A traditional Easter bake with a chocolatey twist. These hot cross buns are packed full of chocolate chips and orange zest and spice for a delicious treat. A good Friday favourite brought to your kitchen!
Easter is all about the chocolate right? I’ve been inspired to make chocolate filled hot cross buns for so long now! All the supermarkets here are putting a modern twist on the traditional recipe – which I think is really great. As chocolate orange is one of my favourite flavour combo’s I thought it would make a great hot cross bun recipe!
The chocolate chips bring a bit of indulgence to the traditional hot cross bun and their great to bake with if you’re like me and aren’t too fond of raisins and sultanas. The orange brings a delicious zesty and fresh addition and makes these buns the perfect breakfast treat with a coffee. Each bun also has a lovely mix of spice – the recipe includes both ground cinnamon and mixed spice. Both of my favourite spices in my pantry!
Making hot cross buns or any enriched dough is time consuming, but once you taste the final bake, all the work and time waiting will be worth it!
The original photo I shared back in March 2015!
Once baked, the buns are brushed with orange syrup which keeps the buns extra moist and adds even more orange flavour. Alternatively, you can brush the buns with warm marmalade, apricot jam or golden/maple syrup.
Vegan Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns
Ingredients
Hot Cross Bun Dough:
- 300 ml plant milk
- 50 g dairy-free spread or baking block
- 500 g strong white bread flour
- 7 g sachet fast-action dried yeast
- 65 g caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice
- 150 g dark chocolate chips
- Zest from 1 large orange
Flour Crosses:
- 70 g plain flour
Orange Sugar Syrup:
- 50 g caster sugar
- Juice from one large orange
Instructions
- Place the plant milk and dairy-free spread/baking block in a small pan and heat gently until simmering. Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly to hand temperature.
- Mix the flour, sachet of yeast, sugar, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. Combine with a spoon until a dough forms. Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface or in a mixer fitted with a dough hook for 5-7 minutes until smooth and elasticated. Shape the dough into a ball and place in well buttered/oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise for an approx. 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours) or until doubled in size.
- Now add the chocolate chips and orange zest to the dough and knead these ingredients into the dough until evenly distributed. Divide the dough into 12 equally sized pieces and roll each into a ball. Arrange the buns on a large baking tray that's been lined with parchment paper, leaving about a 2cm gap between each bun. Cover lightly and leave the buns to rise for 45-60 minutes or until joined up doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180°C Fan / 400°F / Gas Mark 6. To make the crosses for the buns, place the plain flour in a small bowl, adding one tablespoon of water at a time until you have a thick paste that can be piped. Spoon it into a piping bag that's fitted with a small round nozzle and pipe crosses on top of the buns.
- Bake the buns for 15-20 minutes - do watch them as they pick up colour very quickly. They're ready to take out of the oven when they've turned a light golden colour on the outside.
- Once the buns have come out the oven, while they're still warm, make the orange syrup by combining the orange juice and sugar in a small pan. Heat until all the sugar has dissolved and mixture has started to bubble. Brush the hot syrup over the warm buns.
- Allow the buns to cool slightly, then they're ready to eat. They'll keep for up to 3 days. Best eaten on the day of baking, but a blast in the microwave or toasting revives them.
If you want to make traditional hot cross buns, swap the chocolate for the same amount of dried fruit. The chocolate chip hot cross buns are our favourite!
Easter bakes to try!
Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
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choc chip and orange buns sound delish! May the bunny be kind to you x
These look beautiful! I’ve tried making a few batches of regular hot cross buns this year, but haven’t been impressed with them yet. Yours look perfect!
Wow what a great combination for hot cross buns. Love orange and chocolate chips. Happy Easter!
It’s amazing, I also hot cross buns orange but without the chocolate nuggets! Yours are beautiful and I like your cross, mine it is a little bit different ! Looks gorgeous Jess and mugs from “Le Creuset” are beautiful !
I love the flavors of these hot cross buns, Jessica! So creative! I can only smell them from here…love the orange!
Gorgeous hot cross buns! I need to finally make a batch!
Oh, I love hot cross buns! But I’ve never added chocolate chips before…what a fun little twist! I’ll have to do that for the next batch. Thanks, Jess!
I love orange and chocolate combination. It’s absolutely delicious! These buns surely are great with hot tea in the morning or mid afternoon snack. Mm…makes me hungry just thinking about it. 😀
Absolutely awesome, Jess! You did it again…
What a fabulous idea! I love chocolate + orange too, and these are just perfect for this time of year!
Thanks so much Allie! 😀
Yum yum yum! I’ve never had hot crossed buns, can you believe it?! These look amazing. I love orange and chocolate together and I love that you used milk chocolate chips 🙂
The flavors in this sound SO amazing! Any type of homemade dough is just the most heavenly thing you could possibly make in my opinion — especially when you add chocolate!!
These are so beautiful, Jess! I also have somehow never had hot cross buns! I should change that this year!
OMG. I love chocolate and orange together! Your buns must be delicious!
These are beautiful and I wish I had at least one! Pinned.
What a beautiful recipe! I love the chocolate and orange flavors, they go so well together – yum!! 🙂
These sound wonderful! Chocolate and orange is one of those great flavor combinations that I always forget about, because I go for the more common chocolate/berry combination. How clever to combine them in these awesome-looking buns. Delicious!
Mmm…yummy. Chocolate orange is such an awesome combo. Great idea to apply that flavor to hot cross buns! Happy Easter to you and your family 🙂
Chocolate and orange is one of the the best combos ever. These look amazing! I love LeCreuset too. Adorable mugs!
What a great addition to have a little chocolate in those tasty little treats!
I love that there are chocolate chips in these buns!!
That pic with the pat of melted butter is making me want to toast a hot cross bun right now and eat it!! 😛 What a delicious treat you have created Jessica!
These look so good – and I love the addition of chocolate. Because as you said – Easter is all about the chocolate 🙂
Jaffa hot cross buns – I love it! These are beautiful too.
Jess, I LOVE hot cross buns!! and love your chocolate orange twist!!! delicious and pinned!!!
These Hot Cross Buns look perfect! I love the flavor combination of chocolate and orange. Happy Easter!
Yum! Love the flavours Jess. Have a Happy Easter. x
This is SUCH a fun spin on traditional hot cross buns, Jess! Love it!
Come to me you beautiful hot cross buns! I just want to reach through and grab a few!
Oooh, these look so good! I’ve never had hot cross buns before, but I’m all for buns with chocolate chips in them!
Those look wonderful! lovely recipe with beaut flavo combination,will definitely be making them over Easter,Thanks Jessica!
These look gorgeous! I love the addition of orange zest & chocolate 🙂
These look lovely! Can’t wait to try them…thank you for posting!
these looks scrumptious and I need to make some!!!! Thanks for sharing!
We both made chocolate and orange hot cross buns! Great minds think alike 🙂 These look 100% perfect, enjoy your Easter! x
Mmmm you managed to make hot crossed buns even better! Love the fresh orange zest! I have really been all about the zest recently. So clearly I need to make these! Pinned!