Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls

I just have to say - I love my book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It's brilliant the way the authors provide basic dough recipes like the master french boule dough and almost 100 recipes and variations using these doughs as the base. I had some leftover Brioche dough from last week that has been sitting and maturing in my fridge. I decided to try these sticky pecan caramel rolls - they were fantastic! Even better than the ones at Cinnabon, in my opinion.

Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls

adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Ingredients

The Dough

1 1/2 pounds (cantaloupe-size) of the brioche dough (see the post on Brioche)

The Caramel Topping

6 tablespoons salted butter, softened

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

30 pecan halves (or chopped pecans)

The Filling

4 tablespoons salted butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Baking pan

Directions

FOR THE TOPPING: Cream together the butter, salt and sugar. Spread evenly on the bottom of a baking pan. Scatter with pecans.

Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a 1/8-inch thick rectangle.

FOR THE FILLING: Cream together the butter, sugar and spices.



Spread evenly over the rolled-out dough and sprinkle with the chopped nuts. Starting with the long side, roll the dough into a log. If the dough is too soft to cut, let it chill for 20 minute to firm up.

With a very sharp serrated knife, cut the log into 8 pieces and arrange over the pecans in the pan, with the "swirled" edge facing upward.



Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest and rise 1 hour (or just 40 minutes if you're using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for ~40 minutes, or until golden brown and well set in the center.



While still hot, run a knife around the inside of the pan to release the rolls and invert immediately onto a serving dish. If you wait too long, the caramel will harden and stick to the pan.

I was thoroughly surprised. When the rolls first came out of the oven, my initial thought was "man, these rolls don't look very tasty." The tops were pale and dry and not caramel-y at all. Then I inverted the rolls onto the plate...and Ray and I let out a "Whoaaa...."

All the pecan and caramel-y goodness was at the BOTTOM of the pan. It was quite impressive as I wasn't expecting a Cinnabon-worthy result. It was delicious hot out of the oven with a cold glass of milk. All the flavors were spot on - everything you know and love about cinnamon rolls. One important thing about the recipe is to note the use of salted butter. I normally don't bake with salted butter - it's not very often that a recipe will call for it. So I ended up using unsalted butter and threw in a couple of liberal pinches of salt into the filling and caramel topping. It helps keep the rolls from being too sweet.
Great recipe - I can't wait to try the other ones in the book!