Margo's Midwinter Buns again

I made Margo's Midwinter Buns again and brought some to work Friday. I make buns of this sort rarely, but it isn't because they're not wonderful. We just don't want this kind of thing (bready, sweet stuff) around so much.

It was a sudden scheme to make them, and I found I didn't have all the proper ingredients. And I altered things somewhat, too; I used one-third the amount of yeast, and water instead of milk, because I didn't want any dairy. That was a concern because I know milk makes bread nice and soft, but they were fine as far as that goes. I thought I had walnuts, but couldn't find them, so used pecans instead, but not toasted, and not a cup. I also threw in some dried cranberries, left out the sugar (but not the honey!), used a little extra melted butter, pumpkin pie spice in place of cinnamon, and mini chips so I didn't have to chop. A big concern was that I didn't have any orange zest, which would give the whole a nice fruity aura. I puzzled over that one a long time, until I thought to add a splash of red wine!

The filling came out delicious, which is a relief, but I'm not experienced in making these filled rolls, and I think there was too much filling. After rolling it up and cutting into one-inch slices, they were very full and hard to shift over to the baking pan without fruity pieces falling out everywhere. Also, the dough was starting to get too soft, and got to feeling wet, which made me decide to chill it for two or three hours (as the recipe says you can do), until I suddenly realized it might take a long time to unchill because I used so much less yeast than called for. Because of all this fiddling, I didn't finish them till suppertime, but they're awfully nice, and will be a little treat for us till they're gone.