I have been considering sweet dough buns for a while – ever since Christmas when I came across a River Cottage recipe for an enriched dough. I couldn’t make it at the time because it called for six eggs and the hens were on strike. With the longer days, eggs are no longer a problem – all four of our ladies are laying:
plenty of eggs (if somewhat muddy)
When I returned to the recipe, however, I felt that it was a bit too rich, so I looked for a different version and found a recipe for sweet dough by Ruby Tandoh (a Great British Bake Off finalist a couple of years ago) that looked ideal, although it only uses two eggs. I like the idea of Hot Cross Buns – soft dough with a sticky top and lovely spices. However, in general I find them rather disappointing and, to be honest, I’m not particularly keen on dried fruit. So, inspired by one of Mr Snail’s favourite flavour combinations, I made chocolate orange buns by adding the zest of two oranges and a heap of dark chocolate chips:
not a raisin in sight!
But I couldn’t leave it there… I mean I’d only used the zest of the oranges, so I really needed to do something with the juice. The answer was clearly orange icing. So, I present to you, chocolate orange iced buns, the perfect spring (or any other season) bread product:
not hot, not cross
Delicious with a cup of coffee.
The Snail of Happiness 
katechiconi
/ April 1, 2018Yummmmm! One of my all time favourite combinations. I must say, I do really love a fruit bun, but I find dried fruit increasingly hard to digest, so this is a very apt time to start looking at alternatives.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 1, 2018These turned out very well… I think they be good with an orange glaze too.
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katechiconi
/ April 1, 2018Yes, that sounds lovely. I’d probably be tempted to add some spice too: cardamom and cinnamon, for example.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 1, 2018Now I’ve found a really good dough recipe, I’m going to try all sorts of combinations!
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Froggy Crochet
/ April 1, 2018They look Delicious!! 😃
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 1, 2018They are… I’m wondering whether to have another one to see what they are like with tea rather than coffee!
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Pat
/ April 1, 2018Wow! Just WOW!!!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 1, 2018and Yum!
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nikkibnb
/ April 1, 2018Mmm chocolate orange is always a wonderful flavour combination! (Although I am also a fan of fruit buns)
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insearchofitall
/ April 1, 2018I have a chocolate orange tea that I love! Oh, to have those buns with it! They look wonderful but I would have no restraint. I found a cinnamon bun at the farmers market yesterday and brought home just 2 for today’s celebration of Easter. They are home baked and were better than any store bought. I have to settle for those because if I baked that pan you have there, they would be gone by nightfall. 😦 Sadly I had both with my morning coffee as I live alone. 🙂 No restraint whatever.
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Murtagh's Meadow
/ April 1, 2018Sound and look delicous 🙂
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thecontentedcrafter
/ April 1, 2018I’m weaning myself off bread products again – otherwise I’d be adapting some recipe to make these!! You are a clever clogs 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 1, 2018I couldn’t give up bread…. it’s just too versatile!
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Ann Pole
/ April 1, 2018They look yummy!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 1, 2018They are 🙂
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arlingwoman
/ April 2, 2018You’ve made me think of chocolate covered orange peel. These sound lovely. I saw myself eating one with a morning coffee. Yes, the different combinations of things you can do with a good dough are many and varied. Enjoy!
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Laurie Graves
/ April 2, 2018Oh, they look utterly delicious!
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Shirley
/ April 2, 2018They look yummy. Happy Easter
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anne54
/ April 2, 2018Pop the kettle on….I’m on my way over!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 2, 2018better be quick!!
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tialys
/ April 2, 2018These look very scrummy. The shop bought ones are often disappointing – although I have to rely on my husband bringing them over in his cabin bag so can’t complain really. I did make them one year – using a Paul Hollywood recipe I think – and they were so much better.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 2, 2018Oh, but you have access to all sorts of wonderful bread and patisserie, surely? I would highly recommend this dough recipe – I made it using the dough hook on my Kenwood chef, so it was very easy.
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tialys
/ April 2, 2018Hmmm. The reason you always see French people carrying baguettes around is because they are stale after a couple of hours and the patisserie is mostly goo and fluff. I miss real cream and cakes with a bit of ‘body’. I like the almond croissants but you can get those in the U.K. now.
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TammieLP
/ April 3, 2018Ow, I just tried to bite my computer screen. These look great!
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quietwatercraft
/ April 4, 2018Not a fan of dried fruit here so these sound perfect! They look it too. Gosh I’m hungry all of a sudden…
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wybrow1966
/ April 4, 2018These sound lovely – although I am a lover of the traditional hot cross bun too! Happy Easter.
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nanacathy2
/ April 6, 2018My mouth is watering, I bet they were delicious.
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