You don’t need a grand occasion to celebrate with these Best Paleo Sticky Buns but you’ll definitely love them on your special days too!
OMG HOW IS IT ALMOST CHRISTMAS?! I could be wrong but I’m thinking that as time has gone on, the calendar gods actually shorten the number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I mean how does it go by so freakin’ fast? Nevertheless, it’s happening and I’m extra excited that this year I am bringing in BBQ for my family visiting from Texas and the cooking will be minimal! Yes, the food blogger just said she’s not cooking because I want a freakin’ day off too and I don’t care who knows about it.
But because I’m not a vicious monster, and I don’t use fake candles that smell like cinnamon buns (aren’t those the freakin’ grossest?), I decided I would like my contribution this festive season to make some paleo sticky buns that won’t taste like garbage but also won’t have all the horrible poop that most do.
And no these aren’t keto, they aren’t fashioned out of cauliflower and they have carbs and maple sugar and things that will spike your blood sugar. But hot damn if they aren’t delicious and right now my soul needs a little feeding if you know what I mean. So we’ll do the carbs, and then we’ll eat some salad or something that helps cancel out the heaven that is going down in this house.
I used the dough from my Paleo Kolaches as a template for this recipe because I knew it is great for rolling and slicing and doing things that most paleo based dough cannot. And I don’t know what these would be like without eggs or psyllium or nightshades so I cannot provide that info for you. But I can tell you that as they are made, they are the best sticky bun I’ve had in a real long freakin’ time and I’m so glad that Christmas calories don’t count. Enjoy y’all!
PrintBest Paleo Sticky Buns
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1/2 cup warm water (120 degrees)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 packets of rapid rise yeast (2 and 1/4 teaspoons per packet)
- 3 eggs, whisked
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1.25 cups tapioca starch
- 1 cup potato starch
- 3 tablespoons olive or avocado oil
- 3 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
For the filling:
- 3/4 cup ghee, melted
- 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1/2 cup maple sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- Pinch sea salt
- 1 cup pecan pieces
Instructions
- Combine the warm water and maple syrup; stir quickly and then stir in both yeast packets
- Set the yeast mixture aside for 5 minutes to bloom while you continue mixing the other ingredients in a separate bowl
- In a clean medium sized bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients except for the psyllium husk
- Stir them well with a whisk until no clumps remain, then pour in the yeast mixture
- Last, add in the psyllium husk powder and whisk quickly; cover the bowl once the mixture is combined well and set it aside for at least 30 minutes to rise. It will almost double in size
- While your dough is rising, preheat your oven to 350F
- Now combine the ingredients for the filling, omitting the pecans until later
- Once your dough is ready, roll it out onto a piece of parchment paper or foil, dusted with a bit of tapioca starch. THIS DOUGH CAN BE STICKY so use oil or flour as needed to work with it
- Press the dough by hand into a rectangle around 10″x 14″ or until it is around 1/8″ thick
- Spread half of the ghee mixture onto the dough, leaving the remainder set aside
- Roll the dough from the long end until you have a log shape; slice it into 6 pieces
- Now add your pecans into your ghee mixture and spoon it into a round baking pan, like THIS
- Place your uncooked sticky buns into the ghee + pecan mixture and bake them for around 30 minutes or until golden brown
- Carefully remove the hot baking pan from the oven and place a serving plate on top of the open baking pan. Using hot pads, carefully flip the baking pan over onto the clean serving plate, while keeping the plate pressed against the serving pan. The sticky buns and caramelized pecan topping will release easily onto the serving plate
- Serve warm
Would this work to make ahead/refrigerate and bake the next day? Thanks for the recipe!
I’m really not sure if the dough would harden or not. If I try I’ll leave a note in the recipe to let y’all know!
Jennifer, my hubby said this was the best sticky bun he’s ever had! I’ve never made them before myself. Thanks for the recipe! I’ll be making it again.
Whoa! That’s a big compliment! Thank you so much!
Made these Christmas morning, super easy came out great! My daughter loved them ! Wouldn’t even know they’re gluten free. Only had a half cup of potato starch, so I used arrowroot, came out chewy and delish. New Christmas morning tradition!
Yum! Thanks so much Cindy!!!
I have read that psyllium husk is not paleo. Is there a substitute?
Psyllium husk is considered paleo by the Paleo Foundation. You can read more here: https://paleofoundation.com/paleo-certification-standards/
The caramel sauce is amazing. These rolls are like eating a lighter version of the traditional sticky buns. I need to work on my assembly technique, however. I was pretty much scraping the bun off the floured sheet and plopping into the baking pan.
Depending on the brand of flour, sometimes they may need more added.
I can’t eat potatoes, is there a substitute I can use for potato starch? I saw one person used part arrowroot, can the whole amount be substituted for arrowroot?
I have not tried a sub yet, please let me know if it works!