These are the best buns I have yet eaten anywhere. I have tried a few recipes lately and wasn't happy to post anything unless the buns were exceptional. Well, my friends, these are exceptionally good. I won't say "exceptionally good" about anything unless I mean it. God knows, I've got pretty high standards for how food should taste. Peter Reinhart was right in commenting that the brioche portion of this recipe does not need to be any richer than it is given that the caramel topping is fairly sweet and buttery. In fact, the brioche is soft and moist and the caramelised, sticky topping really compliments it well. This isn't a difficult recipe to make but I would make the brioche and prepare the filling and the topping in the evening then roll out the buns and bake in the morning.  They are a perfect weekend treat. I have adapted the recipe to suit my tastebuds and the contents of my cupboard. In doing so, I have decreased the sugar content in both the buns and the topping and used organic rapadura sugar instead of white sugar. No real reason here, again, that's all I had in my cupboard. I also used Fiori di Sicilia essence (it's a blend of citrus extracts, some use it in panettone) instead of lemon extract. I generally cut down on the sugar content whenever I follow an American recipe ... it's a matter of personal taste. I really, really dislike my teeth hurting while eating pastries or cakes. Feel free to play with the quantities and types of sugar yourself, this recipe is pretty flexible in that regard.

Ingredients for the brioche dough

Sugar: white or brown, 80 grams

Salt: 1 teaspoon

Unsalted butter: 80 grams, softened

Lemon extract or lemon zest: 1 teaspoon ( I used 1/4 teaspoon of Fiori di Sicilia extract, again, that's all I had)

Egg: 1 large

Buttermilk or plain milk: 1 1/4 cups

Plain flour: 500 grams

Dry yeast: 3 teaspoons

Raisins, pecans or walnuts, optional.

Ingredients and procedure for the cinnamon sugar (filling)

Brown sugar: 3 tablespoons

Ground cinnamon: 1.5 teaspoons

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Easy step, no?

Ingredients and procedure for the caramel glaze (topping)

Brown sugar: 1/2 cup (firmly packed)

Salt: 1/4 teaspoon

Unsalted butter: 115 grams, room temperature

Corn syrup: 1/4 cup (for those of you who can't obtain corn syrup, try glucose syrup. Honey will make for an adequate substitution if glucose syrup is unavailable)

Vanilla extract: 1/2 teaspoon

Using a whip and a medium size bowl, mix sugar, salt and butter for a couple of minutes. Add corn syrup and vanilla extract and beat another couple of minutes until mixture looks creamy.

Preparation

Using a whip and the bowl from an electric mixer, beat together the sugar, salt and butter for a couple of minutes. Whip in the egg and the lemon extract or zest. Add flour, yeast and buttermilk or milk.Transfer bowl to mixer and using a d   ough hook knead for approximately 20 minutes at medium speed until dough is silky and not too sticky. Add more flour or milk to obtain this texture. If you are doing this by hand (are you there, Eileen?) it will take you longer, much longer. You will have good, strong arms after this, though. When done, transfer dough to an oiled bowl. Coat the surface with oil as well and cover with plastic wrap. You can now transfer this to the fridge and then go to bed or continue on let the dough double at room temperature (approximately 2 hours).

Next day (or once your dough has doubled), spread a bit of oil on your counter and transfer the dough there. Roll it out to a thickness of about 2 cms and a measurement of approximately 35 cms x 30 cms. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar and roll into a cigar-shaped log. Using a very sharp knife, cut into 3 cms thick pieces.

Coat the bottom of a rectangular baking dish with the caramel glaze and sprinkle with the optional raisins and/or nuts. Place the pieces of dough on top of the caramel about 1.5 cms apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. They will be ready for the oven once they almost double.

Preheat oven to 175 C (or 160 C if oven is fan-forced).

Place buns on the bottom shelf of your oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top acquires a golden brown hue and the caramel in the botton becomes golden and bubbles away. Every oven is different so mine were ready in 25 minutes.

Cool the buns for 10 minutes and flip buns over with a spatula onto a dish or another tray. Serve while warm.