Indulge in the best sticky bun recipe with walnuts, featuring gooey maple caramel and buttery crunch. This easy, freezer-friendly walnut sticky buns recipe is a brunch game-changer. Fall in love with the drippy icing and addictive filling. Your morning just got better.
The Best Maple Walnut Sticky Buns
Living in New York City, I’m spoiled by world-class bakeries, but there’s nothing like the smell of a walnut bun baking in your own oven. These maple walnut sticky buns are my tribute to those bakery favorites—tender, brioche-style dough meets a rich maple-caramel glaze.
The dough was fairly easy to develop. It's a yeast dough, loaded with butter, enriching milk and eggs. One reason I say it is so easy, is there's no trick to this yeast dough. With all the rich ingredients it stays very soft and gets mixed completely in your mixer. You don't need to deal with a sticky mess on your counter, kneading by hand.
Why Walnuts? (And the Pecan Swap)
While many classic recipes lean into the Southern tradition of pecans, I’ve opted for a walnut sticky buns recipe.
The earthy, slightly toasted flavor of a walnut bun provides a sophisticated balance to the sweetness of the maple.
The Swap: If you’re a pecan purist, don't worry! You can swap the walnuts for pecans 1:1. This recipe is flexible enough to handle whatever is in your pantry.
Tara’s Tips for the Best Sticky Bun Recipe
Scald Your Milk: Heat the milk until steaming to break down whey proteins that can otherwise weaken your dough’s rise. It’s a small step for a much loftier bun.
Measuring Flour: Flour is easy to over-pack. For a tender walnut bun, fluff your flour with a spoon before leveling it off, or better yet, use a kitchen scale.
The Caramel Shortcut: I opted to buy a store-bought caramel sauce as the base. It’s a "No Big Deal" (NBD) shortcut that saves time without sacrificing that professional, gooey finish. I added the maple flavor to it, and it taste like a mix between my favorite pastry and a maple donut!
Making These True Maple Sticky Buns
What transforms these into authentic maple sticky buns is the double-hit of flavor. Add maple extract to the buttery filling and the caramel drizzle. It gives that nostalgic, maple-donut aroma that makes these irresistible.
This recipe makes 12 large sticky buns! Use a large cup muffin tin for this size. To make 18 standard-size buns:
Grease 18 standard-size muffin tin cups. Fill and roll dough as directed. Cut each log into 9 2-inch pieces. Place cut side up in muffin tins, cover and let rise 30 min. Bake as directed, 22 to 25 min.
Once they come out of the oven, don't wait! Carefully flip the buns while the caramel is still warm so they don't stick to the pan. Drizzle with the confectioners' sugar icing, and you’ve officially mastered the best sticky bun recipe in the neighborhood.
Make-Ahead Genius
One of the best parts of this walnut sticky buns recipe is its versatility. You can roll and cut the buns, place them in the muffin tin, and freeze them unbaked for up to 3 months.
When you’re ready for a stress-free brunch, just pull them out 2 to 3 hours ahead of time to rise at room temperature, then bake. It’s the ultimate "past-Tara" gift to "future-Tara."
This works for Thanksgiving or Christmas morning as well! Get up early and take them out to rise!
More bread recipes
If you are throwing a buffet event these rolls are perfect. You can also try my Spring Vegetable Ricotta Tarts and the luscious Raspberry French Toast Strata.
Rate this recipe! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Scroll to the bottom of the page to rate and comment on this recipe. Leaving comments, questions, and ratings helps other too!
📖 Full Recipe
Maple-Walnut Sticky Buns
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk plus 2 tbsp
- 2 pkg (1½ tbsp) active dry yeast
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 21 tablespoon unsalted butter (softened)
- 3 eggs (at room temperature)
- 5⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 1¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoon maple extract
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 cups walnuts (chopped)
- ⅓ cup caramel topping sauce (such as Smucker's)
- 1½ cups confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Scald 1 cup milk (heat to steaming). In a mixing bowl combine warm milk, yeast and sugar. Let yeast start to bubble, about 5 min.
- Add 12 tablespoon butter and eggs to mixer and beat, with the paddle attachment, until slightly blended. Stir in flour and salt, about 2 min. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed to develop the dough, 3 min more.
- Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap; set aside in a warm place and let rise until doubled, about 1 hr. Grease tow large-cup muffin tins. Melt 6 tablespoon butter and stir in 1½ teaspoon maple extract; set aside.
- Gently punch down dough and divide in half. Roll into 2 12-by-18-inch rectangles on a lightly floured work surface. Spread maple-butter mixture evenly over both rectangles. Sprinkle each with half the brown sugar and walnuts. Roll tightly into logs, starting at the long edge, and pinch seams together. Cut each log into 6 3-inch pieces for a total of 12 buns. Place in muffin tins cut side up, cover and allow to rise for 30 min. Heat oven to 325°F Bake until golden brown, 28 to 30 min.
- Combine caramel topping and 1½ teaspoon maple extract. carefully remove hot buns from pan and place on a clean baking sheet; drizzle with caramel.
- For icing: Melt 3 tablespoon butter and stir together with confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoon milk; drizzle over buns. Serve warm or cool. Store airtight for up to two days.
To make 18 standard-size buns:
- Grease 18 standard-size muffin tin cups. Fill and roll dough as directed. Cut each log into 9 2-inch pieces. Place cut side up in muffin tins, cover and let rise 30 min. Bake as directed, 22 to 25 min.
To Freeze:
- Prepare buns as directed, in either size. Do not let rise a second time; cover pan, freeze until solid, then keep frozen in pan or transfer frozen buns to a zip-to bag. To bake, thaw in pan and let rise at room temperature until double in size, 2 to 3 hr. Bake as directed.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in food publishing for over 25 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television, food brands, & advertising. With two cookbooks under my belt and thousands of my recipes at your fingertips, I hope you'll be inspired to spend more time in the kitchen!
Recipe by Tara Bench. Photographer: Lisa Hubbard. Food Stylist: Susan Vajaranant. Prop Stylist: Penelope Bouklas. Originally published in LHJ 11/11
Mary Bench says
I think these may be my new FAVORITE!
Brittany Smart says
I need like all of these right now, they are so yummy!
T Oleson says
I'm curious if you copied this directly from November 2011 Ladies Home Journal. Recipe is identical and your comments are the same. It only takes a second or two to give them credit.
Tara Teaspoon says
I did! In fact I was the food director of Ladies’ Home Journal and wrote the recipe along with all of the other recipes in that magazine! (Take a peak at my About page)
If you’ve got the magazine copy you can see my name in the front. When the publication closed I chose to share some of my favorite creations on the blog.
Tara