This Homemade Honey Bun Recipe is perfect for a special breakfast or a sweet snack. A rich, light yeast dough is flavored with honey and orange, then topped with a honey simple syrup and honey granules. It’s a honey of a recipe, y’all!
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I stalk old cookbooks. Thrift shops, antique stores, garage sales, online venues – I don’t care how stained and falling apart it is I will buy it. Let me define old though. My favorite cookbooks are those written between 1920 and 1970, especially if there are notes jotted alongside the recipes. Anything before 1920 tends to be a pain to convert and anything after 1970 is just… eh.
During those five decades people knew how to entertain, families sat down for two and sometimes three meals a day together. Men wore suits, women dressed up, and children knew how to behave in stores. (Ok, full disclosure on that statement – last week I was shopping for clothes at Nordstrom’s and these three boys were running in and out of the clothes “shooting” each other while the mom calmly continues to shop. This went on for at least 30 minutes. This would be bad enough in Wal-mart but Nordstrom? Ugh) I just think that for the most part people had a more gracious lifestyle and I love it.
So, this recipe is an adaption of a Honey Bun recipe from a 1950 book called, Cooking for American Homemakers. It is called a Honey Twist in the book. If you are trying to make recipes from pre-1970 cookbooks you are going to have to adapt them or, as you probably already know, they won’t work. It’s because so many ingredients are different than they were. Even basic stuff like flour and milk are different. I had to make this a couple of times to get it right but once you make it I think that you’ll agree that this…is…right.
The crumb is fluffy and sweet with a strong honey flavor and a delicate hint of citrus. The crust is beautiful and the shape is pretty enough for a holiday brunch, I think. You can slice and serve it as is, with butter, with cream cheese – whatever you like. I like marmalade.
Now, the recipe calls for honey and I knew that Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules would work perfectly in this particular recipe. One of the things that I had disliked about the original recipe was the glaze on the top which was Confectioner’s and honey. It just didn’t work for me. I decided to make a simple syrup with the Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules and brushed it on the shaped dough. I then sprinkled more of the honey granules over the top so that once it was baked there would be a very thin, crispy honey-sugar glaze to enhance the honey flavor. It was perfect.
Don’t ya just want to pick at that glaze? YUM!
Once I figured out that the Honey Granules could be substituted for some, or maybe even all, of the granulated sugar in a recipe my brain started spinning with possibilities. I can add that honey flavor to anything without having to adjust the recipe. You know what that means?
Less MATH!
I was so absolutely thrilled to learn that the Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules are a blend of honey and pure cane sugar. That’s a big deal for me because it’s the only kind of sugar I will use.
I have been working on this recipe on and off for years and I really think I have it perfected thanks to Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules. Give this homemade honey bun recipe a try and let me know what you think!
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1 pinch powdered ginger
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water (110F)
- 1 cup scalded milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs , room temperature
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 4-1/2 to 5 cups of flour (all purpose is fine)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules -plus more to sprinkle on top of the bread
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
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Add the yeast and ginger to the warm water in the bowl of your mixer and set aside.
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Add the butter, Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules, and salt to the scalded milk and let cool to 110F.
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Whisk the eggs, orange juice, and zest into the milk mixture until well blended.
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With the mixer on low and the whisk attachment on add the egg and milk mixture to the yeast until smooth and well blended.
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Switch to the dough hook.
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With the mixer on medium-low speed add the flour until the dough clears the side of the bowl and forms a soft dough. The dough will be sticky.
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Knead for 5 minutes.
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Remove the dough from the mixer and knead it a few minutes more on a lightly floured surface - it should be springy and feel like your earlobe.
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Grease a large bowl with butter.
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Rub butter all over the ball of dough.
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Place the dough in the bowl, cover with a clean tea towel, and let rise for 1 hour, or until double.
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Turn the dough out of the bowl and knead gently to deflate the dough.
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Generously grease a 10-inch pie pan or a 9-inch round cake pan.
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Roll the dough into a cylinder about 20 inches long.
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Brush with the honey simple syrup.
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Place one end of the coil in the pan against the side.
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Coil the dough "rope" around the pan, ending in the center.
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Brush with more simple syrup.
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Sprinkle with more Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules.
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Let rise for 30 minutes, or until light and nearly doubled.
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Preheat the oven to 375F.
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Bake the Honey Bun for 20 minutes, or until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
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Let cool slightly before slicing.
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Bring the water, Tate+Lyle® Honey Granules, and orange juice to a boil.
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Stir constantly until the granules are dissolved.
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Cool.
If you liked this Homemade Honey Bun Recipe you may also like…
Lemon Sweet Rolls Sally’s Baking Addiction
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls Averie Cooks
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
What a treat Marye! Love this gorgeous honeybun.
Thanks Allie!
I used to love Honey Buns but every recipe I’ve seen calls for using a cake mix. No…no…no. That is not it! They need to look like a bun for crying out loud and I can’t wait to try these.
Regarding kids and times? All I want to ask is ‘Who’s in charge?’ I think one reason I love the families on my street is because the parents are. Nice parents and great kids but no mistaking who the bosses are!
Oh I totally agree. My kids and I have always had a very casual relationship and full of joking, etc… but when I told them to do something they did it or they faced consequences… and I could be VERY imaginative with consequences.
I think you are right about the days of old. I am far from the perfect parent but there was one day when my kids were little…toddlers…and they were screeching at each other in the store. The older one would screech, then the younger one would do it, and then the older one…on and on and on. You get the picture. I told them if they didn’t stop, we would leave the grocery store and they didn’t, so I did. I paid for what was in my cart and left. A woman followed me out of the store,told me I was overreacting and that my kids were cute. I was so irritated. Here I am trying to get them to behave, and someone tells me I should just let them do it. Ugh. Anyway, your honey bun looks delicious! I haven’t really tried cooking from old cookbooks but it is good to know that adaptations are going to be necessary. I know my family would love this yummy treat!
Totally. And yeah, expect to have to adapt due to our “improved” ingredients. :/
These honey buns are lovely and I love those honey granules!!
They are awesome! I have so many ideas for how to use them!
Dear Marye, This honey bun is beautiful. I cannot wait to give this a try. Simply stunning and comforting during the winter months. xo, Catherine
Let me know what you think, Catherine!
This honey bun looks perfect I wish I had a slice right now. Beautiful recipe!
Thanks so much, Adriana. 🙂
Looks amazing, homemade is the best!
Thank you! I totally agree.
This is gorgeous and the texture looks perfect! Would love some right now for breakfast!
You could make them in individual sizes, too. So good!
These honey buns remind me of my childhood. My grandmother used to bake them every other week. Looks delicious, definitely a keeper!
Thanks Neli!