Ina Garten Just Shared an Easy Sticky Bun Recipe—They’re So Good

Back in the ’90s, if my family’s house smelled like cinnamon rolls, it was a special occasion…  a really special occasion. Holidays involving illuminated evergreen trees, birthdays that fell on Saturdays, or the first morning of our annual week-long summer vacation to the Jersey Shore. Cinnamon toast, sometimes Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and my dad’s favorite store-bought pecan twirls were for the rest of the year, but oven-baked cinnamon rolls from scratch were schmancy. 

As a grown-up, I don’t wait for special occasions to fill my house with the smell of cinnamon sugar and warm pastries. Recently, I saw Ina Garten make the nuttier cousin of cinnamon rolls on Instagram and I can’t get enough.

Her easy sticky buns make my whole house smell like an upscale bakery. They’re filled with plump, juicy raisins and topped with gooey tender pecans. Plus, Ina just gave her original recipe a luxurious upgrade: a sweet maple sugar glaze I promise you won’t want to miss. They’re a little bite of heaven. And thanks to store-bought frozen pastry, and only a handful of ingredients, they’ll easily impress weekend houseguests or your regular crew, adding a party hat vibe to any day of the week. 

How To Make Ina Garten’s Easy Sticky Buns

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment to whip 1/3 cup brown sugar and a stick and a half room temperature butter. (You could technically do this in a bowl and with a strong arm.) Spoon the mixture equally into a 12-cup muffin tin, followed by 1/2 cup of chopped pecans, making sure the nuts stick to the butter. 

For the buns, lay a store-bought puff pastry sheet on a floured surface with the folds running horizontally. Brush melted butter over the pastry, then sprinkle on brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and raisins. Roll it up, cut into segments and plop them into the prepared muffin tins.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown. Then, rest for five minutes (but no longer because they’ll stick to the muffin tin) before turning them out onto parchment to cool completely.

For the glaze, mix maple syrup and powdered sugar in a small bowl until it’s smooth enough to drizzle. Add a drop of water if you want to make it a little runnier. Drizzle the glaze over the buns, and serve. 

Going by a little life advice I recently got from TikTok: Today would be your birthday if you were born today. So why not treat yourself to a sticky bun that turns say, breakfast before yet another weekend soccer tournament, into a special occasion.