Easy Sticky Buns or Snails and A Return From Holidays

A long time between posts... so Happy New Year to all. Since I last posted, I have been thoroughly blessed with the holiday of a lifetime. But now, a return home and a return to normalcy, marred only slightly by chicken pox! Darling husband and darling daughter have both come out in spots, and both are suffering with them too.....

Being a little housebound made it easy to get the sticky buns made for this month's Barefoot Blogger Challenge. (If you haven't been following before now, the Barefoot Bloggers are a group of keen cooks working through the assorted wisdom of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Each month, a couple of recipes are selected and the group posts results here. I love it because I am always being pushed to do something I would never usually make). Thanks to Melissa from Made by Melissa for the choice.

These buns are quite popular in Australia and are called snails (for the obvious reason). I had all ingredients on hand, but decided to halve the recipe as there is a limit to how much of this type of pastry our family is ever going to eat. They turned out well although a little small - about the size of a smallish cupcake. I think the problem may have been the difference in the size of a sheet of puff pastry. I am not sure that one sheet of puff pastry here = 1 sheet of puff pastry in the US. Our sheets are about 20cm x 20cm, so if you are making this in Australia and want larger buns, join an extra half sheet by brushing the joins with a little water. If I make this again, I may play around with the add-ins - maybe some apple would be good?

Easy Sticky Buns from "Back to Basics" by Ina Garten

180g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, defrosted

Filling:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 200C. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down.

Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2 inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon), and cool completely.