These soft Molasses Spice Sugar Buns are made with a molasses brioche, filled with spices, and then covered in sugar for a spicy morning treat.
I removed a muffin pan from the dishwasher and went to put it away.
But I noticed that the last person (not me) had crammed the baking sheets and muffin pans into the cupboard.
It was going to take a few minutes for me to drag out all the pans and I’m lazy so I didn’t want to do that.
So logically the thing to do was to make these Molasses Spice Sugar Buns to avoid having to do that.
Because making buns that take over 12 hours start to finish totally makes more sense than spending 10 minutes reorganizing a cupboard.
Plus, I have buns when I’m done.
I swear in my mind it all makes sense.
Now of course I have another clean muffin pan. 🙂
If you are seeing that it took over 12 hours to make these don’t panic.
Just like with most yeast based baking the majority of the time is the dough spent rising.
In fact this dough does most of its rising overnight while you are sleeping.
Which would make a great sequel to While You Were Sleeping.
I can see it now…they are married and the whole movie is about the breads they make with overnight dough.
On second thought that might be a straight to DVD movie.
I’m reading all sorts of holiday magazines as of late, old and new.
Yes, I know we haven’t had Halloween yet but really the holidays will soon be knocking at your door.
Or knocking down your door…whatever the case may be.
All the holiday recipes make me want gingerbread.
But I knew people would groan if I was already making gingerbread.
So molasses and spice it is….just not gingerbread. 😉
Normally I don’t want my buns to spiral up like these.
Because when they do they lose a lot of the filling.
However, the filling on these are minimal and the flavor is in the dough.
If you want to create the look I have for these muffins you will need go buy some parchment liners.
I use these parchment liners.
That being said, if you want more traditional spiral you can bake them on a baking sheet or in a 9-x-12-inch pan.
While still warm, I rolled my buns into the sugar.
They pop out of the parchment just fine and go right back in.
But if you did them in a pan you can just sprinkle the sugar on.
For me though the more sugar the better. 😛
Just like with things like salsa and how hot you want it…the same goes for spice.
If you really, really love spice then feel free to add more if you think that is what you want.
I would not add any less but that again is up to you.
Make these buns to match your taste buds.
It’s a great day to order my cookbook.
Want More Sweet Roll Recipes?
Bourbon Brown Sugar Caramel Peach Sweet Rolls
Salted Caramel Apple Sweet Rolls
Cinnamon Sugar Apple Babka Buns
Coconut Cream Pie Breakfast Buns
Molasses Spice Sugar Buns
Ingredients
- For the Filling:
- 3 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. nutmeg, freshly ground
- For the Sponge:
- ½ cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 TBSP dry active yeast (I used Red Star Yeast Platinum)
- 2 TBSP sugar
- ½ cup bread flour
- For the Dough:
- 1/3 cup unsulfured black-strap molasses
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 TBSP ground ginger
- 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. all spice
- 3 ½ -4 cups bread flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 6 large eggs, slightly beaten
- 9 ounces unsalted butter, softened but still cool
- For the Dusting:
- 1 cup granulated sugar for dusting/rolling
Instructions
- For the Filling:
- Mix together the sugar and spices and set aside.
- For the Sponge:
- Combine milk and yeast in the mixing bowl of a standing mixer.
- Whisk and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add flour and sugar, mix to form a thick batter.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30-45 minutes, until bubbles form.
- Add the molasses, brown sugar, spice, flour, and salt to the sponge.
- Add the eggs.
- Beat with the dough hook attachment on low speed for 2 minutes, until the eggs are absorbed.
- Increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 5 minutes.
- The dough will be sticky. Hold the mixer when necessary if it starts to dance on you.
- Turn the machine down to medium low speed and add the butter, 2 TBSP at a time.
- Knead for another 5 minutes, until the dough is shiny.
- Scrape out the dough and clean and lightly oil the bowl. Don’t worry if the dough is difficult to work with(it will be).
- Place the dough in the bowl then turn it over so that the top is oiled.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 2 hours, until doubled.
- When dough is has doubled in volume, punch it down by folding it two or three times.
- Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.I tend to be an overnight girl.
- After the second rise, the dough is ready to be shaped.
- Divide the dough in two. You are only using one half of the dough batch to make the rolls. If you want more rolls you will need to dough the filling and sugar and have two baking sheets/muffin pans.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
- Using a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle approximately 12 by 16 inches.
- Use a pastry brush(or your hands if you like to get messy) to spread 3 TBSP of butter around the rolled out dough, leaving an 1-inch margin at the top edge with no butter.
- Sprinkle filling evenly over the surface, again leaving the 1-inch margin.
- Starting from the long side closest to you, roll up the dough like a jellyroll.
- Transfer the log to a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes.
- This will make cutting the buns clean and even.
- Remove from freezer, cut buns into 1 ½-inch pieces, you should get around 12.
- Place them back onto a greased baking pan. Or if you want individual ones like photographed add cupcake liners to a standard muffin pan.
- Wrap with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 ½ to 2 hours. The cooler your house is the longer it will take.
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Bake buns for 10 minutes and reduce heat to 350F.
- Bake for another 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your buns.
- Remove buns from oven and sprinkle your buns with sugar. You can also roll your buns in the sugar which works when you make them in the individual sizes.
Notes
You are only using half the batch of dough to make the rolls. I suggest baking off the other half of the dough into a loaf to make bread pudding with...that's what I did.
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