If you’ve never been to Hartington village before, prepare yourself for possibly one of the most ‘chocolate box’ pretty villages in the land…and I’m not even joking; it’s obscenely pretty! Now, if you’re from the ‘Shire, or you’re a cheese lover, you probably think that The Man and I were going to visit Hartington Creamery to snag some dairy deliciousness but, no, we were there to check out the buzz around Fat Buns.
Fat Buns is the brilliantly named brain-child of baker Jordan Allcock, and is only 9 weeks old – I love a newly-sprouted business, and was eager to get all the tea from the man himself.Sometimes, the universe just nudges you in the right direction, and so it was for Jordan and his family: having worked in kitchens for a good long while, it had always been a dream to open their own venture and, when new premises came available, the signs just couldn’t be ignored!
Literally a two-minute walk away is the village square where we parked the jalopy and admired the beautiful bullrush-laden pond as we walked down to the left and into Fat Buns. During the week, the team offer sweet treats (Buns, Tarts and Cookies); but when it’s the weekend, they also offer savoury Focaccia Sandwiches to be enjoyed alongside the Hot Chocolates, Coffees, Teas and soft drinks (including Mocktails!) they serve.
It was one of the hottest days on record when we visited and, as Jordan explained, the enriched dough wasn’t loving the heat and had needed a lot of TLC to get it to baking point. Looking at the spread of varieties, I could only admire his dedication – everything looked super scrummy. I love the combination of sweet and tangy, so it was a natural choice for me to have the Vanilla Frosting-topped Cinnamon Bun, and His Nibs dabbed in to claim the Oreo and White Chocolate Crumble-topped morsel.
We sat at one of the inside tables as, beautiful though the location is, it was simply too toasty to be outside. With it being quieter than usual (not many folks were out rambling or cycling or ‘avec pooch’, funnily enough) it gave us the chance to really have a natter with Jordan and assistant Patrick (a lovely lad from Hartington itself) and chew the ideas fat for future plans: Japanese Milk Buns incoming soon, folks, with a range of fillings.
Nice and plump, the Cinnamon Buns were absolutely smashing! They had a lovely moistness to them and a fab chew time in the mouth, without being hard work: an important factor for a lazy eater such as myself. The sweet dough wasn’t overly sweet, but you knew it wasn’t, say, a dinner roll or some such savoury variety. Served in their individual pots, both our rolls had the perfect ratio of bun-to-topping, meaning that you clearly got both elements in the mouth. I thought my choice was the bomb, combining the distinct flavour of Cinnamon with Vanilla’s roundedness and a smidge of tang to top it off on the palate. Of course, His Nibs would argue and say that his Oreo and White Chocolate wonder was the bees-knees, and it truly was another winning combo, but we all [secretly] know who picked the pearler, don’t we?!
After much oohing-and-aahing (and smiling at our obvious enjoyment of his labours), Jordan said to dig in and choose another tempting treat and to pair it with a drink of our choice. Both of us chose to have a chilled can of Lemonade that was poured into a Fat Buns logo’d plastic cup – with straw- and we happily sipped at this. For my second sample, I went for an individual Blackcurrant and Almond Tart, persuaded by Patrick’s recommendation; turns out he was bang-on-the-money, as it was amazing. The buttery pastry case had been generously filled with a marvellously, face-scrunchingly sharp Blackcurrant compote that was paired with a sweet, mild Almond that tempered it beautifully. Crunchy flaked Almonds added texture, dotted among delicate swirls of buttercream. This was an example of something tasting as gorgeously good as it looked.
His Nibs has always been a sucker for a cookie, especially when you can see it’s chock-a-block with chunks of Milk and White Chocolate! Irresistibly gooey at the centre, this generously proportioned Cookie was a mutli-layered taste sensation that punched way above its weight. Whilst we’d been yapping and munching, a few other couples had come in and there was a good spread of items going out of Fat Buns’ door.
This is a blooming gem, so please, please go and discover what Jordan has baked. Remember, you’re supporting a small, family-run business rather than a faceless multi-national chain, and it’s someone’s dream: do good, feel good, innit? Shop local, support local is more vital now than ever, what with 20% VAT nobbling fledgling ventures! Hot Wings very happily awarded to Baker Jordan and his ‘small but mighty’ Fat Buns shop.
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