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These oh-so-gooey and gloriously boozy sticky buns include all the delightful flavors of hot buttered rum baked up in a yeasty spiral of holiday cheer.

Swirls of buttery soft dough, spiced sugar filling, and a gooey spiced and rum-spiked caramel glaze makes these hot buttered rum-inspired sticky buns perfect for your holiday brunch!

This post is sponsored by The Spice Hunter, our favorite source for non-GMO herbs and spices sourced from ideal growing regions around the world.

With a filling of brown sugar and festive spices, and a sweet and sticky caramel topping spiked with dark rum, not to mention ample chopped pecans for crunch and contrast, these hot buttered rum-inspired sticky buns are a feast for the senses.

You all know how I feel about boozy baking, and these gloriously gooey, sensually spiced, and ravishingly rum-soaked sticky buns are proof that adding booze to baked goods is always a good idea. It’s the kind of recipe you’ll find yourself coming back to again and again.

Hello new Christmas-morning tradition!

The flavor inspiration for these sticky buns comes from hot buttered rum, a popular fall and winter drink dating back to colonial times, when rum was believed to be a miraculous cure-all and ‘strengthener of the body’. In fact, a hot rum-based drink like this was probably enjoyed medicinally more often than recreationally.

A hot buttered rum is traditionally made by mixing hot water with rum, sugar, spices, and a pat of butter for added richness and a luxurious mouth feel.

It’s similar to a hot toddy, both sweetened and sometimes spiced drinks served hot, but a hot buttered rum contains the notable addition of butter and, obviously, uses rum instead of whiskey.

Hot buttered rum recipes vary greatly in the mix and proportion of spices, but most include a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom and cloves.

For this recipe, rather than raid the spice rack for a pinch of this and a pinch of that, we used a packet of Hot Buttered Rum drink mix from The Spice Hunter. One packet is split between the spiced sugar filling, while the rest is added to the gooey caramel topping along with a generous glug or two of dark rum.

The spice mix is already perfectly balanced, and also makes the filling part super easy (just mix with a bit of brown sugar and sprinkle away). No pinches (or measuring spoons) required!

We baked a batch of these sticky buns last weekend, assuming that a somewhat complicated recipe like this would necessitate at least a second go-round to get it right (although surprisingly, other than a mishap involving a plate that was slightly too small and hot caramel everywhere, that first batch was pretty darn perfect which almost never happens). Knowing we were going to be making another batch the following weekend anyway, we made quick work of packing the still-warm buns in recycled takeout containers and delivering them to our neighbors, saving just two for ourselves.

The following day Taylor warmed one up for an afternoon snack, quickly realizing that a reheated sticky bun is indeed a fabulous afternoon stack, and immediately started lamenting the fact that we had given the rest away.

Needless to say when we made the final batch to photograph, we kept most of them for ourselves.

What’s the difference between a sticky bun and a cinnamon roll anyway?

Well, they both start out with a soft and yeasty dough, rolled into a tight spiral with a cinnamon-sugar filling.

The main difference is sticky buns are baked on a bed of hot, gooey caramel and chopped pecans, and then inverted immediately after baking, not unlike an upside down cake. The bottom becomes the top, the gooey caramel oozing down the sides of the buns and your fingers.

These sticky buns are made using a dough very similar to my favorite cinnamon roll dough recipe, which I used previously for these Matcha Black Sesame Cinnamon Rolls.

The dough begins with what’s called a tangzhong, an asian technique for soft and tender yeast breads. Pre-cooking a little bit of flour and liquid like this allows the dough to better absorb more liquid, resulting in a softer, more tender final product.

The dough is easily made in about 45 minutes, including a 20 minute rest and 10 minutes of kneading in a mixer to form a soft and silky smooth dough. While you can let the dough rise and then roll it out, I prefer to refrigerate the dough overnight and assemble the following day. Refrigerating the dough makes it a bit stiffer and easier to work with.

When cutting your rolls, use a piece of unflavored dental floss or sturdy thread to slice the dough as if it were clay. This results in far cleaner cuts than even the sharpest serrated knife, and no squishing either.

Once rolled and cut, the buns are arranged in the baking pan on a bed of gooey, rum-spiked caramel and chopped pecans. Much like an upside down cake, this gooey bottom layer will ultimately become the tops of the buns.

While I prefer to let the dough rise overnight and assemble the morning of, if you started your dough earlier the previous day, you can also roll and assemble the buns in the pan the night before. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. In the morning they should be noticeably puffy as pictured above. Let them sit at room temperature as you preheat the oven and then bake. If you’re aiming for a breakfast of sticky buns as opposed to a brunch, this might be a more feasible schedule.

After baking, the buns are immediately inverted onto a platter, the caramel base becoming the gooey top of the bun.

You want to do this while the buns are still hot, which means that the caramel is still dangerously hot, so please be careful when inverting your buns. I like to use a set of silicone-gripped grill gloves, which allow me to grip onto the pan much easier than a normal oven mit.

You can use a large rimmed plate, baking sheet, or a cutting board with a groove in it (the groove will catch any overflow). Invert the platter on top of the baking pan, put a hand firmly on top of the platter and on the bottom of the pan, and quickly flip the whole arrangement upside down. Then gently lift up the pan, the buns should release easily (if the caramel cools too much it could get sticky).

This recipe is for a small batch, yielding 9 buns that’ll perfectly fit in a 9-inch square baking pan. You can use a 9 or 10-inch round baking pan, although you may only have space for 8 buns in that case (you could always bake the straggler in its own ramekin with a spoonful or two of caramel sauce in the bottom if you like!)

This recipe can also be doubled and baked in a 13-by-9-inch baking pan as well.

Any leftover buns should be covered and refrigerated. Reheat for a few seconds in the microwave or pop it in a warm oven for a few minutes until warmed through, and enjoy!

Disclosure: This post was created in partnership with The Spice Hunter®. As always, all opinions written are purely our own. We’re incredibly grateful for opportunities like these that allow us to continue sharing delicious recipes with you, so thank you for supporting us and the brands we love.