Grandma Douglas's Schnecken
My family has made these schnecken for most every holiday for as long as I can remember. Schnecken, which means snails in German, are basically pecan-cinnamon buns. Once the schnecken were turned out hot from the pan and the top of the buns covered with gooey pecan caramel, the real struggle began—fighting my seven siblings for first crack at our favorite piece. It might have been the first time I realized that my rotundness and arm length gave me a distinct advantage over my sisters as I groped for the warm center of this classic cinnamon pull-apart. After the center pieces were gone, I went for the ultra-caramelized golden brown corners. Its convenient to prepare the schnecken to the point of forming the rolls and setting them into the prepared pan a day ahead. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and store them, unbaked, in the refrigerator overnight. When you are ready to bake the schnecken, remove the pan from the refrigerator and set it in a warm place for about an hour. Then bake as directed in the recipe. Kosher salt is coarser than table salt. If you are substituting table salt, cut the quantity in half.
My family has made these schnecken for most every holiday for as long as I can remember. Schnecken, which means snails in German, are basically pecan-cinnamon buns. Once the schnecken were turned out hot from the pan and the top of the buns covered with gooey pecan caramel, the real struggle began—fighting my seven siblings for first crack at our favorite piece. It might have been the first time I realized that my rotundness and arm length gave me a distinct advantage over my sisters as I groped for the warm center of this classic cinnamon pull-apart. After the center pieces were gone, I went for the ultra-caramelized golden brown corners. Its convenient to prepare the schnecken to the point of forming the rolls and setting them into the prepared pan a day ahead. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and store them, unbaked, in the refrigerator overnight. When you are ready to bake the schnecken, remove the pan from the refrigerator and set it in a warm place for about an hour. Then bake as directed in the recipe. Kosher salt is coarser than table salt. If you are substituting table salt, cut the quantity in half.
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 cup milk
- dough:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup pecans chopped
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter plus more for the bowl and pan
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
- 3 to all- purpose flour to 3 1/2 cups, as needed
- sugar-pecan topping:
- cinnamon-sugar filling:
- Carbohydrate 30.6893958715444 g
- Cholesterol 90.4959375427303 mg
- Fat 32.802759030746 g
- Fiber 1.31415001796161 g
- Protein 3.05909870034156 g
- Saturated Fat 17.694004276159 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (110g)
- Sodium 191.84828335083 mg
- Sugar 29.3752458535828 g
- Trans Fat 2.45008310031637 g
- Calories 420 calories
Step-by-step
- To make the dough, melt the 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the milk and sugar and heat just to lukewarm (about 110°F), stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the warm milk mixture into a bowl. Stir in the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes, then stir in the salt.
- Beat the whole egg and egg yolk together and add to the yeast mixture. Stir in the flour 1 cup at a time until you have a sticky dough. Scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until you have a nice smooth dough. Butter a large bowl. Place the dough in the prepared bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise for 2 hours, until tripled in volume.
- Meanwhile, brush a 9 × 13-inch baking pan with some melted butter (or spray it with vegetable oil spray). To prepare the sugar-pecan topping, melt the butter with the brown sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and spread the mixture in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans.
- Punch down the dough and turn it out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for a minute, then use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle about 15 × 12 inches and 1/8 inch thick. To make the cinnamon-sugar filling, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and allow it to cool. Brush the butter thoroughly over the surface of the dough. In a bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the melted butter. Roll the rectangle up, like a jelly roll, along one long edge.
- Slice the log of rolled dough into 1-inch-thick slices and arrange the slices, cut sides up, in the prepared pan. Cover the pan with a piece of plastic wrap (you can spray the plastic wrap first with vegetable oil spray to be sure it doesn't stick to the dough) and allow it to rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the schnecken until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. Check them occasionally during the baking time, and if they seem to be browning too quickly, loosely cover them with a sheet of aluminum foil.
- Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn the schnecken out of the pan while still warm by inverting the pan over a large platter or baking sheet. Serve the schnecken warm.
Temperature control dictates the success of enriched yeast doughs like these. Heating the milk, sugar, and butter precisely to 110°F ensures the active dry yeast begins fermenting without thermal damage. When kneading the flour in gradually, stopping at a sticky consistency prevents heavy, dense crumb structure. Rolling the dough out to an even one-eighth inch thickness allows the cinnamon-sugar filling to distribute uniformly across each spiral without creating thick dough pockets.
Achieving the Caramel Bottom
The dark brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup mixture resting at the base of the 9 by 13-inch baking pan transforms into a glossy glaze during the thirty-five to forty minute oven phase. Corn syrup prevents sugar crystallization, ensuring the pecan topping remains smooth rather than grainy as the pan cools. Inverting the baked buns onto a platter after precisely ten minutes allows the caramel to coat the pastries before hardening against the metal surface. Kosher salt requires careful scaling because its coarse flakes occupy more volume than fine table salt; using table salt mandates cutting the volume in half to maintain proper flavor balance.
- Buns browning prematurely require a loose tenting of aluminum foil halfway through baking.
- Unbaked rolls survive overnight refrigeration if sealed tightly with plastic wrap to prevent skin formation.
- Stale rolls regain a tender crumb when reheated briefly in a moderate oven.
