Frozen Bread Caramel Rolls

These caramel rolls use frozen bread dough as a shortcut, skipping the mixing, kneading, and first rise entirely. Two loaves of frozen dough get broken up and layered with a buttery brown sugar and butterscotch pudding sauce that bakes into a gooey, sticky caramel coating.

The butterscotch pudding mix is the secret ingredient. Mixed with melted butter, brown sugar, milk, and cinnamon, it creates a sauce that caramelizes in the oven into something that tastes like you spent all morning in the kitchen. The pudding powder adds a creamy richness and helps the sauce set into a thick, spoonable glaze instead of a watery mess.

Layer one loaf in the bottom of the pan, pour half the sauce over it, break the second loaf on top, and cover with the rest. Then walk away. Let it rise until doubled (or stick it in the fridge overnight for a morning bake).

Pro Tips

• The overnight fridge rise is the easier option. The dough rises slowly in the cold, and you just pull it out and bake in the morning.
• If rising at room temperature, make sure the dough reaches the top of the pan before baking. Underdone rising means dense, doughy rolls.
• Grease the pan generously. The brown sugar sauce gets incredibly sticky and will cement to an ungreased pan.
• Let the rolls cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip them out onto a serving platter so the caramel drips down over the top.

Variations

• Use vanilla pudding mix instead of butterscotch for a milder, more traditional cinnamon roll flavor.
• Scatter chopped pecans in the bottom of the pan before adding the first layer of dough for pecan sticky buns.
• Add a handful of raisins between the bread layers for a raisin-caramel version.