Burnt Sticky Buns
What's there to say when you burn your sticky buns? It's a pretty unkind thing to do. On a Sunday morning, you pique everyone's interest with rumors of sticky bun making; then you roll them, pop them in the oven, and fill the apartment with a wonderful smell. And then you burn them. What kind of a person are you? Not a very good one, I imagine.
Let us not blame the recipe, which comes from the Barefoot Contessa. It's a neat little trick: you buy puff pastry and let it defrost for 40 minutes on the counter.
You preheat the oven to 400 and beat 12 Tbs of butter and 1/3rd a cup of light brown sugar in a mixer (note: that amount is for 12 sticky buns, in which case you need two sheets of puff pastry. I ended up wasting butter b/c I only wanted 6 sticky buns.)
You put 1 Tbs of the butter/sugar mixture into each compartment of a muffin tin:
Then you realize you only want 6 sticky buns and you wipe the unnecessary butter out. Again: I wasted butter.
Now, once the puff pastry is defrosted you top it with 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 tsps cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of raisins--leaving a one inch border all around.
You roll it up:
You slice off the ends and then you cut the whole thing in half. Each half divide into 3, yielding 6 sticky buns:
Don't they look pretty?
Now plop them on top of the butter in the muffin tins:
Place in the oven for 30 minutes "until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch."
This is where I messed up: I should've checked them sooner. I just waited the 30 minutes and when I took them out, they were burned beyond repair:
Isn't that a sad display? Can you imagine anything sadder?
Still, we picked out the middles and they tasted good. So I guess it's not that sad, in the grand scheme of things. And the happy news is that you can learn from my mistake, so heed this advice:
When making sticky buns, it's best not to burn them.
P.S. I should say here that I'm not sure I love this recipe anyway. The parts we did eat tasted fine, but they were a bit too flaky for my tastes. I prefer my sticky buns doughier. My next sticky bun effort will not involve puff pastry.
