These strawberry brioche sticky buns have a rich strawberry cream cheese frosting. They are super-gooey and delicious, perfect for a weekend treat!
Yep. You read that correctly. Strawberry brioche sticky buns with strawberry cream cheese frosting.
Oh my gosh you guys. Please ignore the gigantic hulking vein in my left hand! If you can believe it, trying to get blood drawn from my arm is a nightmare because my veins are so tiny. Getting an IV when I had surgery last year, on the other hand, was a piece of cake. I wonder why (ahem, giant hulking hand veins…)?
I guess the initial idea came from this post that I pinned a while back: http://afewshortcuts.com/2013/04/strawberry-cinnamon-rolls/. I must have buried that in the back of my head somewhere, because honestly, when it sprang into my head that I needed to make a strawberry sticky bun, this recipe was nowhere on my radar.
Cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, what have you…I love ’em all. My childhood was filled with memories of poppin’ fresh swirls from a paper can, sometimes cinnamon but if things were really good the orange kind. I still love those, but since I started making them at home (my orange “danishes” involve marmalade and orange juice) the refrigerated kind pale in comparison. If icing is present, even better….and when I make sticky buns/rolls of any kind, icing is always present.
In this case, the icing contains strawberries and cream cheese. Believe it or not, it only contains half the sugar of a traditional cream cheese icing recipe…but it sure didn’t need any more. The dough is actually Smitten Kitchen’s brioche bun dough, with the amounts of all-purpose flour and bread flour adjusted to tamp down the gluten production (bread flour is higher in gluten than all-purpose). And since strawberry season is long gone, there are no “fresh” strawberries…instead, I used strawberry preserves for the filling and thawed frozen strawberries for the icing.
Let me tell you, these are every bit as delicious as the title sounds. Messy, yes, both in production and consumption…but totally worth it. You should totally make these for a Sunday morning treat!
Mary
Yield: 16 buns
3 hrPrep Time:
15 minCook Time:
3 hr, 15 Total Time:
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Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 Large egg (beaten)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for kneading)
- 1 1/3 cup bread flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
- 10-12oz strawberry jam, preserves, or all-fruit spread
- 1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces) (softened)
- 8oz cream cheese (softened)
- 8oz powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1/4 cup strawberry puree (I used about 1/2 cup of thawed frozen strawberries to make the puree)
Instructions
- Stir the milk, water, sugar, and yeast together and allow to proof for about 5 minutes in a measuring cup. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flours and the salt. Use your fingertips to work the 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter into the flours. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour along with the beaten eggs and stir together. Turn onto a floured surface and knead (or knead with the dough hook of a stand mixer) for about 5-8 minutes, adding flour as kneaded to get a soft but not overly sticky consistency. Cover the bowl with plastic and set to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about an hour to an hour and a half.
- Roll the dough out to a 16x10 inch rectangle on a floured surface, Spread the strawberry jam over the rectangle to within about an inch of the edges. Roll the dough up by the long edges and seal shut. Cut off the ends with a serrated knife, then cut into sixteen pieces (confession: I only got fifteen) by cutting in halves, then halving the halves and so on (this is a messy proposition!). Divide between two cake pans that have been lined with parchment paper and butter. Cover and let rise for another 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the risen sticky buns for about fifteen minutes, until lightly browned on top. Cool on a rack.
- Make the icing: With a hand or stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and stick of softened butter until well combined. Scrape down the sides and add the powdered sugar, beating until combined, then add the strawberry puree and combine thoroughly.
- Divide the icing between the two pans of sticky buns, spreading to cover the top, and serve.
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