I feel so lucky. To be so loved.

The Prodigal Bun

As I ate my brioche sticky buns this year I thought back to the first time I tried them. In Boston. I was touring colleges with my parents. Feeling so scared and unsettled by my impending adulthood and unwanted freedom. I was the bird that wanted to stay in the nest. But I pumped myself up by forcing my parents on a detour to the closest Flour location, near MIT. I had dreamed of the moment for months, years, since devouring my favorite cookbook. We sat at a black table. My dad got grilled French toast, which was incredible.

I remember the feeling when the sticky bun appeared in front of me. It was even better than the pictures. Magical. But that bite pales in comparison to the homemade, fresh home version. Mine tastes different, in a way I can’t describe. Probably because baking is like a fingerprint – everyone can make the same thing but it comes out a little different. And it tastes better on our blue couch in the lamplit morning with my mom in her slippers and my dad in his Red Sox shorts. With the weather playing on the TV. A light blanket of white snow on the back yard and our cars. I could stay there forever, in that bite.

Rest and Relaxation

For the rest of the day, we cleaned up our boxes and bags and put our new things in old places. My grandmother came over for lunch and we spread the spinach and artichoke dip on our homemade bagels. I gave her chocolate salami from Portugal. Then, I accidentally took a heavy nap, curled up in a ball under my new blanket, watching Die Hard. I woke up in time for dinner, and we played a card game. I steamed pork buns and warmed fried rice. Before I knew it, it was time for bed. I took a shower and slipped into new clothes. I put out my peppermint candle and faded off into a peaceful, nostalgic slumber. Exhausted. The excitement and pressure of Christmas behind me.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I hope you feel loved and appreciated and that you have people who light you up inside. Traditions that fuel you and that you look forward to. I hope you remember that life isn’t about work and hustle and achievement. Sometimes success is just having a cozy day. Making a new food that you love. Or enjoying brioche sticky buns for the 12th year in a row. Somehow changing or messing up one small part of the recipe each time, as if one day you’ll master them. Maybe success is looking forward to making the mistake and seeing how they’ll taste a little bit different this year. Because I’m a different person than I was last year, and I make different mistakes. I’m glad to say I’ve grown, and changed, and I’m happy to be me. Oh so happy, and grateful.

Happy New Year!

Oh, and happy new year! 2025 doesn’t feel real. But I hope it’s the best one yet. And I hope you get to taste these sticky buns one day. They’re worth the effort. If you enjoy my recipes and paintings, be sure to check out Etsy for 25% off my art prints and recipe cards. Use code THEFORKEDRING. Thank you so much for reading!

Print Pin

Pecan Brioche Sticky Buns (adapted from “Flour” by Joanne Chang)

My favorite Christmas breakfast – brioche sticky buns with orange zest and pecans

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword breakfast pastry, cinnamon bun, cinnamon roll, sticky bun

Prep Time 1 day day

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups AP flour
• 2 1/3 cups bread flour
• 3 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup + 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 4 tsp orange zest
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 5 eggs
• 2 3/4 sticks butter room temp
• 1 1/2 sticks salted butter
• 1 1/2 cups + 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 cups chopped pecans

Instructions

• Combine AP flour, bread flour, yeast, 1/3 cup sugar, salt, cold water, 2 tsp orange zest, and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Mix with the dough hook attachment on low speed for 5 minutes until the dough comes together. Then, beat for another 3-4 minutes.
• On low speed, add softened unsalted butter, 1 tbsp at a time, until fully incorporated (about 10 minutes).
• Once the butter is fully incorporated and the dough is cohesive, turn the speed up to medium and beat for another 10-15 minutes until the dough becomes shiny and elastic. Beat on high for 1-2 minutes until dough makes a slap sound on the side of the bowl and no dough is left on the sides.
• Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap, pressing directly onto the dough. Let the dough proof in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
• When your buns are almost done resting, make the goo. In a medium saucepan, melt salted butter until warm and bubbly. Then, add 1 1/2 cups of your brown sugar and whisk until fully dissolved and syrupy.
• Take your goo off the heat and add honey, heavy cream, 1/3 cup water, 2 tsp orange zest, and a pinch of salt. Let cool while you roll out your brioche dough.
• Remove your brioche dough from the fridge and let come to room temperature. Roll into a large rectangle, about 16 x 12″ and 1/4″ thick.
• In a medium bowl, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and a handful of your chopped pecans. Mix to combine.
• Sprinkle your cinnamon sugar and pecan mixture over the rolled out brioche dough. Roll your buns into a tight log, starting from the short end. Trim 1/4″ of unfilled dough from each end.
• Cut your buns into 8 equal pieces, about 1 1/2 inches wide. Pour your goo into a glass baking dish and top with the rest of the pecans. Place your buns on top and cover the pan with plastic wrap. Chill your buns in the fridge overnight, or until ready to bake.
• In the morning, take your buns out of the fridge and leave covered. Let come to room temperature, then proof in a warm spot for 2 hours until they rise and become puffy.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Once proofed, bake your buns, uncovered, for 35 – 45 minutes until golden brown. If your buns begin to darken too much, cover with tin foil and continue baking until the bottoms are cooked through.
• Let cool for 10-15 minutes and invert buns onto a serving platter, spooning excess goo and pecans on top.