Orange and Cranberry Chocolate Buns (Vegan)
These vegan orange and cranberry chocolate buns are filled with lovely winter flavours and make for a great Christmas morning treat. Or overall holiday season treat. That way you really keep the unhealthy streak alive and well this time of year! Have them with some hot chocolate and you’re all set.
The chocolate dough perfectly complements the fresh cranberry and orange filling, and the chocolate chips create delicious gooey pockets when you eat one still warm from the oven, or just reheated. Not to say they’re not good at room temperature, they’re just even better warm.
Why make these orange and cranberry chocolate buns
First of all, aside from being good, they can also easily be made in advance. If you’re not sold just from that, what’s wrong with you let me explain further.
The buns can be made the day before you plan on baking them and placed in the pan then stored covered in the fridge overnight. The next day, you simply let them come to room temperature about 30 minutes while you preheat your oven. So in the morning, all you have to do is bake them and you’ll have warm orange and cranberry chocolate buns ready to eat!
Second of all, they’re not much harder to make than regular cinnamon buns. Besides the few add-ons to the filling, the process is fairly the same. So if you feel like trying something different but not too laborious, these could be a good option!
Once the dough is made, the rest is a breeze. Proof, roll it out, evenly sprinkle your filling in, roll it up, cut, proof again, then bake! It seems like a lot of steps but the majority of the time is waiting for the dough to proof.
The result is some awesome buns slightly reminiscent of a fruit cake or panettone, but chocolate flavoured. And a delicious smelling kitchen of course.
If you make this recipe please let me know in the comments! All feedback is very much appreciated and I would love to hear from you! You can also tag me on instagram @the.quaint.kitchen or use the hashtag #thequaintkitchen to share your creations!
Orange and Cranberry Chocolate Buns
Ingredients
Dough
- 250 g lukewarm water, around 37C/98F, but no more than 48C/120F
- 50 g white granulated sugar, make sure it’s vegan
- 2 tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast
- 370 g all-purpose flour
- 30 g cocoa powder, sifted
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 50 g neutral oil, (grapeseed, canola, vegetable…)
Filling
- 80 g orange juice
- 80 g dried cranberries
- 40 g chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
- 80 g brown sugar
- 20 g white granulated sugar
- 1/2 tbsp orange zest (1 orange)
Glaze
- 60 g powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp orange juice
- 1/4 tsp orange zest
Instructions
Dough
- Combine the lukewarm water, yeast and sugar and set aside to let the yeast foam.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
- Once the yeast has lightly foamed, pour it into the dry ingredients along with the oil.
- Stir everything together until a rough dough forms then tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, about 5 minutes, just until it forms a nice smooth ball and isn’t too sticky anymore. Or knead a few minutes in the stand mixer until it pulls away from the sides.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with a damp tea towel and place it in a warm place to proof for an hour or until doubled in size.
Filling
- Warm the orange juice in a small saucepan until just simmering and pour over the cranberries. Let sit for about 10-15 minutes until they’re plumper then drain (keep the orange juice, it’s still delicious). Alternatively, you can microwave them together in a bowl for 30 seconds to a minute then drain directly.
- Give the cranberries a rough chop then set aside.
- Mix the brown sugar, white sugar and orange zest together and set aside as well.
Assembly
- Grease a 10 inch round cake pan.
- Once proofed, roll or pat the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a 35cm/14 inch square lifting it every so often to make sure it’s not sticking.
- Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly on the entire surface leaving about 2cm or 1 inch at the top edge. Them do the same with the cranberries and chocolate.
- Roll tightly starting from the edge closest to you. Then mark where to cut to get 8 rolls. I like to cut them using a serrated knife.
- Place them in the greased pan, cover with a damp tea towel and let rest for about 30 minutes or until they’re lightly puffed and touching. If you’re making them the day before baking, skip the resting time and place directly in the fridge, covered.
- In the meantime preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F. Bake the buns for about 30 minutes, then let cool a bit while you make the glaze by simply mixing all the ingredients together.If you made them the day before, let them come to room temperature for about 30 minutes while you preheat your oven, then bake.
- Drizzle the orange glaze on top and enjoy!
Notes
- *Disclaimer: I have a tiny not-so-great oven, so your bake time may vary from mine.
- I strongly suggest making recipes by weight, if you make them by cups I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results.
- The chocolate or cranberries in the filling can also be replaced with nuts like pecans, walnuts, etc.