These quick sticky biscuits are incredibly indulgent pecan sticky buns made with Southern biscuits rather than a yeasted dough. Which means your cravings are satisfied in minutes without impatiently waiting for dough to rise. You’re welcome.–David Leite
Quick Sticky Biscuits
Ingredients
For the sticky pecan sauce
- Butter at room temperature or nonstick cooking spray
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted
For the biscuits
- 4 cups bleached all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 sticks very cold or frozen unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups cold buttermilk, (either low-fat or full-fat)
For the cinnamon sugar topping
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
Make the sticky pecan sauce
- In a saucepan over low heat, warm the brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter until the butter melts.
- Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a gentle boil. Cook, uncovered, until the mixture thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped nuts. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly.
Make the biscuits
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Generously coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture. Blend until most of the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, with some of the bits of butter the size of small peas.
- Make a shallow well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in 1 1/2 cups of the cold buttermilk. Use a fork to blend the buttermilk into the flour to create a soft dough. If the dough seems too dry, add some or all of the remaining 1/2 cup buttermilk.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead a few times until it comes together. Pat the dough into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle. Use a chef's knife to cut the dough into 12 square biscuits.
Make the cinnamon sugar topping
- In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and cinnamon.
Assemble the quick sticky biscuits
- Brush the tops of the biscuits with some of the melted butter and sprinkle with some of the cinnamon sugar. Place the biscuits, evenly spaced, cinnamon-sugar side down, into the pecan syrup-lined pan. Brush the tops of the biscuits with more melted butter and sprinkle with a little more cinnamon-sugar.
- Bake the biscuits until golden brown, puffy, and bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Let the biscuits cool slightly in the baking dish.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Invert the baking sheet onto the baking dish and then flip everything over. Slowly remove the dish and let the sauce fall around the biscuits. Use a small spatula to scrape any sauce that clings to the baking dish onto the biscuits. Serve warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
I’m not a baker, but I decided to try this recipe, and I’m sure glad I did. It was so easy it would be perfect for a beginner cook.
From start to finish, it only took 1 hour and 15 minutes. The sauce mixture came together real quickly. The dough part is what had me worried, because I’m not very good at making dough. I did have to use the full 2 cups of buttermilk, because the dough was too dry with just 1 1/2 cups. I didn’t think these would turn out because my sauce mixture was pretty hard in the pan when I placed the biscuits on top, but in the end it all turned out well.
After just 15 minutes of baking time, the sauce was bubbling up around the biscuits, and when I turned the biscuits out of the pan there wasn’t anything stuck to the bottom of the pan and the sauce was oozing down the sides of the biscuits. It was a beautiful sight. I thought the biscuits looked a little underdone, but they were perfect and fluffy.
When I cut my biscuits, I ended up with more than 12. I took the leftover biscuits and warmed them for 15 minutes and they were still great.
Warning: These are very sweet so bring on your biggest glass of cold milk.
This quick sticky biscuits recipe has made me a hero amongst my friends. I whipped these up Saturday morning. My husband and I each had one. I saved two for later and brought the rest to my friends who had to work during this brutal heatwave on the East Coast. I received a flood of texts telling me that these were “heaven,” “the best thing I have put in my mouth,” and that I am “a genius.”
Of course I’m not a genius, but I know how to follow a recipe. And this is a recipe worth following. In addition to being quick, it is really quite easy. The biscuit part is fluffy and light. The caramel topping is the perfect level of gooey. It’s pretty darn perfect. I will be saving this recipe for future cooler days and special occasions.
I would normally have made the biscuit dough in my food processor. I froze the butter the night before, and definitely will do that again. I didn’t use all of the butter or all of the cinnamon sugar.
Nothing about this recipe is healthy. This is a true indulgence kind of recipe that you save for out-of-town guests and holidays when calories and macros don’t count. My husband has declared this recipe is by far the best one I have tested for LC. I can’t say I disagree. This is a recipe worth feeling a bit naughty for.
This quick sticky biscuits recipe looked really simple to make and it turned out to be very easy to make with ingredients that were readily available. They were very good. I would make these again for a quick breakfast treat.
The pan I used was not deep enough and some of the sauce spilled over the side. The biscuits didn’t come out easily at first due to the sauce sticking to the side of the pan but when I loosened, they came out good. I think they would be a little better with a little sugar added to the dough.
I was prepared to NOT like this quick sticky biscuits recipe. I was sure that with its copious amounts of butter, it was going to be greasy and cloying, but I was wrong. It was heavenly. For a quick and easy sticky bun, this really exceeded my expectations!
The biscuit portion was fluffy and tender and the syrupy pecan portion was exactly as sticky as a good sticky bun should be without being overly sweet.
The only misstep I encountered was that in the center of the pan the biscuits needed a bit of extra time to firm up. I didn’t find that out until after I had inverted them onto a platter. Fortunately, the platter onto which I inverted them was ovensafe, so to mitigate the issue I just placed the whole platter with the inverted buns back into the oven on 275°F for about 10 minutes, which took care of it.
I did need to add an extra 1/4 cup from the reserved 1/2 cup of buttermilk. I used all of the cinnamon sugar but I actually had about 2 tablespoons of butter left over after brushing both the tops and bottoms. The sticky buns inverted cleanly onto the platter and they were DIVINE!
I originally cut the biscuits into 12 pieces but after seeing how rich they were I ended up cutting each one in half again, for 24 pieces total. I would hedge and say that a normal person could get 16 servings but cutting the rectangle into 4 rows of 4. I like smaller portions so 24 worked for me.
Yum! I used pecans for the recipe and it worked great. One thing: I will probably try not using melted butter on the biscuit surface that comes in contact with the pecan sauce. When I flipped the dish (which came out so easily!), some of the lovely sauce sadly slithered off the biscuits. Maybe less butter would help when I make them the next time, and there will definitely be a next time!
Lisa, glad you liked these! Or maybe let the rolls cool a couple minutes longer next time before removing from the pan…
Hi David, I’ve made these for the Liquid Web team twice now, to rave reviews. Thanks for the recipe!
Erin, glad the team at LW liked the recipe. Come back for more!