High Altitude Pecan Caramel Sticky Buns (Caramel Rolls)

High altitude pecan caramel sticky buns or caramel rolls are made of soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls, baked in a sweet and gooey caramel sauce and topped with pecans. This sweet, sticky, nutty treat is perfect for an indulgent brunch or breakfast on any special occasion or holiday.

You might also love these high altitude recipes for chocolate cinnamon rolls with vanilla icing, cardamom orange cinnamon rolls, and lemon poppy seed rolls.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Sweet, Sticky, Fluffy, Nutty. Whether you call these sticky buns or caramel rolls, we can all agree that they’re completely delicious. Imagine pillowy, fluffy cinnamon rolls, swirled with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, baked on top of pecans and sweet caramel sauce. After baking, the pan is flipped over, so the pecans and caramel drip all over the rolls. No one can resist warm, freshly baked sticky buns, and your house will smell incredible while they’re baking.

Prep at Night, Bake in the Morning. When I make cinnamon rolls, I always make my dough the night before. Then the dough can rest overnight in the refrigerator, so all I have to do in the morning is shape the rolls and then bake them.

Perfect for the Holidays. Special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter are the perfect occasion to make a pan of these caramel pecan rolls.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Dough

• Butter. Unsalted butter, in both the dough and the filling, adds richness and flavor to these sticky buns.
• Whole Milk. Adds moisture and tenderizes the dough.
• Yeast. You can use either instant/rapid-rise yeast or active dry yeast. The yeast is what makes the rolls rise, making them soft and pillowy.
• Sugar. The sweetness in these rolls comes from a trio of different sugars used. A little sugar in the dough helps to feed the yeast.
• Bread Flour. Bread flour has more protein than all-purpose flour, and the protein helps with gluten development. The gluten gives the rolls a soft, chewy texture, rather than cakey or crumbly.
• Salt. A pinch of coarse Kosher salt balances the sweetness.
• Egg. Adds moisture and richness.
• Cardamom + Vanilla. Flavor.

Caramel

• Butter. Unsalted butter, melted together with the sugar, makes a rich caramel sauce for the rolls to bake in.
• Dark Brown Sugar. Sweetness.
• Light Corn Syrup. Adds a touch more sweetness, and helps to stabilize the sugars. You can also use honey or pure maple syrup, instead of the corn syrup.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Heavy Whipping Cream. Adds a smooth, creamy richness to the caramel.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Pecans. The nuts are totally optional, and you could also use walnuts instead of pecans. But I just love the nutty crunch of the pecans with the sweet gooey caramel and fluffy cinnamon rolls.

Filling

• Unsalted Butter. When the dough is rolled out, you’ll need to spread it with butter, to give the brown sugar and cinnamon something to stick to.
• Brown Sugar. You can use light or dark brown sugar, but I like dark brown for these sticky buns, for a richer molasses flavor.
• Cinnamon.

Instructions

Dough

• Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the milk and stir. Warm the mixture just until it reaches between 110-115 degrees F. If it gets too hot, let it sit for a few minutes until it cools down to the correct temperature. It’s important that you check the temperature – if it’s too cold, it won’t activate the yeast, and if it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until it begins to foam and bubble; this will let you know that the yeast is active.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together 1 1/2 cups of the flour (reserve 2 tbsp for rolling out the dough later) with the warm milk mixture, the sugar, salt, cardamom, egg and vanilla into a rough shaggy dough. With the dough hook, knead on medium/low speed for 10 minutes. The dough will be soft, sticky and loose, but don’t add more flour. Even though the dough is soft, when you scrape it out of the bowl with a spatula, you should still be able to gather it into a ball with your hands.

• Lightly spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes. If your oven has a bread-proofing setting, you can use that to proof your dough. If not, let your oven preheat to the lowest setting, turn the oven off, and then set your dough inside to rise.
• Set the bowl of dough, still covered, in the refrigerator to chill for 1-2 hours, or overnight. The chill time allows the gluten to rest and the dough to develop flavor. It’s also much easier to work with the dough when it’s cold, since this is a soft dough.

Caramel

• After your dough has chilled, and you’re ready to assemble the rolls, start making the caramel. At this point, get your 8-inch square baking pan prepped by spraying it thoroughly with non-stick baking spray (like Baker’s Joy).
• In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Heat the mixture for several minutes until it begins to bubble, and the sugar dissolves, then remove from the heat.
• Stir in the cream and the vanilla.
• Pour the caramel into the prepared pan, then sprinkle the chopped pecans over the the caramel. Set aside while you roll out the dough and shape the rolls.

Filling and Assembly

• Turn the cold dough out onto a lightly floured work surface (using the last remaining 2 tbsp of flour to keep the dough from sticking). Roll your dough out into a rectangle measuring approximately 9×12 inches. Note: If you’re making a double batch of sticky buns in a 9×13 pan, roll the dough out to 12×18 inches, and cut into 12 rolls instead of 9. The next set of photos shows a double batch of dough cut into 12 rolls.
• Melt your butter and use a pastry brush to spread it evenly over the dough, all the way to the edges.In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle that evenly over the butter.

• Roll up the dough (starting on one of the long sides) into a log, keeping it as tight as you can. Using a gentle sawing motion with a sharp, non-serrated knife (or using unflavored dental floss), cut the dough into 9 rolls.
• Place the rolls cut side up in the pan, right on top of the caramel and pecans. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place for 30-60 minutes, until the rolls have puffed up enough that they are touching each other and nearly fill the pan. Don’t rush this step. If you don’t let the rolls proof for long enough, they won’t be as fluffy after baking.

Bake

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
• Bake the rolls for about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown on top, and a digital instant read thermometer inserted into the center of one of the rolls reads 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
• The caramel will be bubbling when you take the rolls out of the oven. Let the rolls cool for no more than 3-5 minutes, just until the caramel has slightly thickened. You don’t want to wait longer than this to turn the rolls out, or the caramel can harden too much, and the rolls will stick to the pan.

• Turn a plate over on top of the pan, then quickly flip the pan over to invert the rolls onto the plate. Lift the pan off the rolls. The rolls should come out cleanly, with pecans and caramel dripping over them.
• Let the rolls cool for 5-10 minutes, then serve warm.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I prep these rolls the night before and bake them in the morning?

I usually recommend making the dough the day before, letting it rise, then refrigerating it overnight. In the morning, you can make the caramel, roll out the cold dough, shape the rolls, place them in the pan of caramel, and let them proof until ready to bake.

If all of the above is still more work than you want to do in the morning, you can do everything up to the step of placing the rolls on top of the caramel, then cover and refrigerate the pan overnight. In the morning, you’ll have to let the pan sit in a warm place for at least 1 1/2 – 2 hours until the rolls have warmed, puffed up so they’re touching each other, and filling the pan, before baking them.

What pan should I use so my rolls don’t stick?

I absolutely love this USA baking pan. It’s essential that you also coat the pan with non-stick baking spray.

Should I double the recipe to bake these in a 9×13 pan?

Since these rolls are so rich with the caramel sauce, I scaled down my original cinnamon roll recipe to make a smaller batch in an 8-inch pan. For a full sized batch of caramel rolls, you should double the recipes for the dough, filling and caramel sauce. Roll the dough into a rectangle measuring 12×18 inches, and cut into 12 rolls to fit them into a 9×13 pan.

How should I store leftover sticky buns?

Store the buns in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

What’s the best way to reheat sticky buns?

Sticky buns, caramel rolls, cinnamon rolls …. they’re all best when they’re freshly baked. But they’re still good leftover, particularly when they’re warmed up. Just reheat individual rolls in the microwave for 30-40 seconds on 50% power to soften them up again.

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