Caramel Sticky Buns

For the dough:
Combine yeast and warm water to activate the yeast. Set aside.

To scald the milk, heat milk until small bubbles appear around the edge of the pan. Combine the hot milk, shortening, sugar, salt, and potatoes in a large bowl (the Kitchenaid mixer bowl works great). Cool to lukewarm.

Add yeast mixture. Add the eggs.

Gradually stir in flour to make a soft dough. Beat vigorously. Cover and let rise to double in size (about 2 hours). Turn out, beat the dough well, and shape.

Note: I like to refrigerate the dough overnight and let it rise a little more the next morning before doing these steps.

For the brown sugar caramel sauce:
Melt the butter. Stir in packed brown sugar and corn syrup. Divide the mixture between 2 or 3 large round cake pans or two 9×13 greased cake pans.

Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn’t burn! (If you want, once they come out of the oven, you can add chopped nuts to the sauce if you would like.)

For the cinnamon rolls:
Roll out a lump of dough to a 10-12 inch by 3-4 inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle generously with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll up like a jelly roll and cut into approximately 1-2 inch rolls (I use the string method, but knives work as well).

Place in greased pans with the caramel sauce in the bottom, cut side up, so that they are just touching. Let them rise to double.

Bake at 350ºF for 10–12 minutes depending on your oven and how brown you want them to be. Once done, immediately flip onto a platter or plate to cool.