Honey Buns
Today I am sharing these soft and fluffy honey buns that are so irresistibly delicious, I guarantee you’d be devouring them! These buns are filled with sweet honey brown sugar filling with hints of cinnamon flavors, and topped with rich honey cream cheese icing.
Honey Buns are basically honey flavored cinnamon rolls. I love the complex flavors honey bring and enjoy having these for breakfast, snack or even dessert!
A Homemade Honey Bun Recipe
I have probably made these honey buns a dozen times before posting this to make sure I get the recipe just right. And now, I am excited for you to give these rolls a try because THEY ARE SO GOOD!
Honey buns are cinnamon rolls with a lot of honey flavors incorporated. It has the same pinwheel shape but is infused with honey in addition to all the amazing flavors of a cinnamon roll.
And you know we love our cinnamon rolls around here! I definitely have a thing for these Cinnamon Raisin Rolls and Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling. They really are as magical as they sound!
Honey brings a lovely and complex flavor to cinnamon rolls and we incorporate honey into both the filling and the icing. These warm and fluffy honey buns are truly irresistible and if I dare say, even better than regular cinnamon rolls!
The idea of honey buns was inspired by the pre-made honey buns that you can get at the grocery stores. But truly, it tastes 2000x better than those. 😉
If you’ve never tasted my homemade honey bun recipe, I highly encourage you to run (not walk) to the store and grab these ingredients and make it ASAP! It’s THAT good!
Ingredients Needed
Here are the ingredients you will need to make these homemade honey buns:
For the dough
- yeast – yeast is often an intimidating ingredient but I’m here to encourage you…don’t be intimidated! Just follow my step-by-step instructions and you’ll be baking with yeast like a pro in no time! You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. If using active dry yeast, dissolve yeast in butter mixture until bubbly and frothy before adding to the mixture.
- milk – any milk works, the higher the fat content, the richer the rolls. I typically use 2% milk, but whole or even skim would work. Warm milk to 90-110℉ to activate dry yeast – I usually just do this in the microwave for the ease of it.
- butter – unsalted butter is preferred to better control the sodium content. Make sure to soften butter. Room temperature butter works best.
- egg – for best rise and texture, use a room temperature large egg.
- all-purpose flour – adjust the flour as needed. Humidity and weather can affect the consistency of the dough.
- granulated sugar
For the filling
- brown sugar
- butter – use unsalted softened butter for best results
- honey
- vanilla extract – pure vanilla extract yields the best flavor
For the icing
- cream cheese – softened at room temperature. You can use regular or less fat cream cheese for the icing.
- honey
- butter – use unsalted softened butter
- vanilla extract
How to Make It
If you are making these honey buns for the first time, give yourself plenty of time. It takes a while from start to finish because there are two rises that calls for about 1.5 hours of dough rising time.
That being said, the recipe is fairly straightforward, but just like cooking any yeast bread, it requires patience as you need to a lot for the dough to rise.
Make Dough
You’ll want to first make the sweet roll dough for our honey buns.
Start by warming milk and melted butter to 90-100℉. This will provide an optimal temperature for the yeast.
Add melted butter, warmed milk and a beaten room temperature egg in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add dry ingredients – flour, sugar, salt, and instant yeast. Mix and then knead until dough is smooth and elastic looking.
Dough should not be sticky, but it shouldn’t be dry either. If you press your finger onto the dough, it shouldn’t stick to your finger, but it should not feel completely dry either. If dough is dry add 1 tbsp of milk. If dough is too wet, add a tablespoon of flour.
Place dough pin a greased large bowl. Cover and let it rise for 1 hr, or until it becomes double in size (see picture below).
When dough has risen, gently punch it down.
Filling for Honey Bun
I like to make the filling for the honey buns while the dough is rising to cut back on time.
Filling is where we will get all the sweet and savory yumminess that is loaded with amazing complex honey flavors.
Brown sugar, softened butter, honey, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon are combined together to make a sticky gooey delicious filling for these homemade honey buns.
Assemble and make rolls
Bring dough to a flat surface sprinkled generously with flour. Then roll out the dough to a rectangle using a rolling pin measuring approximately 15×12 inches.
Spread dough with prepared filling, leaving about 1/2 inch on the sides without filling.
Then gently roll the dough up lengthwise and smooth the edge.
Use a serrated knife to slice these cut honey buns.
Depending on the size of your dough, you will most likely get about 12 pieces of honey buns.
Place each bun into a greased 9′ x 13″ dish and let it rise again for another 30 minutes, before baking the honey buns.
Make Icing
While rolls are cooling, make icing. Place softened cream cheese, honey, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl. Use a hand mixer to mix until all lumps are smoothed out.
Finish up
By now, your honey buns should be slightly cool to the touch. Use a spatula to drizzle tops generously with cream cheese frosting.
If honey buns are significantly warm the frosting will melt very quickly once drizzled on top.
The best thing about these gooey sticky rolls? You get the perfect bite of dough, sweet sticky filling, and frosting!
The texture of these Honey Buns are ridiculously soft and pillowy, and well complement by that sweet sticky center, and the creamy sweet cream cheese on top.
We set out to crate the perfect bite and I don’t want to brag, but we totally did! 😉
Tips and Tricks
- Perfect yeast proofing – Make sure to mix yeast in milk that is 90-110℉ to activate yeast.
- Room temperature ingredients – Having room temperature eggs and butter helps in easy mixing and helps your dough rise better.
- Knead the dough well – Kneading the dough correctly is crucial for the honey buns. This develops the gluten which gives the buns their soft, stretchy texture. A stand mixer with a dough hook is a useful kitchen tool to help knead the dough properly.
- Add nuts – If you like the extra crunch, pecans or almonds are great adds onto the brown sugar honey filling.
- Leave space between buns – When arranging honey buns in the baking pan, make sure to leave some space between them or the buns will rise and expand into each other.
- Don’t cut short rise time – Make sure your dough comes to a full rise. If your oven has a dough proof setting, use it for the perfect rise.
- Oven temperature – Make sure the oven is properly pre-heated before you put the buns in. An oven thermometer can help to double-check your oven’s accuracy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can prepare the dough a day in advance, let it rise, punch it down, and store it in the refrigerator. The cool temperature slows down the yeast activity, allowing you to proceed with the baking the following day.
Yes, you can. Although a stand mixer makes the process easier, you can definitely mix and knead the dough by hand. It’s a bit more labor-intensive, but the end results will be equally delicious.
The fluffiness of the buns can be affected by several factors including the freshness of the yeast, correct kneading of the dough, and allowing the dough to rise fully.
Yes, you can freeze honey buns either after they are baked or the dough can be frozen ahead and baked later. Make sure to wrap them well to prevent freezer burns.
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More Delicious Sweet Breakfast Recipes
- Milk Bread Rolls
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin
- Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole
- Pancake Casserole
- Strawberry Banana Bread
- Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancake
Honey Buns
Equipment
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup 2% milk
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 3¾ – 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
Filling
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Icing
- 3 oz cream cheese softened
- ⅓ cup honey
- 4 tbsp butter softened
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the dough
- Warm milk to 90-100℉. Melt butter to 90-100℉. Crack and beat room temperature egg. Combine milk, melted butter, and beaten egg in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Add dry ingredients to mixture: flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Use dough hook attachment to mix the dough. Alternatively, can knead by hand.
- If using a stand mixer, once all of the ingredients are combined, allow the dough hook to knead the dough for 2-3 minutes.
- Dough should not stick to fingers when pressed onto it. If dough is sticky add a tbsp of flour. If dough is too dry, add 1 tbsp of water or milk.
- Lightly grease a large bowl. Place dough in prepared bowl. Cover with cloth, set in a warm spot, and let rise for 1 hour.
- Dough should at least double in size.
- When dough has risen, on a clean work surface, use a rolling pin to flatten dough into a 15"x12" rectangle.
To make filling
- While dough is rising, in a bowl, combine brown sugar, softened butter, honey, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
To make the honey buns
- Spread the filling evenly over the flattened dough, leaving 1/2 inch without filling on all sides.
- Gently roll dough from the long side into a long tube.
- Using a serrated knife, cut tube into 12 honey buns. Each bun will be a little over an inch thick.
- Line a 9"x13" casserole dish with parchment paper or grease well.
- Place rolls into prepared 9"x13" dish. Cover with a towel and let rolls rise a second time for 30-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375℉.
- After the second rise, remove towel and place honey buns into preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
To make icing
- While rolls are cooling, place softened cream cheese, honey, softened butter and vanilla extract in a bowl. Mix well with a hand mixer until all lumps are smoothed out.
To finish honey buns
- Once the buns have cooled for 10-15 minutes, Drizzle icing over the rolls.
- Serve and enjoy!