Heather's cinnamon-nut buns

Wow! Where do I start on this one? Heather saw a recipe she wanted to try so we gathered up all the ingredients. She asked me whether she should make the dough by hand, or use the bread machine to make the dough. It took some convincing on my part to get her to use the bread machine. She set the timer and we went to bed. She got up early to finish them. The dough was just as it was when she put it in the machine. Urgh! The stupid bread machine didn't do anything. Heather was just a bit irritated and took all the ingredients and put it in a bowl on the Kitchenaid and mixed it all up. The yeast dough proofed and Heather halved it and rolled them out. She took the filling and put it on the rolled dough, then rolled up the dough into loaves. She took a very sharp knife and sliced the rolls about 1 inch thick.

They were placed in a greased pan and then allowed to rise again for another hour and a half.

Once they had risen, she put them in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes. She let them cool a bit then put on a glaze.

So, it was well worth the effort, but the bread machine is finding it's way to the landfill.

The dough:
1/4 cup warm water (115 degrees)
2 packets active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
6 cups AP flour

You can "cook" the yeast if you want, but Heather just threw it all into a mixer bowl because of the bread machine fiasco. She mixed it for about 5 minutes with the dough hook. She put the dough in a bowl and placed it in a warm spot for about 2 hours. It had doubled in size. She punched it down and split it in half.

The filling:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2/3 cup pecans (or walnuts)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

In a food processor, combine brown sugar , nuts, chocolate, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Pulse until coarse.

The glaze:
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
6 Tbl unsalted butter
2 Tbl water

Heat everything in a small saucepan stirring constantly. Let it simmer for one minute, then drizzle over the warm buns.

Yum!