Nici Wickes: No-fuss Sticky Buns for Mother’s Day

This is one of the simplest and quickest sticky bun recipes I know, and the buns are top notch.   

Makes 8-10 large buns   

 

Ingredients  

Syrup  

• ½ cup brown sugar  
• 3 big tablespoons butter  
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup   

  

Dough  

• 1 cup warmed milk   
• 2 teaspoons active yeast granules  
• 1 teaspoon sugar   
• 3 cups plain flour  
• ½ teaspoon salt  
• 1 large egg  
• 100g butter, softened   

  

Filling  

• 2 tablespoons butter - melted  
• 1/3 cup brown sugar  
• 3 teaspoons each cinnamon and mixed spice  
• 1 cup walnut pieces, chopped roughly    

  

Method 

1. Line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper, making sure it comes up the sides.   
2. Melt brown sugar, butter and maple syrup and simmer for 1 minute. Pour half of this into the base of the lined tin.
3. In a small jug stir the yeast and warm milk and sugar together and leaving to froth for 5 minutes.   
4. In a large bowl whisk together the flour and salt.   
5. Whisk together frothy yeast mix and egg and pour this into the dry ingredients. Mix together with a knife until combined to a sticky dough. Add in butter a tablespoon at a time and keep mixing until it’s incorporated. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until it is shiny and smooth. This can also be done in a mixer with a kneading attachment too. Leave to rise until doubled in size – about 60 minutes.  
6. To assemble buns: Roll out dough to a 20x30 rectangle. Brush with melted butter then sprinkle over sugar, spices and ¾ of the walnuts. Starting from the long side furthest away from you and roll up, bringing it towards you. Use a sharp knife or, my preferred technique, dental floss or thread (see note) to cut into nine equal portions. Place in lined tin, evenly spaced to allow for expansion, cut side up. Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size – about 45-60 minutes.   
7. Preheat oven to 190 C fan bake. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.   
8. Remove buns from oven and let settle for a few minutes before turning out onto a serving dish or board. Peel off paper to reveal the syrupy buns!    
9. To serve, top with remaining syrup and walnuts. Eat up!   

  

Nici’s note:  

Dental floss, or cotton, makes a great cutting tool when making these buns. Slide a length of thread under your dough, wrap it around the top and quickly pull it tight. The floss/thread should cut cleanly and easily right through the dough. 

 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Food Time, her New Stalks v Nicky worked out cookers
here with us this morning.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Gelda, Yeah, what I know.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
It is indeed food time. I need to I'm also
standing in a in a fairy terminal about kitchen fairy
with the result of today's recipe in my handbag. Oh,
I come transporting one day head of Mother's Days.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
So very good.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Okay, it sounds a bit weird.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
No, it doesn't sound weird at all. We love a
bit of in situ. That's fine. If you're not in
the kitchen, you're in a fairy terminal, and that's it's
totally fine with us. So we're making These are no
fuss sticky buns, so really simple sticky buns. If you
want to treat them tomorrow morning.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, I mean, look, they are. They're absolutely fantastic. This
will be my first Mother's Day without my beloved mother,
so I decided that I would make one of her
recipes for our family. And yes, it's her no fuss
sticky buns. It does still require yeast, which means they
do still require a little bit of rising, but Honestly,
they're super simple. I whipped up a batch last night

(01:12):
in between watching Ransom Canyon, my latest favorites. Easy watch.
I know, yeah, don't judgement, all right, So here's what
I do. I take a round cake tin twenty three
centimeters or so, line it well with baking paper, making
sure that it comes up the size, and then I
kind of make the syrup to go on the bottom
of the tin, which ends up on the top of

(01:33):
the buttons. I melt together half a cup of brown sugar,
three tablespoons of butter, and four tablespoons of maple syrup
and sort of sim of that till it all all
the sugar dissolves their jack, and then pour most of
that into the base of the tin, right, and then
let's start on the buttons and a small jug. We
want to activate the yeast, so I use two teaspoons

(01:54):
of active yeast granules in one cup of warm milk.
And I sometimes think people think warm is really tempered.
It's sort of just a little bit warmer than tempered,
I say, and one teaspoon of sh and mix all
of that together and it should froth after about five
to seven minutes. If it doesn't have any discernible frothing
going on, then really you want to kind of abandon it.

(02:16):
And maybe you're yeast as old, or maybe your milk
was too hot and it killed the yeast or whatever,
because this is the beginning of this rising process. But anyway,
should work out a treat and then in a large bowl,
large enough that you can sort of need or mix
the mixture in the bowl. Put your flour in salt,
and I've used three cups of plain flour and I've
used half a teaspoon of sea salt, A whisk the

(02:40):
whisk the yeast with one egg. Once that's become frothy,
and plan into the dry ingredients. And then Jack's super simple.
I just mixed it, mix it all together with a
knife with a butter knife, and I just keep mixing
and mixing and mixing till you've got a lovely, sticky dough.
And then once that's all sort of started to come together,
you want to add in some butter. And you want
to add in about one hundred grams of really soft butter.

(03:04):
And that's the hardest part of this recipes that, but
it just kind of soften up in this cooler weather.
Add it in a tablespoon at a time, just mixing
it around with that knife of yours until it all
sort of comes together. Then I just leave that mixture.
I cover it with a sort of damp teetoel, leave
it in a really lovely warm place for about sixty minutes,

(03:24):
and it should almost double in size. Okay, and now
you're ready to make your buttons. Super simple. Roll out
that dough into a big rectangle about twenty by thirty centimeters.
Brush it with some melted butter, maybe two tablespoons some
melted butter. Sprinkle over that third of a cup of
brown sugar, three teaspoons each of mixed spice and cinnamon.

(03:45):
You've mixed those together. Sprinkle that over, and then really
add anything you like. I added some. I add some
walnut pieces and some raisins, but currants would work that
sort of thing. Roll it up like you would have
pin wheel scorn, and then chop it up into about
ten ten little buns and put those on top of
that beautiful syrup in your cake tin, cut side up,

(04:08):
and you're done, and you just leave that to sort
of rise again for just this time about forty five minutes.
Whack the oven one hundred and ninety degrees fan bake
and bake it for thirty five or forty minutes until
they're all sort of golden and lovely. Tack them out
of the oven and then turn them out on a
plate so that that so you sort of upside down them,
if you know what I mean, so that that syrup
is beautiful and glistening on top, and you've got these gorgeous,

(04:31):
freshly made re orshy type buns. They're sticky, they're gorgeous.
I always have them with loads and loads of butter
on them because I can't resist. And I've made mine
the day head because that's a bit to do tomorrow morning,
before this day. So make them today and then tomorrow.
Just give them a little reheat.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Back in that tin, yeah right.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Spray spray the top or and maybe even flick the
top with a little bit of water, and that will
just freshen the buns up a little bit, and they
probably just need about sort of eight minutes back in
the oven, and then syrups will syrupy again. The breath
components beautiful and freshly baked, and they're a really lovely
thing to have for Mother's Day. I think everyone has
tooy them with a good cover.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Could you make the dough tonight and just leave it
until tomorrow morning, So that might be an option too, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
You absolutely could. You could make it. You could make
the dough when you haven't filled it, and you just
need to get up a little bit early to sort
of bring that back to room temperature before you roll
it out. You're absolutely right. My last tip for the
morning too, is I never cut these buns using a
knife because it sort of collapses the spiral effect. I
take a little bit of dental floss and you sneak

(05:41):
under the roll and then you sort of cross it
over and pull it hard. Yeah, just get the most
amazing cut. It's fun.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Oh what a clever idea.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Oh that's so good.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah, Mum taught me that one.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, very very clever. Hey, thank you so much, Nicky.
We will let you get on the ferry and catch
you again soon. But love that recipe, so we'll make
sure Nicki's no fuss, sticky bun recipe just in time
for mother's days. Up on the news talk'd webs for.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
More from Saturday morning, Jack Tame. Listen live to News
Talks at b from nine am Saturday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio