Salty Donut and Knaus Berry Farm Sticky-Bun Doughnut Collab

Picture a warm cinnamon roll from Knaus Berry Farm. Now imagine it wrapped in soft and fluffy 24-hour brioche dough from the Salty Donut, drowned in a roasted-pecan-toffee-rum glaze, and topped with a few caramelized pecans. Voilà! Your craziest doughnut fantasy will come to life this weekend at the Salty Donut's weekend pop-up shop (29 NW 24th St., Miami).

The Salty Donut and Knaus Berry Farm, both known for outrageously long lines, have conspired to make the most gluttonous treat to date, resulting in even longer lines. They call it a sticky-bun doughnut, where a cinnamon roll and a doughnut collide into one.

"Knaus Berry reached out to us a couple weeks ago, basically saying, 'Hey, you're doing such cool stuff — let's see what we can do together,'" says Andy Rodriguez, cofounder of the Salty Donut. "We were all for it, so then came figuring out what exactly to do."
When Rodriguez, along with fiancée and cofounder Amanda Pizzaro and pastry chef Max Santiago, met with the Knaus Berry Farm folks, they knew they wanted to do something with that famous cinnamon roll. The rest was left to the imagination. 

"Max basically went into the kitchen and was like, 'All right, we have the sticky buns. Let's make this amazingness into something even more amazing,'" Rodriguez says. 

Think of it as a cinnamon roll stuffed inside of a doughnut, making it bigger, stickier, and richer than any other Salty Donut creation. 

"We encrusted the cinnamon roll, fried it, and baked it," he says. "We added extra gooeyness inside too, so when it's frying, it melts inside. It's basically like a cinnamon roll and a doughnut got married and had a baby."

The sticky-bun doughnut is nearly twice the size of a regular Salty doughnut, which basically means it's colossal. 

"It's definitely a big sucker," Rodriguez laughs. "If you’re gonna take a sticky bun and stuff it inside of a doughnut, you have to make it huge and awesome to eat. It can’t be a little froufrou doughnut."
The size boost comes at a price. Rodriguez says each sticky-bun doughnut costs $6 to $6.50, compared to $2 to $3 for other doughnuts. Each of the creations will be served in a custom box with a special stamp, making it an easy gift too. 

The Miami Heat's Chris Bosh and his wife Adrienne were among the first to taste a batch of sticky buns after they stopped by the pop-up last weekend. According to Rodriguez, the Boshes approve.

"We were pretty much sold out when they came by," he says. "When his black Mercedes pulled up, he got out and was like, 'Hey, I'm Chris Bosh,' and Amanda and I looked at each other and were like, 'Of course we know who you are!' We pulled out our secret stash of sticky-bun doughnuts since we were literally sold out of everything else and gave them a box. They were supergrateful and absolutely loved them, so, yes, they've been Chris and Adrienne Bosh-approved." 

Sticky-bun doughnuts will be available in limited quantities this Friday through Sunday and might reappear one more weekend thereafter. 

"We don't know exactly how many we're making, but it's definitely going to be limited," he says. "A lot of time, effort, and manual labor go into making it. Depending on the day, we'll probably have 100 to 200."

Rodriguez says there will be a limit on how many doughnuts each customer can purchase, but an exact number hasn't been decided. The pop-up is known to sell out quick, and ridiculously long lines are expected, so get there early to snag one of these sweet rolls. The Salty Donut opens at 11 a.m.

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