Chocolate chip dulce de leche sticky buns… in other words, fluffy sweet dough stuffed with mini chocolate chips and wrapped around creamy dulce de leche made with sweetened condensed milk. Oh wait, and a coffee caramel sauce to top it off.

dulce de leche sticky buns with coffee caramel sauce

Hello friends! It’s National Sticky Bun day and I’ve partnered with my friends over at Eagle Brand to bring you the ultimate version. May I present to you chocolate chip dulce de leche sticky buns with coffee caramel glaze?! There aren’t any pecans or cinnamon in this bad boy but I think you’ll forgive me after a bite or two or this indulgence.

What are sticky buns?

Sticky buns are very similar to cinnamon rolls. The difference is that cinnamon rolls are frosted with icing and sticky buns are baked in a caramel sauce with crushed pecans. After baking, the pan gets flipped upside down and then the caramel and pecans become the ‘sticky‘ topping.

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Sticky Buns made with sweentened condensed milk

How to make dulce de leche sticky buns?

If you’ve ever made regular sticky buns or even cinnamon rolls then this should not be rocket science. We’ll talk about how to make my sweet dough and how to add chocolate chips to it below. But for now, let’s talk about how to make dulce de leche.

Making dulce de leche out of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk is like the easiest thing on the planet! There are different methods of doing this, however, the method that I used to make dulce de leche is by baking it in a water bath.

Begin by pouring out the sweetened condensed milk into a pan (I used a deep baking dish) and cover it with foil to keep the moisture in.
Then place that pan into a larger pan and fill the larger pan with water (until it reaches the height of the sweetened condensed milk in the smaller pan).
Bake for a total of 90-120 minutes at 425F. Make sure to add more water about halfway to keep the water at the same height as the sweetened condensed milk.
Bake until the sweetened condensed milk becomes a dark caramel/amber color.
Remove and allow to cool completely before spreading onto dough.

How to make chocolate chip sweet dough for dulce de leche sticky buns?

This is my basic sweet dough recipe. It’s an enriched dough, which means instead of just flour, yeast and a liquid there’s also butter, oil, eggs, and/or sugar in the recipe. For this particular dough, I used:

Flour: this is what makes up most of the dough. I have not experimented this recipe with any other flour besides all-purpose. However, I am sure a bread flour would yield very similar results.
Milk: I always use 2% cow’s milk however any kind of milk should work, whether or not it’s dairy.
Yeast: I generally use active dry yeast because that’s what I’m used to and what I have at home but I have made this dough (without the chocolate chips) with instant/rapid rise yeast.
- For active dry yeast version, place the yeast in warm milk and let it activate. It will foam around 5-10 minutes.
- For instant/rapid rise yeast version, add the yeast directly to the flour mixture and then simply omit the first proof. Just let it rest 10 minutes after the kneading is complete and before rolling out the dough.
Sugar: add one tablespoon of sugar to the yeast activating in the milk and the rest to the flour mixture.
Eggs: I prefer to use large eggs. Try to use room temperature eggs, as they mix better in any dough or batter.
Butter: After the dough is mixed, knead the dough while adding softened butter. This recipe also works with oil, however, you’ll have to add it in with the milk and eggs in the beginning.
Chocolate Chips: I used bittersweet mini chocolate chips but you can use dark chocolate or milk chocolate. If you don’t find mini chocolate chips, just chop up larger ones.

What kind of glaze to make for chocolate chip dulce de leche sticky buns?

Honestly, you can use any caramel sauce for the topping but I ALWAYS prefer a homemade one. Technically for sticky buns, the caramel goes on the bottom of the pan and the rolls bake in it. If you were to do this version you should probably use a thinner caramel, as it continues to caramelize on the bottom of the pan. I prefer to bake them alone and top them with a thicker caramel afterwards (the longer you cook caramel, the thicker it gets).

To make this coffee caramel sauce you’ll need:

Butter: salted or unsalted works, just add a pinch of salt if you use unsalted.
Maple syrup: I always use maple syrup instead corn syrup.
Brown sugar: The recipe would work with castor sugar or brown sugar.
Coffee: I used an americano but brewed or even instant coffee will work as well.
Heavy cream: Always add cream in SLOWLY so it doesn’t splatter everywhere. Cream can be substituted for milk.
Vanilla extract: Always add vanilla after you’ve removed the caramel from the heat. I learned from experience that vanilla extract does not taste good burned.

Chocolate chip sticky buns with dulce de leche filling

dulce de leche sticky buns with chocolate chip dough and coffee caramel sauce

Serving and storing chocolate chip dulce de leche sticky buns

We all know sticky buns are best fresh but if you have to, please reheat the sticky buns a little before eating them because they’re SO MUCH BETTER WARM! Make sure to store sticky buns in an airtight container or cover the pan with plastic wrap to keep them as fresh as possible. Leaving them out uncovered will dry them up a bit more.

Alright friends, if you happen to make these indulgent dulce de leche sticky buns with chocolate chip dough and coffee caramel sauce you won’t regret it! Also, make sure to tag me @baranbakery and @eaglebrandmilk on instagram. As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!

Love, B