Vietnamese Cinnamon Date Sticky Buns

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4.64 from 11 ratings

Vietnamese Cinnamon Date Sticky Buns

A yummy sticky bun recipe filled with a Vietnamese cinnamon date paste and topped with a vanilla glaze.

Prep Time2 30

Cook Time25

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: sticky bun recipe, sticky buns

Servings: sticky buns

Calories: 402kcal

Author: Becca Du

Equipment

Ingredients

Dough

¾ cup whole milk
1 packet active dry yeast
½ cup granulated sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter softened, room temperature
1 egg room temperature
¼ tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour

Filling

7 medjool dates pitted, halved
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp Vietnamese cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp light brown sugar

Glaze

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Warm up the milk on the stove or in the microwave. Aim for 100 - 110 degrees F.
Combine milk with active dry yeast and sugar. I like to do this in a liquid measuring cup because it’s easier to handle. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until it foams.
Pour ingredients from step 2 into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter. Whisk with a stand mixer or hand mixer until the butter breaks down into small pieces. If using a stand mixer, make sure to use the dough attachment.
Add the egg and salt. Whisk until incorporated. Don’t worry if the mixture has small lumps of butter still.
Add the flour a little bit at a time and whisk until a soft dough forms. Knead for 6 minutes. If using a hand mixer, knead with your hands.
Cover with aluminum foil and let dough rise in an oiled bowl for 1 hour until it doubles in size.
While the dough is rising, make your filling. Soak medjool dates for 20 minutes. Add the dates, vegetable oil, Vietnamese cinnamon, and salt to a food processor. Pulse until a smooth paste forms. Set aside.
Once the dough is done rising, roll it out into a 12x12 square. Smear the Vietnamese cinnamon date paste onto the rolled out dough, and top with brown sugar.
Roll the dough into a tight, 12-inch long log. Trim off the ends and cut into 9 even pieces. I like to do this by dividing the dough into 3 pieces and then dividing each piece into 3 pieces. This helps me get even sized sticky buns.
Place sticky buns onto an oiled baking dish or cast iron pan. I used a 9x9 baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and let them rise in a warm place for 1 hour until they have doubled in size.
While the sticky buns are rising, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake sticky buns covered for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes to get that brown color. If after 10 minutes they’re not brown enough for you, you can leave them in for 1-2 more minutes.
While the sticky buns are baking, make your glaze. Mix together all the ingredients for the glaze and set aside.
Glaze the sticky buns once they are out of the oven. Serve right away for the best flavor!

Notes

Use the correct technique to measure out your flour – One of the biggest mistakes I see when measuring flour is using the measure cup to scoop out the flour. This is a mistake because when you use your measuring cup as your scoop, you are actually compressing the flour into the measuring cup. Compressing the flour means you are using more flour than you intended to. The correct way to measure flour is using a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup and then leveling it off with a straight edge. This might sound a little crazy, but trust me it makes a difference. It’s little things like this that take your baking from good to great.
Try not to use flour when kneading or rolling out your dough – When you first start kneading the dough, it may stick a bit, and it may be tempting to dust a little flour on top but try to resist the urge. As you knead the dough, it will stop sticking. Keeping the dough as moist as possible results in a fluffier cinnamon roll. So try not to use flour, but definitely do it if it’s sticking too much to the surface.
The key to the perfect swirl – The real key to the perfect swirl is to roll out your dough into a perfect 12×12 square. No you don’t have to be absolutely perfect, but you do want it to be as close as possible.
Use a sharp cerated knife to cut your sticky buns – The other trick to getting a good swirl is using a nice, sharp cerated knife to cut your sticky buns. Make sure to use nice, long strokes when cutting. The sharp knife and long strokes prevent you from squishing your buns and helps you get that nice swirl.

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