Overnight Sausage Honey Buns

For those special occasions that call for a super special breakfast deli, have I got just the recipe for you!

These fluffy overnight honey buns are stuffed with a buttery sweet sausage filling and topped with a gooey honey glaze.

I adapted this recipe from Southern Living and made a few changes, such as reducing the amount of sugar in the glaze and dough, because the ingredients called for so much honey (yummmm), and honey is sweet on its own, so I felt that our tastes would be better suited by not adding so much additional sugar to the recipe.

Because this is certainly not a fast breakfast idea for preparing the whole thing in a single morning, I adapted them for prepping them the evening before and then finishing them up the next morning, and it worked out great for me!

The buns bake up tall, tender, and puffy with a nice golden crust.  When they're flipped over out of the pan you've got that hot oozing gooey honey glaze, and that spicy-sweet sausage filling on the inside just rockets the whole thing into the stratosphere.

So if you're looking for a breakfast or brunch idea to impress your family or guests coming over for a special morning feast, this is one recipe that won't let you down.

Overnight Sausage Honey Buns

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• Author: Erin Browne, adapted from Southern Living
• Yield: 10-12 buns 1x

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Ingredients

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• Dough:
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 envelope active dry yeast, or approx. 2 ¼ tsp
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• ⅓ cup plus 1 TBS white sugar, divided
• ½ cup shortening
• 2 large eggs
• Honey Glaze:
• ¾ cup salted butter
• 1 cup honey
• ⅓ cup light corn syrup
• 2 TBS orange zest
• ½ cup orange juice (from fresh)
• Small pinch of ground sage
• Sausage Filling:
• 1 lb ground sausage
• ½ cup butter, room temperature
• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar

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Instructions

1. Dough:
2. Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat until steaming bubbles begin to form around the edge of pan but it has not yet started to boil. Remove from heat.
3. Stir together warm water and yeast in a small bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes or until starting to foam.
4. Add yeast mixture, salt, 2 cups of the flour, and 1 TBS of the white sugar to warm milk. Stir gently until almost smooth, and place mixture in a warm area until bubbly, about 15 minutes.
5. While the yeast mixture sits, fit a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat the shortening until fluffy. Add the remaining white sugar and beat well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one.
6. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the bubbly yeast mixture and beat until totally smooth. Slowly add the remaining flower in several additions, mixing until just blended.
7. Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook and beat on medium speed for 10-12 minutes or until the dough is smooth.
8. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead by hand for a couple of minutes. Spray a bowl with cooking spray and place the dough inside and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place bowl in a warm area while you prepare the filling and glaze (it should sit for about 1 hour total)
9. Honey Glaze:
10. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and then add the honey, corn syrup, orange zest, orange juice, and sage.
11. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for one minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
12. Sausage Filling:
13. Cook the sausage in a large skillet until browned and just done, being careful not to overcook. Drain well and set aside.
14. Meanwhile, beat the butter, honey, and brown sugar until fully incorporated. Add the warm sausage and mix everything together.
15. Assemble The Rolls:
16. Pour about 2 - 2.5 cups of the honey glaze into the bottom of a large 12-inch cast iron skillet OR a 9x13 pan. Reserve and refrigerate some remaining glaze for dipping or drizzling the finished rolls.
17. Place the dough on a floured surface and divide it into two equal sections. Roll one half into a 10x8 rectangle and spread half of the sausage filling onto the dough, leaving a 1-inch border around the outside. Starting with one of the long sides, roll the dough into a log and cut off small pieces of each end so that they are smooth and flat.
18. Cut log into equal slices about 1.5 inches thick. Place the slices flat side down into the glaze in the skillet or pan and repeat above steps with the second dough half.
19. Wrap skillet or pan tightly with plastic wrap and place into the fridge overnight.
20. The Next Morning:
21. Remove the skillet or pan and reserved glaze from the refrigerator, remove plastic wrap, and place onto the counter to warm up for about 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 375F.
22. Bake buns on the middle rack for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown on top (your oven will vary based on the pan you use - just keep checking on them).
23. While the pan is still hot, carefully invert the buns onto a serving platter. If the buns are allowed to cool in the pan, the glaze will get very sticky and it will be hard to remove them. Serve warm with remaining honey glaze.

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