Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns
These caramel pecan sticky buns are low carb, gluten free, grain free, & sugar-free but no one will ever believe that. They are finger licking good.
Every time I walk into a Panera I stare at the pecan sticky buns. I contemplate buying one. And then I think about how far I’ve come (45 pounds lost and counting) and shake my head. Not worth it. Besides the fact that if I bought one of those and ate all the 740 calories and 89 grams of carbs I bet I would feel sick for days.
This morning, with thoughts of Panera dancing in my head, I searched around online for a low carb version but couldn’t find what I was looking for. Never fear. I broke out the food processor, turned on the oven, and here I am with a new recipe to share.
These are lightly sweetened and go perfectly with a cup of coffee in the morning. Trust me, I just ate two with my morning joe.
What is a sticky bun?
Sticky buns are a type of dessert or breakfast sweet roll that generally consist of rolled pieces of leavened dough — sometimes containing brown sugar or cinnamon — compressed together to form a kind of flat loaf corresponding to the size of the pan in which they are to be baked. –Wikipedia
How to make sticky buns
To make sticky buns you simply make a mozzarella dough, sprinkle it with sweetener, cinnamon, and pecans, roll it up and cut it. Bake it. Top with caramel sauce.
There are several parts to this recipe but it is worth it. It shouldn’t take you longer than 20 min of active work in the kitchen to have a batch of delicious sticky buns.
If you’ve made fathead pizza dough before you can make these. It’s only slightly harder than that type of pizza.
Can I sub other nuts?
Sure! If you prefer walnuts or cashews they are delicious in this. Almonds are a bit too hard but would work.
Mozzarella Cheese in Sweet Dough??
Yes! You cannot taste it a single bit. I promise. My biggest tip with mozzarella dough is to mix it in a food processor and make sure the cheese is completely melted. This ensures you won’t have strings of mozzarella in your sticky buns.
This dough tastes like a traditional flour yeast dough without the flour or the yeast. If you prefer very sweet baked goods add sweetener to the dough.
How to Make Caramel Sauce
It is very easy to make caramel for the sticky buns. The most important thing is stirring frequently and not forgetting about it. If you leave the kitchen to do another task the caramel can easily burn. I’ve made caramel dozens of times and can tell by the smell when it is almost done. It will start to smell rich and fragrant and like caramel. The color changes and it thickens. There may also be a few darker bits forming at the very bottom. Those will look almost burned. This is when you remove the caramel from the heat.
Make sure to take a peek at my other brunch sweets:
Healthy Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
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Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns
Ingredients
Caramel Sauce Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 1/2 tsp caramel extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
Dough Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp butter divided
- 1/2 cup pecan halves
- 8 oz shredded mozzarella
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/3 cup ground golden flax or additional almond flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Caramel Sauce Directions:
- Combine first three ingredients and cook over medium-low heat until bubbly, slightly thickened, and lightly browned. Remove from the heat and add the salt and extract. Set aside.
- Dough Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Spread 1 tbsp butter in a 9-inch pie plate. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup pecan halves on top. Set aside.
- Put cheese in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave one minute. Stir. Microwave 30 seconds. Stir. At this point, all the cheese should be melted. Microwave 30 more seconds (it should look like cheese fondue at this point).
- Add the melted cheese, egg, flours, and baking powder to a food processor. Pulse until well combined. Alternatively, you can mix this by hand by you will need to dump it onto wax paper and knead it to thoroughly incorporate the ingredients.
- Press it out into a 9×12 ish rectangle on waxed paper. Spread with 1 tbsp butter, sprinkle with 1 tbsp sweetener, chopped pecans, and cinnamon. Roll up along the long side. Slice into 1 inch thick slices. Put them in the pie plate. Drizzle half of prepared caramel sauce over the top.
- Bake at 350 for 35-40 min. until the dough is golden brown. Let cool for 5 min and quickly invert onto a serving platter. Scoop out any leftover pecans and caramel sauce and drizzle over the top. Pour the remaining caramel sauce over the sticky buns. Serve warm. Store in the fridge. You can reheat leftovers in the microwave.
What is the sweeteners you are talking about and where do I buy them or what is your recipe for it?
You can buy Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet on their website or on Amazon. My sweetener and links to the ingredients are at: http://www.joyfilledeats.com/sweetener
Could I use coconut, flax and oat flour instead of the almond?
That should work. I would use less than 1/3 part of the oat fiber though, it tends to be drier than almond flour.
What caramel extract do you recommend?
I use Watkins but I don’t love it. I think it has an aftertaste. I’ve heard the Olive Nations extracts are good.
Hi!
We loved these and want to make them again for sure! I was wondering how I could premake and freeze. Would you recommend making the dough and freezing it before cooking (and add the caramel and extra pecans while baking)? Or baking and just reheating?
Thanks!
These freeze ok but not great. I’ve baked them and frozen them before. I’m not sure freezing the raw dough would work.
These sound so yummy. I want to make them using your baking blend but was wondering what is the difference between ground golden flax seeds and just ground flax seeds? I thought I bought the right ones and after I opened it I realized it didn’t say golden. Can I still use them?
Golden flax has a slightly more mild flavor and the golden color looks nicer in baked goods. But, yes, you can just use the regular flax.
Do you think I could make them the night before, refrigerate, and then bake in the morning?
I think so but I would let the dough come to room temperature before baking.
Has anyone tried freezing these yet? I’m going to an event (flying) and really want to bring these, but don’t want to waste all that yumminess if they won’t keep well ?
They freeze ok. Not great. I’d probably make a different recipe. My magic cookie bars freeze well.
This is going to happen next time I go to a family event, because my Aunt Barbara makes the most wonderful cinammon rolls and I cannot eat them (gluten intolerant, plus want to be THM compliant). THANK YOU!!
Taryn, these are amazing! I made them for my husband’s birthday yesterday and even he loved them! (He hasn’t been the biggest fan of THM desserts that I’ve tried making…neither have I). Last weekend, I won him over with your One bowl chocolate fudge cake…and now these salted caramel pecan sticky buns! FINALLY, yummy desserts and baked goods! Question: would you consider making a recipe for an optional cream cheese frosting for these sticky buns? 🙂 Thanks again for giving me hope (and convincing hubby) that you can have on-plan delicious desserts! We’ll be following your page from now on! 🙂
I’m so glad you liked them. I do have a cream cheese icing on my cinnamon rolls post. The one bowl chocolate fudge is from Chrissy Benoit though. I’ll pass on your praise 🙂
Oops, sorry Taryn! Got that mixed up! But what has been a success is your Local Baking Blend and Gentle Sweet mix – I think the other ones I tried mixing up from other websites were partly why recipes weren’t working out well. So good to know that your blends worked not only for one of your recipes, but for another website (Chrissy Benoit’s) as well!
That’s great Johanna!
These were barely ok…was so looking forward to amazing sticky buns like the comments suggested. We did enjoy the caramel sauce, but the sticky buns themselves were not what we were expecting. 🙁
Hi Mallory,
I’m sorry you didn’t like them more. The mozzarella doughs aren’t as light and fluffy as a wheat and yeast dough. There are a few recipes using sprouted flours for those if you are doing THM. They aren’t low carb though and most are crossovers. One trick with a mozzarella dough to make sure the cheese is super melted. One time I made these there were ribbons of cheese and they tasted cheesy. Not good. If the cheese is thoroughly incorporated I think they are delicious. But everyone has a different palate.
About the super melted cheese part – people should note that since each microwave is different, you may have to keep warming the cheeses in 30 second intervals until it is fully melted/integrated. I know it took probably 2.5 minutes total for mine and I have had just stopped after the first minute, I probably wouldn’t have had a great result. I just kept thinking “She said it should look like fondue – this does not look like fondue!” Granted, it might be because I used pre-shredded cheese and it takes longer to melt. 🙂 Also, I’m an amateur baker so if anyone is having trouble getting your caramel sauce to ‘brown’, just turn up the heat – I had mine on what I thought was moderate and was afraid of scorching it, but it wasn’t turning brown/thickening. Once I turned up the heat to what is ‘high’ on my stove, it browned right up!
can you use the THM baking blend?
Yes, another reader commented that she used it and they turned out great 🙂
these look SO good! question though, are you shredding the mozz. or is pre-shred ok to use? I have noticed in other dishes that if I shred the cheese myself it melts easier b/c it doesn’t have that weird coating- but for now, I need convenience and have been using the pre-shred. What did you use in this recipe? I have seen several cheese-doughs lately but haven’t tried them b/c of this variable and I don’t want to waste a failed attempt! thanks!
I have used both successfully. It is a bit harder to mix in the pre shredded kind. Just make sure you are using a mild flavored mozzarella.
Ugh. I just put these in the oven and realized I forgot to add cream cheese! Hoping they still turn out!
I wanted to make this today but only have about 4oz left of an 8oz bag of mozza. Can anything be subbed or should I wait until I have a full bag of mozza? Either way. Can’t wait!!
Not really. I would just half the recipe. I’ve done that before 🙂
I have attempted to make the caramel sauce twice. It just turns into wet butter with globs of extremely hard gooey globs. What am I doing wrong? Followed the instructions exactly!
Hi Erin, I’m not exactly sure why it’s separating. I’ve made it 5 or 6 times and that has never happened. Are you using gentle sweet?
I start on very low heat and gradually increase the heat. The butter melts, and then the sweetener melts, and it’s normally a uniform white color at that point. After simmering for a bit it turns golden. I whisk it off and on.
Also, this might be helpful: http://candy.about.com/od/carameltoffee/f/separate_faq.htm