This comes from Mary Hunt (Everday Cheapskate newsletter). All you advanced and brave cooks out there may think this is a breeze so go for it. As for me, I read it. Do you realize it goes on forever? Then even if I could work through all this, the buns would be around to eat so, basically, I’m gonna fuggedabout it. Anyway, here it is.

Mary says: We have a Christmas morning tradition at our house. We expect homemade cinnamon rolls, but year after year those expectations are dashed. It’s my fault. My intentions are admirable, but I never quite make it to the kitchen by four a.m. to start baking.

This year we’re going to have the most fabulous sticky buns—on time—and I’ll be fast asleep until a reasonable hour, too. I’ve learned an important secret from the expert bakers at the Culinary Institute of America: Sticky buns are better when made in advance. Overnight sticky buns are made exactly like those baked the same day. The only difference is that the prepared rolls are stored in the refrigerator up to 24 hours and then allowed to come to room temperature before baking.

Sticky Pecan Buns
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup milk, warmed to 110F
4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pecans
Pan Smear and Cinnamon Smear (recipes follow)
Combine yeast and milk in an electric mixer bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, butter, eggs and salt. Mix on low using the dough hook just until the dough comes together. Add as much of the remaining flour to the mixture as needed so dough is no longer sticky. Increase speed to medium-high and mix about 5 minutes.
Place dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double, about 2 hours. Punch down and allow to rise again until double, about 1 hour. (How about I just punch Mary?)

Prepare Pan Smear and Cinnamon Smear and set aside. Preheat oven to 400 F.

Pour 1 cup Pan Smear into each of two 9 x 9 baking pans; sprinkle with the toasted, chopped pecans. Roll dough into an 8x14-inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Spread the Cinnamon Smear evenly over the dough. Roll the dough to form a log, starting with the long edge. Pinch the dough together to seal the seam. Slice into 12 equal pieces. Place six rolls in each of the prepared pans. Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and allow to warm to room temperature for about 2 hours. Bake rolls until baked through and golden brown, about 30 minutes.

As soon as you remove the pans from the oven, invert onto plates.

Pan Smear
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream

Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and heavy cream in a saucepan and heat to 200 F (using a candy thermometer at this point is a must), stirring frequently. Cool to room temperature.

Cinnamon Smear
1/2 cup bread flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
3 large egg whites

Mix together flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until it resembles coarse meal. Add egg whites one at a time and continue mixing until fully combined and looks like a granular paste. Recipe from the Culinary Institute of America.

I just read this again. Oh, help.
Xx, Teal