Honey Buns with Honey Cream Filling: Step by Step Recipe Guide (2024)

These Honey Buns with honey cream filling are ultra soft and fluffy. The honey cream filling in the centers is buttery and just perfectly sweet!

This recipe is updated to show a video of making the honey cream filling, which some of you had some trouble making. Make sure to check the honey cream pointers and video if you had difficulty before).

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Soft and warm honey buns are surely a delight, and when they are filled with something pleasantly sweet on the inside, that is a next-level delight. Remember Sweet Beehive Buns that are filled with honey cream cheese? Filled breads are just amazing treats!

For today’s recipe, honey takes the limelight. Honey fills our delicious soft buns and gives us an ultimate bread treat.

I have had a couple of baking fails this week. But after some extra patience and testing, from those failures emerge something delicious and something that you can rely on. These Honey Buns are one of them.

Also, check out 20 Everyday Bread Recipes, if you like something on the more plain side.

Honey Buns

• Made of soft, pillowy and huge buns that are filled with a honey cream in the centers.
• The honey cream filling? It is something I can eat out of a spoon- so creamy, and just mildly sweet. It is a made with a mixture of honey, butter and evaporated milk cooked together with flour to yield a delicious paste.

The Honey Buns Ingredients

Pointers and Tips

• Kneading the Dough in the Mixer. If the dough does not come together at all about 8 minutes into the kneading in the mixer, sprinkle up to ¼ cup of all-purpose flour until the dough begins to gather in the center.
• Handling the Dough after Kneading. Dust the dough with flour after kneading so you can easily handle it and transfer it into a bowl.

• The Curdling of the Honey Cream. The honey cream will start to curdle once evaporated milk is added. This is okay, just continue to stir and until the mixture is thick and smooth.
• You can make the honey cream for up to 2 days ahead. Transfer it to a container and press a plastic film directly to the surface of the mixture to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate.

Honey Buns with Honey Cream Filling: The Process

Make the Dough

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast, about a teaspoon of the sugar and warm water. Let this stand for about 5 minutes, until the mixture looks creamy. Add milk, the melted butter, egg and sugar to the bowl and stir with wooden spoon until combined.
• Add the flour, one cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Once all the flour has been added, the dough will be shaggy and soft. Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer. Knead the dough on medium-high for about 10 minutes or so, until the dough is smooth and is cleaning the sides of the bowl.
• Tip: If you are not sure, do a quick Windowpane Test to a small portion of the dough.

Let the Dough Rise

• Sprinkle some flour to the dough for easier handling. Shape it into a ball and place it in a lightly floured bowl. Cover it with a clean kitchen towel. Let this rise for 1½ hour, or until doubled in bulk.

An Important Note on Making the Honey Cream

Okay, so some of you have been having trouble making the honey cream. Some have feedbacks that theirs become curdly, runny and separated.

While I have not experienced this, I want to address this issue to avoid trouble for those who are having difficulty.

First, make sure you are using evaporated milk. Note that this is different from condensed milk. The consistency of evaporated milk is like a regular milk while a (sweetened) condensed milk is thick. Using condensed milk instead of evaporated milk will produce a very different result.

Next, I made a video to illustrate the actual process of making the honey cream, to help you in making it if you are unsure. I do hope this solves the problem for those who were having trouble.

Make the Honey Cream

• In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter until bubbly. Add the flour and stir together using a whisk until the mixture is lightly golden.
• Add the evaporated milk slowly while stirring constantly. The mixture will begin to curdle, but don’t worry! Just continue stirring until mixture becomes smooth and thick. Add the honey. Stir mixture vigorously. Again the mixture will curdle but it will start to become a smooth paste as you stir. Turn off heat.
• The mixture will have the consistency of condensed milk or a curd. It willthicken upas it cools down. Put a plastic film directly on the surface of the mixture to prevent it from forming a skin. Store it at room temperature while the dough rise.

Shape the Dough and Let Rise Again

• Once the dough is puffy and has doubled in size, punch it down and divide it into 12 equal portions.
• Flatten each portion with your palms until it is about ¼ inch thick. Spoon about 1 ½ tablespoon of the honey cream in the center of the dough.

• Pull the edges of the dough over the filling to cover it and twist all the ends together to seal, forming a smooth ball.
• Arrange the balls of dough in a parchment lined 9×13 inch baking pan. Let them rise once more, covered for about 40 minutes to 1 hour. The balls should be puffy and have doubled in size.

Bake!

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Brush the surface of the buns with the egg wash. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes. The tops of the buns should be golden.
• Brush the honey butter glaze on the buns as soon as they are done baking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Enjoy these buns warm. You will be tempted to eat one as soon as possible (like I was). The filling will be hot so have that little patience. Let it cool down a bit!

The honey butter glaze elevates the deliciousness of the buns. I suggest you don’t skip that. Lastly, happy baking! Let these honey buns be your baking joy any day!

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