Walnut Maple Buns

If you like nutty desserts, the Walnut Maple Buns are for you. Imagine the concept of a cinnamon roll, but not—instead, with a crap ton of walnuts.

I prepared Sweet Yeast Dough for this recipe ahead of time, which might be the easiest sticky dough out of all the foundational recipes (or maybe I made brioche dough enough times that now it seems like less work). I also used my uncle’s Wisconsin maple syrup, which made me feel very farm to table.

After chopping up the walnuts, I toasted them for about eight minutes. Once they were cooled, I placed them in a bag and smashed them even more; this definitely answered my personal needs for any nuts in a dessert to be practically unnoticeable, as I am not into a big crunch.

I then proceeded to make the beloved sticky sauce element of all breakfast roll/bun desserts. I cooked the maple syrup, vanilla, brown sugar, butter and salt in a saucepan, letting it boil for a little bit before placing it into the bottom of a glass pan (Claire suggests a metal pan, but my glass one is taller, which I found to be helpful). I quickly scattered the walnut pieces over this sauce and let it cool.

In another bowl, I added the warm spices with orange zest and brown sugar, creating a nice sugar crumble. Then I melted more butter in the saucepan. Once this was done, I rolled the Sweet Yeast Dough out on my floured counter, creating a big rectangular shape. I then brushed the melted butter across the dough, and scattered the sugar mixture evenly. I rolled up the dough from the long side carefully, and cut the slices about a half-inch apart, which gave me about 12 rolls. I then placed those rolls evenly apart in the glass pan with the spirals facing up. Trust me, it’s not a big deal if it seems like you chopped up too many walnuts for the bottom, these babies will expand from letting them rise for about an hour and another half hour in the oven. By the time they were done, they were practically billowing out of the glass pan.

Personally, I’m just not a big fan of nutty desserts, but I think these Walnut Maple Buns are really great. You could also easily switch out walnuts with pecans or whatever you like. My husband really liked them. They have the perfect level of fluffiness, and a hint of orange with the warm spices is really nice. I highly suggest eating them warmed up!

I'm happy to report mine turned out very similar to Claire's! Check out her YouTube video on Maple Sticky Buns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlzmsTiOJnU