Green Kitchen Stories Chocolate Buns

I was so desperate for some comforting, chocolatey food last night. I had a monster craving for cinnamon buns (hello, PMS) and remembered this (click that link. You won't regret it.) beautiful recipe Green Kitchen Stories posted a couple of months ago. Their blog is wonderful and every recipe they post is worth making. I made a couple substitutions to the recipe to use what I had on hand. Hazelnuts are next to impossible to get here right now, so I used some pecans I had leftover from Christmas baking. I made some pecan butter (with a little unsalted butter thrown in for good measure) for the filling, and subbed cinnamon for the cardamom. I also used almond milk in place of soy, but I don't think that makes much difference.

These buns are incredible. I can't believe this recipe has been up for two months and I didn't make it until now. There's balance in the filling so that they're not too sweet, but still satisfying. The dough is soft and mildly sweet. I think it's the grated apples in the filling that really take them over the top. I wasn't sure about using a nut butter inside instead of just butter, but it's delicious. I ate two straight out of the oven and I'm fighting not to eat another one right now. As if I'm not going to as soon as this post is finished. Seriously, though, who needs cinnamon buns. I will always make these instead. Yeast dough is my favourite thing. I was so happy making these. 

It was pitch black out when I was making these. Forgive the dark/blurry before-baking photos. It was a nice way to spend a dark and chilly evening.

Look at those little knots! After looking a little more closely at the original photos, I don't think I knotted them properly, but they were still pretty cute. Mine have little dough butts sticking out the top.