Food and Prop Styling by Goldie Stern
Food Prep and Consulting by Chaya Suri Goldberger
Photography by Felicia Perretti

Okay, so imagine a cinnamon bun with cream cheese frosting and then imagine the whole thing flipped inside out and upside down, and now we’re on the same page. This is not a quick recipe, but the dough is the softest and fluffiest I have ever made in real life, and IMHO that sometimes has to trump easy.

YIELDS 18

Buns

• 4 cups flour, divided
• 1¼ cups milk, divided
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp melted butter
• 1 Tbsp dry yeast
• 1 egg

Filling

• 2 8-oz (225-g) bars J&J Cream Cheese, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp vanilla bean paste or extract

Gooey Pecan Filling

• 1½ sticks butter
• 1½ cups brown sugar
• ½ cup light corn syrup
• pecans, roughly chopped

Take 3 Tbsp of the flour and ¹⁄₂ cup of the milk and heat them in a small pan or pot, stirring often, until you have a soft pudding consistency, about 7 minutes. Allow to cool.

Mix all but ¹⁄₂ cup of the remaining flour and the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, adding in the slurry. Mix by hand or with a dough hook in a mixer. If the dough is very sticky or tacky, add the remainder of the flour, 1 Tbsp at a time, until the dough comes together smoothly. Knead for 8–10 minutes or until smooth and soft. Place in a buttered bowl and cover. If your oven has a proof setting, proof there, or in any warm spot, until dough has doubled in size, 1¹⁄₂–2 hours.

Mix filling ingredients and set aside in the fridge while the dough rises.

Once dough has risen, preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and make the gooey filling: Combine butter and sugar in a small pot. When beginning to bubble, add corn syrup and simmer on low while you prepare your dough.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle that’s about 18x12 inches (46x30 cm). Spread the cream cheese filling over the top and roll up.

Prepare three 8-inch (20-cm) square pans. Add coarsely chopped pecans to your taste (I don’t like too many nuts, so ¹⁄₄ cup per pan was perfect for me) and divide the goo evenly among the pans.

Using a very sharp knife or unflavored floss, cut the rolled-up dough into 18 rolls. If the filling falls out slightly, it’s okay, just do the best you can to keep it all together. This is a trust-the-process situation. Place 6 buns in each pan and bake until the tops are just set, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 minutes, then flip upside down to a plate or platter to reveal the gooey pecan tops.

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 821)